The School provides a stimulating and supportive environment for its students and is committed to encouraging individuals to achieve their potential. It aims to produce graduates with a thorough grounding in their discipline as well as helping them to develop a range of technical, analytical, organisational and IT skills which they will find useful in whatever career they choose. The School's academic staff are highly qualified and many have national and international reputations as researchers and scholars. Staff research underpins teaching in many areas of the curriculum, ensuring that students have the opportunity to work at the frontiers of the disciplines they are studying.
All students have a personal tutor, whom they meet with regularly.
In addition, they take a double tutorial module in the first year which is designed to prepare them for further study. A recent assessment by the Higher Education Funding Council for England rated curriculum design, student progression and achievement, and teaching and learning in Sociology as being of a very high quality. The School of Social Sciences is located in the newly refurbished Clarendon Building, which provides specialist teaching facilities, an open-access computing laboratory and a Student Centre. The School has an excellent range of specialist laboratories, including biomechanics, biopsychology, physiology, psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology laboratories as well as interaction, IT and Research Methods laboratories. An HND qualification can lead to employment or to progression on to a degree course.