University Jargon Decoded 🖥️
In your time at the University of Manchester, it is likely that you will come across vocabulary you are unfamiliar with and unfortunately, universities love an acronym.
The Library Student Team has created this resource full of academic jargon that you are likely to encounter during your degree to help make this transition period easier for you! We have included building names (and their given nicknames), phrases your lecturers may use, and words you’ll come across in admin emails.
Which faculty do you fall under?
After accepting your place here, the words you will come across most often are those used to explain the structure of your chosen course. You will have an assigned school and faculty when joining the University of Manchester (UoM). At UoM, there are 3 faculties:
- Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE)
- Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health Sciences (FMBH)
- Faculty of Humanities (FH).
For us, faculty is a broad title which narrows into schools, departments, and divisions, each step becoming more niche. Schools are thus more specialised and exist within a faculty. For example, the School of Engineering is within the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). Also, each faculty will have a dean in charge of it, these are the people who make decisions within faculty, and you should make sure you know who yours is when you join us!
Here we have a useful glossary of common terms you will hear that you can save in case you forget the meanings:
📖Glossary of terms:
General terms:
UoM — University of Manchester
Faculty — Broadest academic administration within the university.
Dean — Head of Faculty, the main decision-makers.
School — More specialised academic administration within a faculty centred around a certain discipline. E.g. School of Biological Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, and School of Health Sciences within the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.
Department/Division — responsible for the research and teaching of a specific academic discipline. These are found within schools. E.g. there are six divisions in the School of Biological Sciences.
Course — the degree you’re doing.
Module/Unit — A class focusing on a specific subject within your course.
Credit — a measure of the amount of learning required. 1 credit is equivalent to 10 hours of learning time including both contact hours and independent learning hours.
Semester — what a term at university is called. There are two semesters in a year.
Reading Week — Similar to half-term breaks, it is a mid-semester break, allowing you to rest and catch up on reading and studying for your course (no teaching).
Canvas — the university’s virtual learning environment where your course material will be stored as well as reading lists, assignments and submission areas for your degree.
Course Handbook — List of guidelines associated with a course.
Stellify — The highest extra-curricular award given to students who participate in the annual challenges, take up leadership roles and volunteer in community initiatives. Find out more here.
“Diss”/Dissertation/ Thesis — Major research project and written report. It is typically completed at the end of your degree with a particular focus on an area of your subject.
🧑🏽🏫Teaching sessions:
Tutorial — small group learning focusing on course-specific and transferable skills such as referencing and presentation skills.
Seminar — a small teaching session that is more interactive than a lecture.
Lecture — form of learning where you receive information. Typically delivered in a lecture theatre, by your lecturer, supported by a PowerPoint. These are recorded so you can access them at any time.
Office hours — Designated time when a lecturer should be in their office and allow students to come and ask questions or discuss feedback.
📲Points of Contact:
When you attend the University of Manchester, there will be many points of contact for you as a student. Some will be related to your degree but there are others centred on student wellbeing and supporting you whilst you’re with us.
DASS — University Disability Advisory Support Service. They are in place to support disabled students (who make up 19% of our student population) by working with you to implement strategies across your studies, work and the rest of your university experience. More information can be found about the support they offer here.
Mitigating Circumstances / “Mit Circs”- If personal circumstances affect your exams or assessments, or your attendance at teaching activities, you can make a request for mitigating circumstances. This includes extension requests for assessment deadlines. A panel will assess each request, and where necessary, take action to mitigate any impact on your performance. Find out more here.
Student Support service — Click here to access physical and mental wellbeing services, financial and academic support and more.
Academic Advisor — a member of the academic team within your department who will be assigned to support you throughout your entire degree programme. You will meet them regularly during your degree, including on placement year(s) abroad. They will also be the ones to write job/placement/work experience references for you.
PASS — Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) describe small group learning sessions led and facilitated by second and third-year students from the same course, who are known as ‘PASS Leaders’. Peer Mentoring is the equivalent of PASS for non-STEM courses.
Student Reps — a volunteering role, the link between you and the University on all things course related. They represent the students’ feedback at Student Voice Committee meetings with staff from the department.
Student Ambassador — an often paid, role to promote UoM, acting as a bridge between prospective students and the institution by providing insight into university life.
✌️Student Spaces:
There are various spaces dedicated to providing students with a comfortable and or study-friendly environment:
Student Union — central hub on campus with a café, bar, music venues, seating areas, advice services and more.
Student support hubs — found in every school on campus, they offer advice regarding unit enrolment, extension or mitigating circumstances, applications and more.
Cosy campus spaces — located across campus, these areas have free access to microwaves and hot water. This option can help you stick to your budget as a daily meal deal quickly adds up! You can find the cosy campus space map here.
🏫Buildings:
Some of the more popular campus buildings have appointed student nicknames and so they are sometimes referred to in this way, but don’t worry about knowing those right away. We are here to break down the most common of these down for you:
AGLC/ ‘Ali G’ — Alan Gilbert Learning Commons
AMBS — Alliance Manchester Business School
ATB — Alan Turing Building
Sam Alex — Samuel Alexander
Uni Place — University Place (aka Tin Can building)
SU — Steve Biko Student Union building
MECD/Engineering Building — Former name of the Nancy Rothwell building.
Finding your feet
Navigating university can be tricky, especially in your first days. There are new words and new buildings to learn. Whether you are living in halls or commuting from home, finding your way around campus can feel overwhelming. A useful tool for this is the interactive University Map, which can help you identify the different areas of campus and search for specific spaces, such as computer clusters or Student Support Hubs. While it may seem like a lot to learn, soon enough you will get the hang of it! You have support all around you!
