The Computing Services department of the University provides all students with computing accounts which will enable them to:

• log on to the computers at any University campus site and access relevant resources;
• log into a personal student e-mail account (whether on or off campus);
• access specific web resources from off-campus (including Blackboard).

After completing the University registration and being given their student ID number or Smart card, the activation process can be completed on any university lab computer, or via the internet from outside the institution. It is important to note that, although no signature on paper is involved, the process of account activation includes acceptance of the university’s regulations governing the use of information and computing facilities.

Once registered with the University students MUST create their Computing Account (whether based on campus or not) before they can use any computing facilities that the University provides. Students will be given a unique username, a password and an email address and should change their password on a regular basis.

For full details of how to activate a University computing account and e-mail account, as well as the range of services and resources on offer through the Computing Services Department, please visit the Computing Services website.

Students who have been given a link to the new Student Portal on their offer letter will be able to activate their computer account before attending the registration event by following the instructions on the Student Portal screen. If this has not been possible for any reason students can activate their computing account by visiting the Computing Services website see link under 'spotlight').

The University uses emails and the BlackBoard VLE to communicate with students, and students should ensure that these are checked at least once a week.

Also on the Computing Services website are details of IT purchasing at student discount, locations for help and support, and details of the connection service in halls of residence (ResNet) as well as information on wireless connection locations on campus.

For further details please click on the ‘Information for Students’ link on the Computing Services web pages.

Student accounts are deleted at the end of their course and they are responsible for copying any work they wish to keep to a floppy disk or other file storage device CD-rom, USB pen, print out, etc) before the end of the course.