What Is a Personal Tutor?

A personal tutor is a member of academic staff at a university, mostly in the UK, who is assigned to support an individual student's academic progress and general wellbeing. Each student has a personal tutor for their studies, usually from their own department, and keeps the same tutor for several years or the entire degree. The role is different from private tutoring, which is paid extra help.

What a personal tutor does

• Academic support: discussing your progress, feedback, module choices and goals.
• Pastoral support: being a first point of contact if you have personal or health issues, or difficulties affecting your studies.
• Signposting: pointing you to services such as wellbeing, disability support, careers and financial advice.
• Procedures: advising on mitigating circumstances, extensions, interruptions of study and appeals.
• References: many tutors write references for jobs, internships or further study.
• Monitoring: noticing if you are struggling, and checking in.

How meetings work

You are usually expected to meet at set points, often at the start of the year, after your first assessments and at the end. Meetings may be individual or in small groups, in person or online. You can request additional meetings when needed, and tutors may hold regular office hours.

Getting the most from your tutor

• Prepare: bring questions, feedback you have received and concerns about modules or workload.
• Be honest about how things are going. Early warnings give more options.
• Use them for guidance about careers, further study and extracurricular activities.
• Ask for a reference in good time.
• Keep in touch, even when things are going well, so that they know you.

If it is not working

Staff workloads vary. If you struggle to meet your tutor or find the relationship unhelpful, contact your department's tutoring coordinator or the student support team and ask for another contact.

Equivalents elsewhere

In the US, academic advisors and faculty mentors play similar roles, and counselors offer pastoral support. Different universities combine these functions in different ways.

Related terms

See tutorial, mitigating circumstances, ombudsperson and academic advising.