Undergraduate Teaching Assistants

The Department of Bioengineering offers the opportunity for some BEng and MEng students in their 3rd and 4th academic year to assist in the delivery of teaching for our undergraduate programmes as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA). Eligible students will be contacted separately if a UTA opportunity becomes available. Working as a UTA provides students with the opportunity to broaden their experience in the Department and develop skills which are vital to both employers and further study: basic teaching skills; the ability to convey complex information; task management; working in a team and communication. 

UTAs are always supervised in the classroom or lab by a member of academic staff, a lab leader or a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). Students can expect to be involved in delivering defined teaching material to undergraduate students in the year below them. This could take place in a variety of teaching environments such as lab demonstrations, lectures or computer sessions.

Support of teaching activities provided by UTAs is paid at a Band C rate of £19.63/hour*. UTAs can claim money for the hours that they are working in the lab session plus a further fixed preparation rate of £19.63. The expectation is that UTAs have a relatively good knowledge of the material and thus do not need to invest too much time in preparation. However, the department acknowledges that this may not always be the case and thus pays a fixed preparation rate. Note if you teach two or more sessions that cover the same material (e.g. the same lab every week) you can only claim one fixed preparation amount for these.

*Note, rates are supplemented with a 12.07% automatic holiday in lieu enhancement, so the pay you receive before tax will be slightly higher than the rates quoted here which are input into the casual worker system

If you are interested in becoming a UTA, there are important things to note:

• Only Year 3 and 4 undergraduate students are permitted to undertake work as a UTA.
• Your work as a UTA must not interfere with your studies. If you feel overwhelmed with your workload and UTA hours, then please contact the Student Office straight away.
• You are only allowed to assist with one module per week.
• UTAs are not normally allowed to work more than 4 hours per week (there may be some flexibility with the number of hours per week in the summer term for wet labs).
• Once your allocation for a specific module has been confirmed, you should be available to work for every session throughout the term (including reading week if required).
• If, for any reason, you cannot attend a session you should inform the Senior Timetabling Officer and the module lead as early as possible.
• You can only assist with modules where the cohort is junior to yourself. This means Year 3 UGs can only assist with Year 1 and 2 modules and Year 4 UGs can assist with Year 1, 2 and 3 modules.
• You should have taken the module you are interested in assisting with and achieved a solid 2:1 or higher. Your overall mark for the corresponding year should also be a 2:1 or higher.
• If a UTA opportunity is available and you may be eligible, details will be sent to you directly.
• You may be asked to attend an initial interview with the module lead.
• Work is then allocated on a 'best-fit' basis depending on interest, skills, experience and availability.

You will be expected to attend briefings and follow guidance from the module leader in preparation for the teaching sessions. This might also include proactively initiating contact yourself. Once your allocation has been confirmed, you will be enrolled on the relevant module area on Blackboard. You are expected to adequately familiarise yourself with the teaching resources available and ensure you are equipped to contextualise and summarise the module material.

You will always be supported and guided during these sessions, either by a member of academic staff, a lab leader or a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA).

UTA testimonials
"She gave me some really helpful tips on thinking about how to design a circuit. She genuinely seemed to enjoy helping us.”

“He is open to students’ sugestions and listens to their ideas. He will then build upon those ideas and try to improve on them or help the student work out the answer themselves rather than enforcing his own opinion.”