ENSA Advice
The Advice Team at ENSA is a source of free, independent, impartial and confidential advice for Edinburgh Napier University students. The service is available throughout the year accessible remotely or from Merchiston, Craiglockhart and Sighthill campuses. We can offer support on a range of issues impacting your studies and welfare, and can also be a unique source of support for students experiencing issues with Academic Integrity investigations, non-academic misconduct, Fitness to Practice, complaints and academic appeals. Find out more about what we do here: Advice Service Overview.
During Welcome Week, the Advice Team get to join the rest of ENSA at a range of events and welcome activities and we hope that you will have got to meet some of us around campus in your first few days. Whether it was to welcome you as you collected your keys at accommodation, telling you about our service at the welcome fair, guiding you up Arthur's Seat, or marshalling your pub crawl. During the first few weeks, you may be having too much fun to need our service but we hope that you will remember that we are there if you need our support.
As a team, we have identified five of the most common issues that can impact new students in their first few weeks and months of navigating their studies at Napier. If the Advice Team could you ask one thing in your first couple of weeks, it would be to read this blog and remember these five tips which will hopefully make your studies as straightforward and issue-free as possible!
1. MyNapier
MyNapier is your number one source of information about your time at Napier. Most of the questions we get asked by students can be answered by looking on here! Take some time to look through the site: my.napier.ac.uk/
There is information on everything from help with your academic work, financial support, access to counselling and wellbeing help, IT support, Careers, Accommodation, and specific guidance for International Students. If you are unsure about anything impacting your studies- your first step is to look it up on MyNapier!
2. Fit to Sit
During your studies you may be impacted at some point by health or personal issues. Most of the processes for informing the university about the impact on your assessments are very time sensitive. If you are struggling personally or are unwell around your assessments, you need to let the University know as soon as possible (and usually before, or within 5 working days of, your deadline or exam). Not doing so may mean that you do not pass the assignment, or that it is recorded as a non-submission.
These are the processes that you can use for extensions, to defer an assessment to the next opportunity, or if you miss an assessment due to a significant issue. If you don't let the university know whilst you are experiencing the issue, it can impact your grades and progression on your course. Contact your PDT or ENSA Advice as soon as possible if you are unsure.
You can find out more about these processes here: Fit to Sit and extenuating circumstances
3. Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity
As you begin your academic work, there will be lots of new ideas and information to take on board. Academic Integrity means approaching your assignments in an honest and fair way, ensuring that the work is your own and your sources are properly referenced. We would recommend paying particular attention to guidance around appropriate Artificial Intelligence use, as getting it wrong can result in an Academic Integrity investigation which can have a big impact on your studies. Make sure you have understood all the guidance before using any AI or, tools with AI elements, in your assignments and exams.
Not sure where to start?
4. Budgeting
As you begin your academic work, there will be lots of new ideas and information to take
Thinking ahead about your budget for the year can help you manage your money and ask for help as soon as possible if you think that you may struggle throughout the year. Start by doing a budget of all your scheduled income and fixed outgoings, paying consideration to any shortfall over the summer break and any upfront costs you may need for things like rental deposits at the end of the year!
If you need any help with your budget, you can seek support from the Student Funding team.
If you are worried that your budget will not cover all of your expenses for the whole year, seek guidance from the Student Funding team as soon as possible. Some sources of support, such as the Discretionary Fund may close throughout the academic year.
5. First Week isn't Everything
There can be a lot of pressure in your first week of studies to find your people, get involved in everything that you want to, and get to grips with every aspect of university life. However, you don't need to get everything figured out in week one.
If you are struggling to get started with your academic work, you can seek support from Your Personal Development Tutor or book an appointment with the Academic & Study Skills team.
If you didn't get to that the welcome fair, ENSA sports and societies are running loads of taster sessions over the next few weeks, check out our events here: Edinburgh Napier Students' Association. If you think you've missed the first event- don't worry. You can reach out to the sport or society of your choice via the ENSA website and ask how to get involved. There will also be our January Welcome (Back) Week 2027 packed with events and more opportunities to get involved in Sports and Societies. Find out more on the ENSA website: www.napierstudents.com/