Supervisors, your Director of Studies (DoS), and a Specialist Associate work with you, and with each other, to support your transition to university learning.

The way you will study at Cambridge, as a residential, collegiate university, will likely be very different to how you will have learned in the past. The transition to working well in this study environment will include a number of opportunities and challenges, including those relating to the level of the course content, or the high degree of independent study that is expected of you, the discussion format of supervisions, or the verbal and written presentational skills you will need to develop. 

You will not be left on your own to figure out how to make the most of this new learning environment.

The student 'owns' the learning process. As with everything else, you will get more out of the collegiate learning experience, the more you put in. But your commitment is reciprocated by the support which you can expect to receive from all those involved in different roles in your learning.

  • Your Director of Studies meets with you individually at the beginning and end of each term, as well as being available to advise at any point on any issue arising on the academic front. 
  • Your supervisors offer feedback on your written work, and in conversation with you and in their termly report on your progress may also make suggestions about how to get the most out of supervisions.
  • PrepWeek will offer an opportunity for new Sidney students to receive specialist study skills support and an academic induction.
  • In 2023-2024, Sidney will launch a programme of study skills seminars and workshops designed to help students flourish academically.
  • Dr Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft, who acts as a Teaching Associate in Academic Literacies and the Transition to University, is happy to work with individual undergraduate students or groups of students on their academic writing, reading and other academic literacies. Students can email her directly to request an appointment.