Independent Study: Skills and Support from Newcastle University
University study is not just about providing you with the very latest subject knowledge – though you’ll get that too, of course. It’s also about helping you to grow as a critical thinker: someone able to communicate and evaluate opinions and ideas and apply them in a variety of contexts and, more importantly, in a variety of careers.
Manage your own learning
Our degrees are designed to to allow you to take greater responsibility for managing your own learning at each stage. For the majority of students, this means:
- increasing freedom of choice over what modules you study as your course progresses – often including modules from outside your subject area, broadening your academic experience
- private study beyond your scheduled teaching hours and set assignments – this may be to prepare for a seminar or to follow up on signposted reading from your lecture, for example
- taking a proactive approach to further reading by seeking out study materials beyond the set texts on your reading list
- a major self-directed project in your final year that relies on you using your own initiative to plan and carry out research in an area of particular interest to you
The skills that you’ll acquire through this kind of independent learning, such as problem solving, planning and organising and time management, will appeal to all kinds of employers.
Support for learning
Importantly, we provide lots of support as you develop into an independent researcher:
- we embed teaching in academic skills in the early stages of your degree, which act as a solid foundation for future study
- all students have a personal tutor to oversee their academic and personal development
- you will have 24-hour access to the Robinson Library (during term-time). The University Library Service offers over one million books and a fantastic collection of digital materials including one of the five largest collections of e-books in the country. We’re also committed to offering a digitisation service for high-demand texts, making articles/book chapters owned by the University available through our virtual learning environment, Blackboard
- we offer free support in academic writing in our Writing Development Centre and in mathematics and statistics in our Maths Aid Centre to help you develop your skills in a supportive environment
