Welcome to the BU community.
We hope this summary will help you make the most of your first few weeks at BU by sharing need-to-know information and activities you can get involved in as a new postgraduate research student.
If you have any questions about your time at BU, our AskBU team is on hand to help. You can also find a range of useful information in our postgraduate researcher arrival information webpages.
Make sure you have completed online registration and enrolment
If you haven’t already completed your online registration and enrolment for your course, please do this now. It only takes about 20 minutes to complete and is necessary to engage in your research on Brightspace, our virtual learning environment. You will be asked to pay for, or tell us how you intend to pay for, tuition fees and check things like our Student Agreement.
Access online resources
Our quick links to BU online services page should point you to all the essential resources you need whilst at BU.
If you have a problem, our IT information pages will give you all the information you need to get started and contacts if you need to ask for help. Whether you are looking for information about your work and timetable, how to access key system or guidance for remote study, these information pages should be your first point of call.
Doctoral College Brightspace Community
Once you have completed Online Registration, you will have access to the Doctoral College Brightspace Community. The New Starters module contains more details about your induction schedule, including an induction checklist and advice on getting started on your research degree. You will also have access to your Faculty Postgraduate Research unit and Doctoral College Researcher Development Programme.
Your first week
We hope that you are finding the induction activities we’ve planned for you useful. If you are not able to attend some essential information sessions about how to get started on your research degree, you will be sent an email from the Doctoral College.
Following your induction you can expect:
- A separate induction, organised by your faculty, which will include specific information to help you settle into your new surroundings, as well as provide informal opportunities to meet your peers and faculty staff.
- A series of 'Getting Started' sessions to welcome you to the Doctoral College community and run through useful resources at BU.
Further information about your induction schedule will be available on the Doctoral College Brightspace page.
Careers support for researchers
The CareersBU team can help you take advantage of everything that BU has to offer and get your future off to the best possible start. We recommend finding out more about the service and seeking advice early on in your degree so that you can make the most of the resources available to you including workshops, webinars, Graduate Skills+ Award, one to one appointments and more.
The service can help you in a range of areas such as helping you to understand the UK work culture, write a CV or cover letter or find a part time or graduate job. Find out more by visiting MyCareerHub.
Life at BU
As well as the support available through BU teams and services, you can also and get involved in the Students’ Union at BU (SUBU) during your degree. The Students’ Union provide opportunities to connect with other researchers or find students with similar interests as well as provide support throughout your time at BU. Find out more about the dedicated Postgraduate Research Society and other ways SUBU can support you on the SUBU website.
