How We Can Help

In brief

The “one stop shop” for student related services and information
First line of student support including a signposting service to support specialists.
Comprehensive web presence providing information and guidance 24x7
Professional, friendly, and knowledgeable staff
Quick and correct response
Means of contact that is down to earth and convenient, without requiring students or staff to understand the University’s administrative systems and procedures
Signposting and referral service to specialist in the University for the 15% of questions that cannot be answered immediately
Student status confirmation and verification service for past, present and future students
Central point for collecting and returning forms to facilitate student administration
Location for collecting brochures, leaflets guides and information sheets.

In full

1. “One Stop Shop”

The Student Services Information Desk (SSiD) is The University of Sheffield's 'one-stop shop' for student related services and informationwhich aims to answer the majority of student related enquiries from a single location.

2. First Line of Student Support

Information & Guidance: SSiD is able to provide help on a wide range of student support issues.

3. Comprehensive Web Presence

We have developed over 2,000 web pages containing useful and interesting information about many aspects of University life.

Ask Sheffield is a high-tech database, filled with frequently asked questions about the University and the city.

Ask Sheffield

4. Professional, Friendly, and Knowledgeable staff

Our friendly staff are trained to answer all types of questions whether specific or general. We can also offer guidance if there are decisions to be made once an enquiry has been answered.

5. Quick and Correct Response

6. Convenient Means of Contact

Walk in Student Centre: Based in the Students' Union building past, present and future students are able to get most answers and documents on a single visit.
Contact Centre: The SSiD Contact Centre supports our interaction with students and their supporter over a variety of media, including telephony, e-mail, social media, internet chat and other online systems.

7. Signposting and Referral Service

Signposting: Many questions are quickly answered by the enquirer visiting the information sources themselves. On these occassions we signpost to other services and departments within the University.
Referrals: There are some questions we may not be able to answer in full but we will refer past, present and future students, as well as staff, to someone who can.

8. Student Status Confirmation and Verification Service

Useful Documents: Each year we produce many documents on request, directly from the Student Record. In the last year we produced 4,500 Bank Letters, 6,000 Council Tax Exemption Certificates, 8,000 Certificates of Student Status, 3,800 UCard replacements and 1,500 Summaries of Results.
Important Documents: Some services do take more than a couple of minutes to provide. Sometimes we need to check details or get further information from other departments to complete the request. In the last year these included 7,500 Transcripts of Qualification, 1,000 Visa Letters, 1,300 Tuition Fee receipts and 2,000 Confirmation of Student Attendance Letters.
Helping Students With Outside Agencies: We are in daily contact with organisations such as Employment Agencies and Embassies who want to confirm details of individual students. We try to help as speedily as possible but we will not release any details of a student unless we have their permission.

9. Central Point for Collecting and Returning Forms

Collection Point: Students and staff can collect a wide range of forms, letters and leaflets from the SSiD office. These include Visa Extension Packs, Working in the UK Information Sheets, Special Circumstances Forms and the Supporting the Supporters Guide.
Post Box For Our Colleagues: We take receipt of documents for our colleagues in other parts of the University who will then process them. These include the Module Add/Drop Forms, Change of Status Forms amd Financial Assistance Forms.