As soon as you arrive, you’ll be allocated your own dedicated Academic Tutor who will be your first point of contact if you have any queries or concerns about your overall progress and wellbeing. Across the university you may also see these referred to as ‘Personal Tutors’ or ‘Academic Personal Tutors’, but it’s all the same role.

You’ll be invited to attend regular meetings with them throughout the academic year, starting in week 2, and it’s important that you go along, even if for a very quick chat to confirm that all is well. You can also contact your Academic Tutor at any time by email or by visiting them during their weekly office hours.

The relationship you build up with your tutor is an important one, not least because they will sometimes be the person who writes references for you when you start applying for jobs or other positions such as internships.

This short video outlines some of the benefits of our tutoring system:

Your degree is made up of a number of different short courses called ‘modules’. Most of these run across a single term and are each worth 15 credits towards your degree; some will run across more than one term (such as your final year dissertation, which is worth 40 credits).

Each module is led by a named academic member of staff, but some are taught by a team of tutors who share the lectures and seminars. You can seek advice from your Module Tutors during their weekly office hours, which will be displayed on their office door and on the module’s ELE page.

Week 1 Field Course: GEO1418 Granite Landscapes and Society

This is a compulsory module for all Geography students and optional for Politics and Geography and Geography and Geology students.

You will need wet weather gear, sensible footwear (walking boots are not compulsory), spare clothing, a towel, a notebook and pens/pencils. You will need to bring your own lunches on each day of the field trip.

Week 1 Field Course: GEO1421 Marine and Environmental Science Field Course

This is a compulsory field course for Marine and Environmental Science students.

You will need appropriate clothing and footwear for the field day plus you will need to bring your own lunch/drinks.

The Compass is your first port of call for non-academic support and access to Student Services.

• Service hours: 09:00–17:00, Monday–Friday.
• You can contact The Compass on 01326 370460 or studentservies@fxplus.ac.uk, or ask a question via the live chat on the Compass website.

Your welfare

• Wellbeing Team Penryn
• SU Welfare and Wellbeing Database

The Penryn Info Point is your first port of call for the Education Support Services Team, the Welfare Team and the Student Records/Exams Team or anything else related to your academic studies.

• Located in the Peter Lanyon Building (building 12 on the Penryn Campus map)
• Service hours: Monday–Friday 08:45–17:00 during term-time
• If you have any questions, worries or concerns you can get in touch with us at info.penryn@exeter.ac.uk or on 01326 371800.

You can find a complete list of all staff in the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science here, including office locations and contact details.

• ELE: College of Life and Environmental Sciences
• ELE: Penryn Hub
• Mitigation Process
• Education support: student hubs
• Student Services
• Studyhub: Student and Library services

The new students website includes everything you need to know about starting University, with a handy checklist of tasks to help you through your first term.

» New students

What is synchronous learning?

Some taught sessions will be synchronous – this means that your module tutor and all or part of the class will be interacting at the same time, either on campus or online. Synchronous sessions will run at a time and date specified in your timetable.

It is very important that you make sure that you attend and participate in all of the timetabled synchronous sessions for your module. Your timetabled sessions are opportunities for you to benefit from the expertise of our academic staff, who are there to inspire and guide your exploration of the module content rather than closely dictate what you need to do to pass your assessments.

What is asynchronous learning?

Some work set will be asynchronous – this is material that you will interact with in your own private study time, either on your own or in groups. It is important that you plan ahead to allow yourself enough time to complete asynchronous work you’ll need to develop good time management skills to succeed.

This way of studying might be quite different to how you’ve learnt in the past. It will involve regularly checking ELE pages and your University email inbox, so you might find that it takes a short while to adapt.

A presentation or talk on a particular topic, led by a module tutor, and often involving some interactive tasks or opportunities for discussion. In most cases lecture slides will be available to view beforehand and lectures will often be recorded and made available for you to view in your own time online. In CGES the number of students timetabled to attend a lecture can usually vary from 20 to 100.

Lectures often provide an overview of a subject and form the basis for further reading and thought in your own study time. You may also be expected to complete some prior reading on the designated topic, or to follow up with activities to consolidate your learning. This will help you to get the most from the session.

Seminars are sessions that focus on a particular topic or piece of assigned work, and where students interact with each other and the tutor as they work through tasks. Many seminars in CGES will require you to complete preparatory work beforehand, sometimes in groups. You are also likely to be asked to make significant contributions to the sessions, either via discussion or presentations. Seminars usually have no more than 40 students in attendance, and often the number is closer to 20. 

'Workshop' is sometimes a synonym for ‘seminar’ but also used to describe a practical session where you acquire or practise a new skill or technique. Our Academic Development Workshops provide opportunities to learn more about (and practice) particular academic, IT or technical skills, for example.

If English isn’t your first language, you can also attend Language Workshops to improve your fluency and confidence in using English in an academic setting.

Some modules involve analysing data using specialist software installed on computers on campus. Computer practical sessions are run in specialist computer rooms, with module staff guiding you through the process of learning how to analyse and visualise data.

Some modules may include laboratory practicals or demonstrations, taking place in our teaching labs on campus. A full lab induction and health and safety training will be provided prior to any laboratory teaching.

Fieldwork is an important part of our programmes, taking learning outside the classroom to explore the incredible landscapes in the region and beyond. Many modules will include day trips with opportunities to get hands-on experience of field work and learn in the environments that you are studying, and in each year of your study there will also be a dedicated residential field course module. 

You will also have one-to-one or small group tutorials where an Academic Personal Tutor supports your learning on a specific topic. These will start in week 2 and are designed to introduce you to academic practice in higher education and prepare you for the years ahead.

Alongside your work on modules you’ll have regular meetings with your Academic Personal Tutor, who will supervise your overall progress and wellbeing. You might also have meetings with your Module Tutors during their weekly Office Hours, or by appointment with other members of staff who can support you through your time at Exeter.

Your degree is made up of a number of different short courses called ‘modules’. Each module will have two main types of assessment – formative and summative.

Summative assessments are given a mark which will contribute towards your grade for that module, and for your final grade for that year of study.

Formative assessments do not count towards your final grade but are a chance for you to assess your progress, and to receive feedback to help you improve your work in the future.

For each module there will be two or three summative assessments and regular formative assessments during the term. It is important that you complete all assessments – both summative and formative – for each module that you are taking.

Module tutors will provide feedback for each assessment, with help and advice on how you can improve your marks in the future.

In CGES your assessments take a variety of forms, but include the following:

• Essays
• Reflective reports
• Research diaries
• Individual and group presentations
• Posters
• Exams 
• Field reports.

More information can be obtained about specific assessment types by looking at the relevant ELE page for each module.

The University of Exeter takes academic integrity and academic honesty very seriously. Academic integrity and honesty is at the core of what it is to be a member of the university. This means that no student should obtain for themselves, or for another candidate, an unfair advantage.

Academic honesty means never falsifying the results of any work and always giving full credit for other people's contributions to our own achievements. More information can be found on the ELE page here and through your tutorial module, including how to reference, what is meant by collusion, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, misrepresentation and exam misconduct.

There are no formal reading lists to complete before you arrive, but you can find suggested texts for this programme in the module descriptors (see Penryn Campus: Stage 1 modules) and/or on individual module ELE pages. All recommended reading should be available through the university library.