ABOUT THE ADVICE SERVICE
Durham University students have a right to a quality education, good affordable housing and to be part of a safe community. We recognise that life as a student is not always straightforward and we are here to offer free, confidential and impartial advice for when things don’t go right.
We are lucky that, at Durham, there are lots of support services available to students; both within the University and externally in the community. You can find out who the best person to speak to in your college here, take a look at our useful contacts list and find out which University service would be most helpful to you. If you would prefer to seek peer-support, we have a dedicated team of peer-supporters across the University community that you can contact.
The Advice Service at the Students’ Union is independent from the University, and can therefore provide impartial advice and advocacy to students on University regulations and procedures, for instance. This is something unique to our service and is something we are proud to be able to offer to our students. We believe that no student should face going through a University regulatory process, such as academic misconduct, without knowing that they can access free, impartial and confidential advice. Though independent, our advisers have good links with Colleges, University departments and services, and external organisations. This ensures students receive the best advice and support possible, and if we can’t help you directly, we’ll refer you to someone who can.
We aim to deliver a service that meets your needs, is accessible and of a high quality. See our Code of Practice, to find out what you can expect from our service, including our Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality policies, and how we look after your information.
Below are some examples of areas that we are able to advise students on.
- Academic advice (i.e. academic appeals, serious adverse circumstances, academic misconduct, fitness to study, repeat of study and leave of absence)
- Housing advice (i.e. deposit disputes, problems with landlords, housing repairs, leaving a tenancy agreement and tenant disputes)
- Complaints and conduct (i.e. University complaints procedure, disciplinary investigation support, Office of the Independent Adjudicator)
- Harassment/Discrimination (i.e. incidents of harassment or hate crime, breach of sanctions, Sexual Violence & Misconduct policy)
If you are not sure whether your situation is something we can help with, please do get in touch with us. If we can’t help directly, we’ll refer you to someone who can.
| The Samaritans | 0845 7909090 https://www.samaritans.org/ |
| SANEline | 0300 304 7000 https://www.sane.org.uk/what_we_do/support/helpline |
| National Confidential HOPE Line | 0800 068 4141 https://www.papyrus-uk.org/help-advice/about-hopelineuk |
| The Mix | 0808 808 4994 https://www.themix.org.uk/ |
| National Domestic Violence Helpline | 0808 200 0247 http://www.nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk/ |
| Shelter | 0808 800 4444 https://england.shelter.org.uk/ |
| Citizens Advice Bureau | 03444 111 444 https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ |
| National Debtline | 0808 808 4000 https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/Pages/default.aspx |
Page last reviewed:09/09/2019
