Rights, Advice and Welfare Centre

Student welfare is vitally important to the Students' Union.  We provide a range of services to inform, educate and support our students.

Queen Margaret University Student Union runs an Rights, Advice and Welfare Centre which is managed by the Welfare and Support Coordinator, Michaela Woodhouse.

We are also seeking to recruit volunteers to the Centre.  If you would more information please email Michaela on welfare@qmu.ac.uk or visit the centre.

The RAW Centre is an information and support service for all students, both full time and part time, from all departments at undergraduate, postgraduate and research student levels.

The service exists to provide accurate, relevant and up-to-date information and guidance on all services and rights to which students are entitled, but also to provide support and to educate students so that they have the confidence to cope with issues related to student life.

The service is FREE, CONFIDENTIAL, IMPARTIAL, NON-JUDGEMENTAL and INDEPENDENT. The RAW Centre is located on the first floor in your brand new Students' Union.  It is here that issues such as finance, housing, health, disabilities, international student issues, employment, personal and academic worries are dealt with.

This list is by no means exhaustive, please feel free to make an appointment or drop in to see us to discuss anything at all*.

If we don't have the resources or expertise to deal with the enquiries then we have contacts with a wide range of specialist agencies and individuals both inside and outside of QMU.

We seek to raise awareness of issues relating to student life and aim to be proactive in our educational and campaigning work through research and networking.

In the instance that a student may be facing a more serious problem, the RAW Centre would refer them directly to the Student Services Counsellor within the University. It is important for students to be aware that the Students' Union only provides ADVICE and never aims to be a counselling service.

QMU Students' Union also have links to Edinburgh's Student Nightline which is a phone line also staffed by trained student volunteers who are available for students to call at night to ask for advice on any problems that they might be facing.

*The Students' Union operates an Equal Opportunities policy which states;
' Discrimination , direct or indirect, based on gender, appearance, ethnic, national, regional or racial, age, socio-economic background, disability, religious, or political beliefs, sexual orientation, family circumstances, health, including HIV status, Trade Union membership or any other distinction is unacceptable and will not be tolerated'.