Articles by student-services-news

See the opening times for the library services over the summer vacation – from Sat 10 June to Fri 15 September.

URS Building

Access to Study space, Cafe, IT, Study Advice, Course Collection and other Library services

• Mon-Fri 08:30-17:00
• Sat-Sun: closed

Library Building

Print resources with some library help

• Mon-Fri: 09:00-17:00
• Sat-Sun: closed

Also open additional Saturdays:

• Sat 15 July 11:00-17:00
• Sat 19 August 11:00-17:00
• Sat 16 September 11:00-17:00

Special Collections services

• Mon-Fri: 09:00-17:00
• Sat-Sun: closed
• Last Thursday of month open to 21:00

Visit the Library website

If you are moving out of your private/rented house at the end of term, we’ve got lots of tips on the Essentials guide to help you move without hassle. Good luck with your move!

Need help getting your deposit back?
Take a look at RUSU’s housing advice for help on your inventory, your deposit and how to pay your final bills.
Too much waste?
You can be fined up to £300 if you leave waste outside your house, even in black bin bags. Your landlord may also keep your deposit.

Make sure your rubbish fits into your bins and if you have extra waste, organise a bulky waste collection from Reading Council or take it to the tip.

If you live in Earley, find out recycling and bulky waste collection information on the Wokingham Council website.

Where to recycle?

1. Bottles / glass
Remember bottle banks fill up fast. Recycle your bottles across Reading:

• Palmer Park Stadium car park – RG6 1LF
• Erleigh Rd – outside the Fruit Bat – RG1 5LY
• Erleigh Rd – by the electric substation – RG1 5NN
• Mount St car park, off Whitley St – RG2 0BD
• Cintra Park car park, Northumberland Ave – RG2 7PS
• Homebase car park, Forbury Road – RG1 3DH
• Sidmouth Street, near the canal – RG1 4QY
• Orts Road – RG1 3JL

Recycling information in Earley is on the Wokingham Council website

2. Unwanted items, including clothing, books, DVDs, kitchenware, stationery

British Heart Foundation red donation banks are located in halls across campus. Use the bags delivered to your house or collect from the hall reception. No duvets or sharp knives please.

• Northcourt Group: Benyon Hall and Sherfield Hall
• Park Group: Childs Hall, Dunsden Hall, Windsor Hall, Mackinder Hall and Stenton bike sheds
• Redlands group: Bridges Hall, St Georges Hall, Wantage Hall, Wessex Hall

The British Heart Foundation have raised £1.5million by working with Universities to sell unwanted items in their local shops. Some of this money funds life-saving research at the University of Reading.

There have been a number of reports recently about scam phone calls targeting University of Reading staff, and we want you to be aware, too!

The caller purports to be from Microsoft saying that a computer is unsafe and asking for access to it. If access is given, then they will most likely use this as a way of installing malware on your machine or as a way of asking for payment.

Microsoft will not proactively reach out to you to offer technical support. This is a scam and the call should be ended as soon as it is determined it’s not legitimate; you should then report this through the IT Portal.

General advice to follow:

• Be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, visits, or email messages from individuals. If an unknown individual claims to be from a legitimate organization, try to verify his or her identity directly with the company.
• Do not provide personal information or information about the University, unless you are certain of a person’s authority to have the information.
• Do not reveal personal or financial information in email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information. This includes following links sent in email.

The government’s National Cyber Security Centre has up to date advice on cyber-threats and how to protect yourself against these. Cyber Aware is also good resource on the issue.

After all your hard work and studies, you deserve to have your say.

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is your chance to do just that.

The PTES is a national survey run on an annual basis, giving postgraduate taught students the chance to comment on their course and your study experience. The survey is coordinated by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and means we can compare your experience to those at other institutions to see if we are supporting your learning effectively.

You may have noticed that you have received an email recently, enabling you to complete the survey. If you have not yet completed the survey, we will be sending out regular reminders until the survey closes on the 16^th June. You will receive reminders to both your home and email address, as we want to make it as easy as possible for you to complete.

We really value your opinions, and we want to make sure we can improve the study experience of future postgraduate students. Please take 15 minutes to fill it in!

For more information, visit our dedicated Essentials web page.

Music, food and festivities; what’s not to love about the University’s annual Big Band Big Lunch event?

Join the fun as we invite the local community to join members of the University over lunch, to listen to music from the University Big Band and take part in a range of family-friendly activities based around this year’stheme of Community and Creativity.

This event will have something for everyone, with food and drinkavailable to purchase, or feel free to bring along a picnic and enjoy the festivities!

Admission free, no booking required.

When and where

Sunday 4 June | 12.00pm
London Road campus

A reminder that work continues this week on the demolition of the Engineering Building. The demolition will be carried out in phases and should be complete by late July.

The link between the Polly Vacher (formally Systems Engineering) and Engineering buildings is anticipated to be removed by mid-July.

Where possible, teaching and other campus activities are being relocated away from the construction area during the Quiet and Exam periods.

If relocation is not possible, work will be restricted and noise levels will be closely monitored by the project team.

Footpaths and entrances

All footpaths will remain open and we will alert staff and students if this is likely to change.

The entrance and exit points of the Polly Vacher building will largely remain open as they are currently, with some minor and/or temporary alterations as the demolition progresses.

All building entrance and exit points in the nearby JJ Thomson and Mathematics and IT Services buildings will remain open as usual.

The site will become the grounds of the University’s new Health & Life Sciences facility, a brand new purpose-built teaching and research facility for the School of Biological Sciences. Construction for the new building will begin this autumn, with the project set for completion in 2019.

Please contact Robert Shankland for further information.

Students seeking to practice law will benefit from two new courses at Reading following a collaboration with the University of Law.

The new graduate courses are designed to prepare students for practical work in Law and will be offered at our London Road campus.

From September 2017, a postgraduate Legal Practice Course (LPC)will be available for students with a law degree; and the following September (2018) a graduate diploma in Law will also be open for students with other degrees.

Professor Susan Breau, Head of the School of Law at the University of Reading said:

Our undergraduate degree and postgraduate masters courses are designed to prepare students to work in the legal profession. With lawgraduates in high demand we look forward to the opportunities that collaboration with the University of Law will bring, and to continuing to develop a strong professional and academic Law offer here at the University of Reading.

Professor Andrea Nollent, Vice-Chancellor & CEO at The University of Law, said:

“We are delighted to announce this collaboration with the University of Reading, which is testament to The University of Law’s continued commitment towards delivering increased access to legal education for aspiring law professionals.

Combining ULaw’s standing as the top ranked institution for student satisfaction in the UK with the University of Reading’s world-class reputation, we believe our collective strength will equip students looking to enter the legal profession with the very bestright skills needed to succeed in a competitive market.

Further information on the University of Law can be found at www.law.ac.uk.

Did you know that you can use the Reading Buses app to buy tickets and track journeys in real time?

Take advantage of new features and tickets to make travelling to campus by bus even easier. 

Whether you’re a regular passenger on the 21a or catch the occasional bus into town, Reading Buses have recently launched several new services that make travelling by bus even easier.

Pay for your bus trip with your phone or contactless card

Gone are the days of hunting for exact change – Reading Buses now accept contactless payments via debit cards and their mobile app.  Depending on how often you travel, it may still be slightly cheaper to use easysaver10 tickets or longer period passes.

You can find out about the full range of ticket types at the Reading Buses Fare page.

Take two buses with one ticket

The new 60 minute transfer ticket can be used on more than one bus – ideal if you need to change buses to complete your journey. The final bus journey must start within the 60 minute period; it doesn’t have to be completed then. You can also now buy these through the Reading Buses app.

Know where your bus is with the Reading Buses app

Fed up of playing the waiting game? The Reading Buses app lets you keep track of where buses are in real time – so you know exactly where it is and when it will reach you.

More information on Reading Buses and University services are available on the Sustainability Services bus page.

The global cyber-attack on computer networks in UK last week has again highlighted the need to keep our IT systems and devices safe. The malware used in the attack may have been initially spread through email.

While IT colleagues do all they can to prevent malicious emails and rogue applications from getting through, it is possible that some will get through.

Here is a quick reminder of what you can do to help control the spread of any malware or rogue applications:

Emails and viruses

• Please treat emails from an unfamiliar address to your University account with caution.
• If an email seems suspicious, please notify Service Desk by calling extension 6262.
• Avoid clicking any link or open any attachment in such an email.
• An email asking for your password or asking you to log on to a site is potentially dangerous.
• It is always a good idea to hover your mouse cursor over a link before clicking it. If the website it is pointing to seems unfamiliar, do not click on it.
• Pay attention to email attachments: files named Invoice, file extensions ZIP, EXE, JS files are particularly suspect
• Delete anything suspicious from your ‘Inbox’ and ‘Deleted Items’ folders in Outlook
• If you detect a virus on your computer, please notify the Service Desk immediately.

Passwords

• Do not share your personal passwords with anyone.
• Avoid writing down your passwords.
• Use strong passwords: at least 8 characters, include upper and lower case letters and special characters.
• Do not disclose shared account passwords to unauthorised people

Physical Security

• Report any security incidents and issues to the IT Service Desk immediately.
• Lock your computer screen (Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” then “Lock this computer”, or Windows button+L) if you leave your seat temporarily.
• Avoid leaving confidential documents unlocked or exposed.
• Never share your campus card.

Computer security

• Do not install software that is not necessary for your work.
• Only use trusted sites when downloading software.

If for any reason you still have a Windows XP machine then you should not turn it on, but contact IT for advice.

The IT department have been working on a major review of IT security over the last year and this is ongoing with new protection and detection systems being implemented and additional resource being made available. A substantial project over several years has also massively reduced the use of Windows XP machines across campus, but other systems are still vulnerable. It is critical and that we continue to remain vigilant and follow good security advice and practice.

Additional information of last week’s cyber-attack can be found on the National Cyber Security Centre. The UK government has also produced Cyber Aware, a comprehensive guide to keeping safe online.

If you have any questions or concerns about online content or emails you have received, log a call with the IT department through the online portal  or phone 6262 to get support.