Presentation
This session explores how two Russell Group institutions, UCL and the University of Edinburgh, have developed distinct student adviser models to enhance belonging, wellbeing, and academic success. Although both programmes share the aim of providing proactive, personalised support, they differ significantly in structure, resourcing, and delivery.
UCL has implemented a centralised, professional services led model, assigning Student Advisers to every department to support first year undergraduates and to provide structured check-ins, early intervention, and consistent referrals. The University of Edinburgh has adopted a school embedded system as part of their new model of student support, where Student Advisers sit within academic units, develop deep disciplinary understanding, and work closely with local teaching teams, as well as with wellbeing advisers and cohort leads.
This session showcases why each institution chose its model, how implementation has evolved, and what has worked well (and less well) in practice. Attendees will gain insights into scaling support, collaborating across departments, integrating data and triage, and managing student expectations.
By comparing two successful but contrasting approaches, the session will help universities reflect on which elements could be adapted to their own context, whether seeking to redesign an existing structure or launch a new advising model.