Academic Skills Development

Block 1 Week 1: Introduction

Aims
This session aims to:
 Introduce the topic of academic and professional development
 Outline the structure and function of this module
 Link this module to your other modules and their assignments
 Introduce the skills and frameworks required to succeed on your degree programme

Expectations and Challenges

1. Discuss whether the following expectations and challenges relate to you.

A) I never have any free time; I B) I have so much free time; it’s strange, because I
just feel I need to study in every expected to have more classes at university.
moment I have.

C) I’m really confident giving presentations in my

own language, but the idea of doing it in English
D) It’s been so long since I wrote
terrifies me.
a report; I have forgotten how to
do it!

E) I am the main carer for my

F) I can’t balance my
job and my studies,
every time I go to a
lecture someone from
work calls or emails me
with urgent problems.
family, so it is hard to study
when all the children have to be
fed and collected from school.
G) I have never written 3,000 words in
English before, how long does it take?

H) I hate reading,
but I know I am
going to have to
do a lot of it. The
problem is that it
takes so long to
read everything!
I) I got excellent
grades on my first
degree; I never got
less than 90%. I hope I
can do as well on my
Master’s.
J) There are so many
deadlines that all come at
the same time, it is really
stressful!

Illustrations: Hilditch, N. (2019). Nick Hilditch. Available at: https://nickhilditch.com/ [Accessed 22 Dec. 2019]
academicsupport@globalbanking.ac.uk 1 of 2
 2. Do you have any advice for students with similar expectations or facing such challenges?
Discuss them with your partner.

3. What are your own expectations of academic study? What challenges do you think it will present for
you personally? Note them down or discuss them with your partner.

4. Do you know when your assignments are due this semester?

Core Skills and Frameworks

5. How do you expect you will use each of the four core skills on your degree programme?

Lecture Review and Further Study

6. How do you think this module will help you in your studies this semester?

Illustrations adapted from: Wikimedia Commons (2019). File:IELTS.png - Wikimedia Commons. Available at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IELTS.png [Accessed 22 Dec. 2019]. 2 of 2