Read our Student Charter

Students work in partnership with the University and the Students’ Union to strengthen their student experience.  

We are committed to ensuring an educationally outstanding and consistently high-quality student experience and have an Education & Students sub-strategy which will improve the quality of learning teaching and the student experience.

The University listens to and responds to the student voice to create a learning environment that meets our students’ expectations and helps shape the wider student experience, outlined in our Student Voice Framework.  You have access to a range of opportunities to share your  views and opinions on what the University is doing well and what it can do better.

The University and the Students’ Union will inform you of the changes made based on your feedback in a variety of ways, including: Student Academic Rep System (which includes student-staff panels), Speak Week (an annual student voice campaign), student intranet, Learning Central, student app, and student news (via email, newsletters, newspapers etc.)

The Students’ Union represents the student voice to the University by engaging you in democratic processes and campaigns, listening to the student voice and identifying recurrent issues in student feedback. The Students’ Union compiles feedback from students into the Student View, identifying trends and making recommendations for further improvements to the student experience.

The University provides an education that seeks to excite, motivate, challenge, and support students.

The programmes of study are designed to enable you to engage actively in your learning, become part of the University’s learning community, and benefit from our excellent research culture. Your teaching should support you in becoming an independent learner who is enthusiastic and committed to your studies. The University’s physical, social and virtual learning spaces are designed in partnership with our students.  We work together to imbed academic integrity within the learning community.

Cardiff University has an inspiring and enriching environment which offers you a wide range of educational, social, cultural and sporting experiences to motivate, challenge and support you to succeed.

Our commitment relies upon an active partnership between students and the University, listening to student views and acting on them. This ensures that students are not unduly impacted by programme changes and our discontinuation process ensure academic standards and the quality of the student experience are protected in cases where a course ceases to exist. The University and Student’s Union welcome feedback from students on all aspects of student life.

To support your learning, the University will provide regular, timely (no more than 20 working days for coursework), and constructive feedback to develop your knowledge and skills.

We work with our students to personalise their learning and support them during their studies.

We are committed to fostering a safe and inclusive environment as an essential element of our provision to students. In light of this, we offer a range of support which helps students to care for their well-being and health during their studies. We are committed to a safe and mentally healthy learning, working and living environment where every member of the Cardiff University community can thrive. The University has worked with partners to adopt a whole institution approach to mental health in line with sector best practice. We have set this out in Enabling Success: A Strategy for Creating a Mentally Healthy University. We seek to ensure that positive mental health and wellbeing are an integral part of everything that we do. Working in partnership with our staff, students, and the wider community is central to laying the foundation for lifelong positive mental health and creating a mentally healthy University.

Students have access to a range of services which support and enhance student life. This includes services to support wellbeing, developing new skills, managing money, and settling into Cardiff University and student life. Our professional student services are there to remove barriers to learning, ensure students can achieve to the best of their academic ability. They help to ensure we all live and work in a safe, inclusive community. We encourage you to make use of all the support available, if needed, at the earliest opportunity.

The Students’ Union has seven full-time sabbatical officers and eleven campaign officers to represent the students’ needs and interests.

Our Safeguarding policy and procedures are designed to guide the University in its statutory and moral obligation to safeguard children and ‘at risk’/vulnerable adults who come into contact with the University community, and the staff working with children and ‘at risk’/vulnerable adults, to ensure there are clear guidelines and procedures for identifying risk and reporting concerns.

We are proud to be a Welsh University at the heart of our capital city. We encourage all our students to engage with Welsh culture, including national events, the Welsh language and the history of Wales.  

We are committed to providing an environment that promotes and facilitates the use of the Welsh language and in ensuring that students who choose to use the Welsh language are not at a disadvantage in terms of the services they can access, their academic opportunities or future prospects. You can find information on opportunities to study through the medium of Welsh on the Coleg Cymraeg branch web pages.  We aim to continue to raise awareness of the Welsh language and culture amongst all our students and expect that our students demonstrate respect for the importance of the Welsh language in public life in Wales. Learn Welsh Cardiff enables all students to gain and develop their Welsh language skills.

We have a Welsh Language Strategy, which builds on our existing Welsh language initiatives, networks and activities by providing a defined cultural and community agenda. As part of this, we aim to increase the number of students studying in Welsh or bi-lingually, and expand and enhance our provision for teaching in Welsh. We will also look to develop a Cynnig Caerdydd (our Welsh-language offer) for our students.

We have a branch of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol within the University and we work in partnership with the Coleg Cymraeg to develop and deliver a sustainable portfolio of Welsh-medium educational provision and to meet the needs of our Welsh-speaking students and future employers.

The University is committed to the Welsh Language Standards, providing a Welsh-speaking Personal Tutor for students where requested and ensuring that those who wish to do so can undertake assessments and examinations in Welsh (with no delay to results).

There is also Welsh representation in the form of an elected Vic-President Welsh Language, Culture, and Community. This role was created in 2023 after the students requested creation of this role at the Students' Union's Annual General Meeting 2021.

Undeb Myfyrwyr Cymraeg Caerdydd, (UMCC) is a Union within the Students’ Union which is responsible for representing Welsh speakers, learners, and all those interested in Welsh language and culture during their time at Cardiff University. UMCC is lead by the Unions' Vice President Welsh Language, Culture & Community who is UMCC President. This role became a full time, paid position in 2023 following campaigns by students for an increase in Welsh Language representation.

We work to provide an inclusive University community that welcomes and supports students from a wide range of backgrounds, forming a diverse global community.

All students can expect to be welcomed and helped to adapt to University life, and in return you are expected to contribute to a welcoming environment for all.

Together, the University is committed to offering a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment for our students and staff. The University promotes a climate of equal opportunity for all students, and is committed to meeting its statutory responsibilities regarding equality, diversity, safeguarding, and protected characteristics. We will address negative discriminatory behaviours including those based on stereotypes and prejudiced attitudes. We encourage you to contribute to a positive campus culture by taking responsibility for learning about one another, being supportive of each other, and informing the University of any issues.

We ask our staff and student community to self-regulate in a respectful manner, holding each other to account to ensure we all follow the requirements, educating each other on appropriate behaviour, keeping the University a safe and inclusive place for all. This includes time spent on placement, taking part in sporting or other extracurricular activities, and time spent on social media. Our Dignity at Work and Study Policy demonstrates our University-wide approach to promoting a working, learning and research environment and culture in which differences are welcomed and all forms of harassment, bullying and victimisation are not tolerated. The Student Conduct Procedure sets out the University’s expectations of student conduct.  Students studying on programmes that lead to professional registration also have to follow the Fitness to Practise Procedure. We provide an environment where students feel confident to inform us if their University experience is adversely affected by the behaviour of fellow students or staff using the Student Complaints Procedure.

We provide opportunities and support for students to develop qualities that equip them to succeed as global citizens and to make a real difference in the world.

The University encourages you to engage with real-world concerns within Cardiff, Wales and internationally. We seek to provide our students with opportunities to develop skills for the future and the attributes to become effective, engaged global citizens. We support students to recognise the skills they are developing so that they can articulate and record these appropriately.  Some examples of these are featured on the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR).

We are committed to sustainable development and are signatories of the Sustainable Development Goal Accord. As part of this, we have committed to ensure that all of our students engage meaningfully with the global challenge of sustainability. For example, by providing opportunities in both formal and informal curricula to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Wales Well-Being of Future Generations Act, as well as by enabling students and staff to make meaningful changes to live more sustainable lifestyles both on and off campus. Further examples can be found on the Sustainability Week 2023 intranet page.

You are encouraged to enhance your skills by taking advantage of the opportunities provided, either as part of a programme of study or as an extracurricular activity. This includes international study and placements, both as part of your course and in addition to it. This can be during the academic year or in the summer recess, and by participating in extracurricular activities, such as the Student Mentor Scheme, the Athletic Union, the Guild of Societies, Skills Hub, Volunteering, Student Representation, Skills Development Service, Enterprise, Student Senate and Jobshop.

We are also committed to ensuring the future and sustainability of Wales, as embodied in the principles of the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015.

Our students can expect the University to communicate with them in an honest, open, accurate and timely manner, and to deal sensitively and professionally with any concerns.

The University communicates programme, module and assessment information clearly to students and it adheres to consumer protection law, as set out by the Competition and Markets Authority.

The University makes it clear to applicants where additional costs may be required to fulfil their course. Additional costs are stated on the University course finder pages under the tuition fees section and are also specified to applicants in their PDF offer letter.

You are expected to tell the University when there are circumstances that may impact on your studies, so we can provide support and help where necessary.  You should ensure that you are familiar with the University’s processes for reporting extenuating circumstances and understand the possible outcomes of a successful application under the Extenuating Circumstances Procedure (UG and PGT).  There is a separate procedure for postgraduate research students.

Students with disabilities or long-term health conditions may be entitled to additional support or reasonable adjustments to a programme of study, subject to certain criteria being met. Advice is available from the University’s Student Disability Services.

In order to be well informed, you are expected to pay attention to University communications, in particular to emails, Student App notifications and the student intranet.

If, in exceptional circumstances (such as during a University closure due to snow, a pandemic or a period of industrial action), the University is unable to deliver what has been advertised, it will seek to minimise the impact on the student learning experience, by ensuring appropriate adjustments are made to programme delivery and assessment (see also Student Complaints Procedure). In such circumstances the University will ensure there is timely and clear communication.  This is clearly stated in the Academic Regulations under its Variation of Arrangements section. The University’s Academic Regulations are reviewed throughout the year, and changes communicated to students via the intranet and other channels.

Email is one of the core ways we communicate with you. You should check your Cardiff University email address regularly. In an emergency, you will receive an app notification informing you of the situation and any actions required of you.

We work together to give our students the best possible experience at Cardiff University. If a student’s experience fails to meet their expectations, we have established processes to deal with students concerns. Support is available from the University’s Student Life service and also through the Students’ Union Student Advice Service, which is a free, impartial and non-judgemental service independent from the University.

We recognise that from time to time a student may be dissatisfied and may wish to make a complaint to the University. We take all complaints seriously.  Students are expected to raise a concern at the earliest opportunity and within 28 days of a concern arising.  Concerns must be raised under the  Student Complaints Procedure.  A complaint may be submitted if a student feels they have suffered a detriment, dissatisfaction or disadvantage due to alleged actions of a member or staff or student; irregularities in the delivery of a programme; provision of supervision; issues relating to placement or concern about the quality of services; facilities or learning resources.

Students can seek help and guidance on the complaints process, and all University procedures, from the Students’ Unions independent Student Advice service. Whenever possible, the University aims to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity. Students have the opportunity to escalate concerns and seek a review of the outcome.  The University aims to complete complaint cases within 90 days. If students remain dissatisfied at the end of the University’s internal processes, they can make a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.