Getting Started

Getting Started : What a new Student Ambassador Needs to know

The Rundown

As a Student Ambassador, you are now formally employed by Swansea University and Subject to its policies and procedures. You are now line-managed by the Student Ambassador Scheme Manager who is supported by two Student Ambassador Scheme Assistants.

How does the Student Ambassador Scheme work?

As a Student Ambassador, you are on a Zero Hour Contract and therefore do not need to work a minimum number of hours. The reason for this is to give you flexibility around your academic commitments and any other responsibilities.

The Student Ambassador Scheme is a service provided to departments across the University and, on occasion, external to the University. There are only a few Work opportunities such as Open Days or Calling Campaigns that happen regularly every year that require large numbers of Ambassadors to support. Below is a simplified outline of how Work Opportunities are processed.

The Work Opportunity life cycle

Departments will request Ambassadors using an online form.
The Team will then send out the request to the Student Ambassadors where you can express that you would like to work.
The team will gather the responses and submit them to the department that requested support where they will select Ambassador to work
The SAS Team will confirm those Ambassador chosen via email and the department will contact them with more information and instructions.
The Department will keep a record of the Ambassadors who worked and will submit those hours to the SAS team at the end of the Month
The SAS Team will process all submitted hours with Payroll who will pay the Ambassador at the end of the following month (for example. If you worked hours in January, you would receive your pay on the last working day of February).

As part of joining the Student Ambassador Scheme, you would have been asked to complete a database collection form. This will ask you about your course details, extra-curriculars, work interests and how your application Journey to Swansea University. We then share this information with our clients who use the information to tailor work opportunities and Marketing/Recruitment Projects around this information.

More information

Staff Account

As a Student Ambassador you will be given a staff email address and new password. We often refer to this as Staff Credentials. These credentials are entirely distinct from your student email and password and do not share access.

When you start you will be given an Employment Letter/Contract that will have your Staff ID number. To get access to your staff account, you will need to speak to Customer Services. You can meet with the team in either Library help desk and show them your employment letter and they can help you get access to your Staff Credentials.

You can also contact the Customer services Team by email and they will walk you through the authentication process: customerservice@swansea.ac.uk.

Tier 4 Visa and Working

Student/Tier 4 Visa and Working 

If you are an international student on a Student/Tier 4 Visa, you are only permitted to work/volunteer:

A maximum of 20 hours paid or unpaid work per week in all employments during term time for degree students; or
a maximum 20 hours per week work all year round for Post Graduate students, as research students are not considered to have terms; or
a maximum of 10 hours paid or unpaid work per week in all employments during term time for students undertaking courses below degree level (below NQF level 6).

This is across any and all jobs that you might have within the University and outside. For example, if you have a job in the Student Ambassador Scheme and a job in Tesco, you will have to split 20 hours between these two roles to comply with the restriction of your Visa. When you were onboarded by HR, they would have let the SAS Team know how many hours you were permitted to work in your role as determined by your Visa and any other commitments you may have.  

As a Student/Tier 4 Visa Holder, it is your responsibility to manage the hours you work and ensure that you do not breach the legal limit in terms of the number of hours allowed by your Visa. 

You can contact the SAS Team for guidance and timesheets that you can use to better track your hours.  

Student/Tier 4 Visa Holders are permitted to work above 20 hours a week during vacation periods (Summer break only as per University HR guidance). However, vacation periods need to be formally confirmed with HR/SAS prior to the work being allocated/undertaken. Postgraduate Tier 4 Visa holders will still be capped at 20 hours a week during the summer break as they are still classified as in term time completing their dissertation/research projects (unless they take a formal period of annual leave, formally confirmed with HR/SAS prior to the work being allocated/undertaken). 

International@campuslife have created guidance leaflet for International Students who have or are seeking employment. Please visit their webpage on working during your studies for International Students to access the guidance leaflet.

Code of Conduct

As a Student Ambassador, you are bound to follow the Student Ambassador Code of Conduct. This outlines our expectations of you will conduct yourself in the role as well as outline procedures for you to follow for Health & Safety, what to do if you are Sick and unable to work and Disciplinary Procedures should you breach the code of Conduct.

Please review this information before signing up to any Work Opportunities.