Testimonial #10

“To whom it may concern,

I am a 3rd year student mentor in the school of global studies, currently working alongside the student support advice team (though I do much less work than them) in offering academic, emotional, social and personal supports to students.

When I first arrived at Sussex some of the first members of staff I encountered were the student advice team and the SOCCUL mentors. Thanks to the support they offered me in first getting to grips with university life I was able to settle in at Sussex fairly quickly. The positive introduction to university life they offered me has enabled me to be very successful thus far academically, and has led me to become a student mentor myself.

As a student mentor a large number of students who come to me with with complex issues who I lack the training expertise to support, I can refer on to the student advice team. Even from the most economistic perspective, they are an indispensible and essential resource at this university. They act as the adhesive that holds this university together. They are already overstretched, and any reduction in the number of support staff available would severely undermine their ability to offer such high quality one-to-one support.

I really hope management withdraw their current attack on the student advice teams of this university, because it will undoubtedly have profound detrimental effects on the experiences of future Sussex students quality of academic, social, personal and emotional support.

Anonymous mentor”