About the student advice service
We offer free, confidential, and impartial advice and support to all Cambridge University students - undergraduate and postgraduate - from any College or course. You can come to the Student Advice Service with any issues or problems you might experience as a student, from making friends to working relationships, from exams to intermission, and from welfare concerns to finance. The Student Advice Service is a part of the Welfare and Advice Team at Cambridge SU.
How we can support you
We are here to help you navigate your way through the Collegiate University informally and formally. We recommend that you look at the advice and resources provided on these pages, attend any information sessions or workshops we are hosting that are relevant to you and get in touch as soon as possible if you have a question or need advice. We can support you by:
• Explaining and guiding you through University and College procedures
• Helping you to explore your options
• Providing assistance and/or representation
• Signposting to other services
• Listening
• Providing information
We can provide this support in person, by email, phone and video call.
We aim to:
• Respond to students within 2-3 working days
• Review and provide feedback on small and medium documents within 5 working days of receiving them
• Review and provide feedback on large documents within 10 working days of receiving them
Information and guidance
We have also made online resources and guides that you can find under the Information and Guidance section.
MEET THE TEAM
Caroline WAY
Advice and Welfare Manager
Rachel Wilson
Senior Advisor
Simona Obeng
Senior Advisor
HOW WE WORK
Our service is Free, Confidential and Impartial. We are independent of the Colleges and the University and offer non-directive and non-judgemental support to all students who need us. All Advisors adhere to the Student Advice Services:
Confidentiality Policy - This explains how we keep your information private.
Code of Practice - This explains how we work with students.
Data Privacy Notice - This explains how we handle your data and information
Cambridge SU Equality and Diversity policy
Cambridge SU Safeguarding Adults policy
Cambridge SU Safeguarding Children policy
We are members of Advice UK, the largest network of free and independent advice centres in the UK. You can view our membership certificate here.
All Advisors have completed Active Bystander and Suicide First Aid training.
Feedback and Complaints
We hope you will enjoy your experience with the Student Advice Service. If you have any feedback, you can share this with your Advisor or email caroline.way@cambridgesu.co.uk. If you would like to make a complaint, you can use the Student Advice Service Complaints Procedure which explains how you can provide feedback or make a formal complaint.
TESTIMONIALS
Some feedback from 2020-21
"Thank you very much for your support in the past several years. If it were not with your help and support, I would not have got this degree. The help and patience you provided to me will always bring warmth to my heart, I believe."
"I have sought the advice of the Student Advice Service on several occasions and I've always received professional and impartial advice that has helped me enormously. (...) I feel incredibly grateful for the help and support that I have received from the Student Advice Service. I feel that had it not been for the Student Advice Service being available to offer me impartial advice on what my options were I would have had a much less positive outcome from my studies. Thank you so much for all your hard work, it really has made a huge difference to me as a student and I can't thank you enough."
Some feedback from 2019-20
"Among the few good things in the past two months was meeting you and seeing the incredible work you and SUAS do here in Cambridge. Your support has been one of the major reasons why I didn’t decide to drop out of my course and I am deeply grateful for that."
“You are amazing at what you do! You are brilliant. I can’t tell you how much you’ve helped me. You’ve made such a difference.”
“It is really helpful to have someone to look at the ins and outs behind the scenes because it’s so hard to find out what’s needed for resolving my issues within college and department. It does help a lot being able to come to you at SUAS.”
Some feedback from 2018-19
“Very prompt, impartial and independent service. I felt that I was heard, my concerns taken into account and grievances addressed”
“Very helpful, listened well, able to see someone very quickly”
“They hear what you have to say with no judgement. Additionally provide excellent research and information”
“I cannot tell you how infinitely grateful I am to you for making this happen for me. I am proud of myself for taking the initiative to come to you for help, but your kindness, support and practical advice have been nothing less than life-changing for me.”
Annual Reports
Our annual reports can be found here.