University of Salford
Inclusive Support
Statement
Version 2.0 April 2022
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Inclusive Support Statement
Contents
What is the Inclusive Support Statement? ............................................................................................. 2
Inclusive Teaching & Learning................................................................................................................. 2
Note-making ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Recording ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Reading lists ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Glossaries ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Tutorials & supervision ....................................................................................................................... 2
Timetables & room changes ............................................................................................................... 3
Presentations, group work & practical sessions ................................................................................. 3
Inclusive assessment and feedback .................................................................................................... 3
Support to develop academic skills ........................................................................................................ 3
Skills for Learning ................................................................................................................................ 3
Mathscope .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Wordscope .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Assistive Software ................................................................................................................................... 4
Notetaking........................................................................................................................................... 4
Organisation and time management .................................................................................................. 4
Screen reading and display enhancement software........................................................................... 5
Reading and writing software ............................................................................................................. 5
Exam & Assessment Arrangements ........................................................................................................ 6
Disabled Students Allowance .................................................................................................................. 6
Applying for DSA ................................................................................................................................. 7
International & EU Students ............................................................................................................... 7
Apprenticeship Students ..................................................................................................................... 7
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What is the Inclusive Support Statement?
The University of Salford promotes Inclusive Practice. This means that we strive to ensure
everyone gets an accessible learning experience whilst studying at university. This Inclusive
Support Plan lays out the inclusive practice in place to support you.
Inclusive Teaching & Learning
Our University has introduced inclusive and accessible teaching for all students to remove
barriers to learning, enhance your learning experience, enable you to become independent
and autonomous in your learning and to independently develop graduate attributes and
skills during your studies. This practice includes areas around note-making, recordings, in-
class activity, reading lists, glossaries, scheduling, assessment and more.
Note-making
Lecture materials are released a minimum of 24 hours in advance for a scheduled
session where possible. Any documents are uploaded to Blackboard.
Recording
Record sessions with your own recording device to ensure you capture the content
of the sessions and can actively engage. You must comply with the rules in the
Student Handbook.
Reading lists
Reading lists which offer resources – including books, journals, and other texts – in
electronic format where possible and which differentiate core reading from further
reading.
Glossaries
Glossaries are provided to support your learning & recall of new terminology and
formulae. These may be produced by your academic team or you may be provided
with links to glossaries published elsewhere.
Tutorials & supervision
You will be informed of the arrangements for academic tutorials, this may be the
sharing of designated office hours where you can ‘drop in’ or through scheduled
appointments.
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Timetables & room changes
Any changes to timetables or rooms will be communicated with as much notice as
possible.
Presentations, group work & practical sessions
You will be given time to prepare when asked to contribute to class discussions and
in advance of presentations. Support should be offered to develop your presentation
skills and one to one explanation of tasks provided, where necessary.
Inclusive assessment and feedback
Most students take part in formative assessments which enable the opportunity to
practice in the assessment mode and to receive advice and guidance on how to
improve your work.
The learning outcomes, marking criteria & grade descriptors of an assessment should
be clear before the assessment is undertaken.
Feedback should be accessible – you can choose how you prefer to receive
feedback, for instance, written or verbal feedback during office hours.
Support to develop academic skills
Skills for Learning
The Library’s Skills website offers a wide range of study skills training. If you need to
improve your IT skills, learn how to find information for your assignments, improve
your study skills or focus on your career plans this is a great place to start.
Visit the Skills for Learning website for more information.
Mathscope
Mathscope is designed to help you with any type of mathematical or statistical
problem you may come across in your taught course. You can visit the Mathscope
webpages to find out more about the support they can offer.
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Wordscope
Wordscope is a programme of tuition with a proven record of helping students to
overcome common writing problems such as inappropriate punctuation, faulty
sentence structure, and confused paragraphing.
The programme is free to registered students at the University of Salford. You can
choose to undertake a programme of five or ten workshops. Each workshop lasts 90
minutes. The workshops are delivered on campus or online.
You can visit the Wordscope webpages to find out more about the support they can offer.
Assistive Software
The library offer support and training in Microsoft Office. This includes beginner level
training and links to resources on LinkedIn Learning.
Notetaking
OneNote in Office 365 allows you organise your notes, documents, and audio
recordings in one place. This enables you to listen back to what was said when you
took your notes, to aid comprehension.
If you are eligible for funded support, you may receive specialist software and
technology to assist with your notetaking.
Organisation and time management
Office 365 has several apps that can support you in your organisation
and the management of your time.
Outlook Calendar can give you reminders for events and Microsoft To Do can be
used as a planning tool to make managing tasks easier.
Mind Mapping Software can be used to visually plan and organise assignments and
projects. Inspiration, mind-mapping software, is available on dedicated PCs in
the library.
My Study Bar is a downloadable toolbar which has a mind mapping feature as well
as a screen masking tool, talking dictionary, text-to-speech and enables you
to save text to an audio file.
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If you are eligible for funded support, you may receive specialist mind-mapping
software.
Screen reading and display enhancement software
Screen reading and display enhancement software make printed and electronic text
accessible.
Magnifier, Narrator or On-Screen Keyboard are useful when using Microsoft Office
applications.
The University has a range of assistive software available, including Jaws screen
reader and Zoomtext. The Library website has further information about how to
access this specialist software.
If you are eligible for funded support, you may receive specialist software for use
during independent study.
Reading and writing software
Reading and writing software can assist by:
• Reading aloud text to support comprehension
• Changing the background colour to suit your preferences
• Using speech dictation to compose and edit text
• Helping to identify and correct grammar and writing style errors in your work
• Assisting you to organise your research and generate citations
Blackboard Ally automatically generates 'Alternative formats' of your original course
files. This includes converting your materials to audio files, to listen to your materials,
and BeeLine Reader, for enhanced and easier on-screen reading.
Microsoft Office 365 has a text-to-speech feature to read text aloud. This can be
used across several apps, including Word. When you have finished writing your work this
feature can be used to assist with identifying errors that you may have made.
There is also a dictation function within Microsoft Office 365. This allows you
to verbalise your ideas. You will also find voice typing features in Google and Apple
applications.
Grammarly is a downloadable add-in to Microsoft Word and Outlook. Grammarly is
a grammar checker that is designed to pick up advanced grammar and writing style
errors. Suggestions for corrections and improvements are given to improve your
writing.
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EndNote X9 is reference management software which is available on open access PCs
and Macs across the University, and can be installed on your personal device from the
Citrix Workspace. EndNote will produce correct citations and references for you
automatically, it will help you manage your information sources. The Library runs
workshops and offers support in using EndNote.
If you are eligible for funded support, you may receive specialist software to support
your research, reading and academic writing.
Exam & Assessment Arrangements
For some students, we recognise that the requirements or design of assessments
may cause a barrier to you. Therefore, we can make recommendations for
adjustments to support you to overcome these barriers.
If you require adjustments to assessments as a result of your disability or SpLD, you
can request these using our online form. Please contact us to request a link to our
form and select the adjustments that you require.
Disabled Students Allowance
Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is a non-means tested and non-repayable source
of funding to help meet the extra costs of studying that disabled students may face.
Most UK students on a full-time or part-time course are eligible to apply. If you’re a
student on one of our apprenticeship courses, you are not eligible for DSA, but
alternative funding is available so, please contact Disability and Learner Support to
discuss your needs.
DSA support can include:
• Non-Medical Helpers Allowance to fund people to work with you, including
study coaching, mentoring, British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters.
• Specialist Equipment Allowance such as assistive software or a computer if
you need one because of your disability
• General Allowance for other disability-related costs such as photocopying
and printing expenses, books, and other small items
• Travel costs: the DSA may be able to contribute towards additional study-
related travel costs incurred.
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Applying for DSA
The application process for DSA can take up to three months. You can apply for DSA
before you start your course, so we recommend you do it as soon as you can. If you
are a current student and you need support immediately, we may be able to provide
you with interim support while you wait for your funding to come through.
Your Disability Adviser will help you apply for DSA or you can find out more from
your funding body’s website:
• Student Finance England
• Student Finance Wales
• Student Finance Northern Ireland
• Student Awards Agency Scotland
• NHS Bursaries
• NHS Social Work MA
If you have been approved DSA support but need to contribute £200 towards the
cost of a computer or laptop then you can apply to the University for financial
assistance through the Salford Support Fund. Apply online by logging in with your
student details and navigating to the 'Disabled Students Allowance Contribution
Support' form.
International & EU Students
You’re not entitled to claim the DSA, but we may be able to help provide you with
reasonable adjustments, including support like extra time for examinations and help
with presentations.
Apprenticeship Students
If you are studying on a Degree Apprenticeship course, you may be eligible for
further support through Education and Skills Funding Agency. You will need to speak
to a Disability Adviser who will take you through the application process.
You may also be eligible to access workplace support through Access to Work, you
can find more information about how to apply for this on the Gov.uk webpages:
Access to Work: get support if you have a disability or health condition - GOV.UK
(www.gov.uk)
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For any further information on the content of this document, please contact Disability &
Learner Support on 0161 295 0023 (option 1, option 2) or email [email protected].
