Your complete checklist

1. What you can do now

• Keep checking our Starting at uni for videos, blogs, and important updates.
• Join your Brighton offer holder community to chat to potential future classmates and flatmates, and make friends before you arrive - look out for an email from us inviting you to join, if you haven't already.
• Join some of our online Belong at Brighton events to learn more about the university, help get prepared and meet other new students. 
• Check your start date, school and course info in Student View by viewing your offer letter.
• Hear from current students about uni life and read your subject blog.
• View the term and semester dates. Note, some courses have an earlier start date.
• Follow us on social media.
• Get a suitable digital picture ready to upload for your unicard, to speed up your online registration. You will need a passport style, colour photo, of your head and shoulders on a plain background, that is ideally less than one month old. Smiling is acceptable, but your face must not be obscured by hair, hats, sunglasses, or flash glare.

2. Register and complete online tasks

• Complete online registration via Student View. We'll send you an email invite when online registration opens. During online registration, you will need to upload a photo of you for your unicard. You will be able to collect your unicard once you arrive, and you will be expected to carry it with you whilst on campus.
• Activate your university user account, if you haven’t already.

Complete your online tasks once you have registered, such as:

• confirming your course start dates on Student View
• logging in to My Brighton.

Please see the online tasks page for more information and help with completing these.

3. After you have registered

Login to My Brighton (my.brighton.ac.uk) via a browser for the following:

• make sure your course and contact details are correct
• check your timetables – don't worry if your timetable doesn't look that busy yet, we'll be adding events regularly after you register. You'll get your academic timetable when you arrive
• access your university email inbox – be sure to check this regularly for important updates
• access My Studies – an online space where you'll find learning materials, assessments and other study-related content
• Get to know your subject via the course section, including pre-arrival course preparation on My Studies

If you have any issues, please see the online tasks page for more information.

4. Get ready for your studies

• Download Microsoft Teams via My Brighton and log in to Microsoft 365 with your university email address.
• Start to build your study and digital skills to get ready for university-level study, and find out about our library and available resources.
• Log in to LinkedIn Learning for video-based training courses.
• Find out about libraries, learning platforms and how to create a university ready study set up.
• Attend the Belong at Brighton event for your school.
• Click through the tabs below for further information on how to prepare for university.

5. Set up off-campus access

Accessing My Brighton and uni email when off campus or when using non-university wifi

All new students are now required to use Multifactor Authentication (MFA). This added security measure will protect your university account and requires the Microsoft Authenticator app to confirm your identity when off campus. Before you can check your timetable, email and course materials, you will need to set up your phone so you can access the student portal My Brighton when away from the campus. You will require both your mobile device and a computer to complete this process.

Download the app

The Microsoft Authenticator app is available for Apple and Android devices, and we would recommend downloading the app from a wifi source either on campus or at home:

• Apple App Store (iOS)
• Google Play Store (Android)

Once installed, visit the Microsoft My Account page using your computer and enter your university username and password. Click on 'Set Up Now' to begin the process. This will involve both the phone's app and computer to complete the setup.

Detailed instructions are outlined in our student guide to setting up Multifactor Authentication (pdf).

If you experience any issues please contact the Service Desk on 01273 644444, or email them at servicedesk@brighton.ac.uk.

Student finance

• Make or update your student finance application – for UK and home students.
• Open a student bank account.
• Top up your unicard with credit – use your unicard to pay for printing, get discounted food and drink and access rooms. You'll get your card when you arrive.
• Buy your TOTUM card for student discounts.
• Students with a disability may want to apply for Disabled Student Allowance.
• Students with children may be eligible for extra funding for childcare.
• See My Brighton (log-in required) for news including those relating to student finance
• Work out a budget and make sure you have enough money to cover your first two weeks.
• Find out about part-time jobs.

Accommodation

• Organise your accommodation.
• If you are offered a place in university halls, please pay two weeks of your rent upfront, within three working days.
• Complete the online accommodation induction where you’ll be given an arrival time. You'll get this in an email too.
• Join your halls Facebook group – the accommodation team will send you a link.
• Check out the Residential Wellbeing service.
• For private accommodation, get in touch with our accommodation team
• Use our What to bring checklist to help you plan for your move.

Student life

• Sign up for Brighton Students’ Union updates.
• Take a look at the BSU clubs and societies you can join.
• Stay active and make friends with Sport Brighton.
• Join us on social media.
• Join our Campus and Freshers Facebook groups.

Health and wellbeing

• Read about our support and wellbeing services – it’s good to know they’re there whether you need them or not.
• See what health services are available and how to register with a doctor.
• Illnesses can spread easily in communities where people live or work closely together in large groups. We strongly encourage you to check you are up to date with your vaccinations, including making sure:
  • you have had two doses of the MMR vaccine
  • you have had the MenACWY vaccine
  • you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations.

You don't need to wait until you arrive to get in touch with support services:

• Speak to the disability and learning support team about a learning support plan or funded support.
• Speak to your school’s Student Support and Guidance Tutor (SSGT).
• Browse and contact our other support services.

Getting around

• If you’re moving into halls, you'll need to arrange how you are getting to uni – we’ll send you lots of information via email to help you plan your move.
• If you're not living near campus, check our support for commuter students.

Walking and cycling

Our City campus is a 15-minute walk from Brighton station, and both Moulsecoomb and Falmer campuses are within 10 minutes’ walk of local train stations. All campuses have cycle parking, external bike pumps and access to showers and lockers. Beryl BTN Bikes are available to hire across all our Brighton campuses.

Public transport

All our campuses are well served by public transport. Brighton & Hove Buses operate in the city and surrounding areas and offer discounted student tickets available on your smartphone.

Moulsecoomb and Falmer train stations operated by Southern Rail are within walking distance of our campuses. For students who commute by train, Southern Rail offers the Unizone ticket, which gets you unlimited train travel in and around Brighton and can save you up to 70% on rail fares. Savings can also be made on train fares by purchasing a Railcard.

Full-time students and anyone aged 16-25 can save up to one third on coach fares across Britain with the National Express Young Persons Coachcard.

Driving, car sharing and parking

Driving is not encouraged and car parking on all of our campuses and halls of residence is restricted and only available to those with an e-permit parking permit. Permits are limited and are allocated on the basis of our parking criteria outlined our Car Park and Permit Application Policy. Please see our information on parking at the university.

If you need to drive, consider car sharing, which will reduce the costs of driving and associated carbon emissions. Websites such as Liftshare enable you to find someone to car share with.

International students 

• Pay your tuition fee deposit.
• Request your CAS and apply for your visa.
• Join in with orientation programme.

Support and guidance

We have International Student Support Officers who can help you with:

• Practical advice about living in the UK e.g. local shopping and transport, opening a UK bank account, accessing healthcare
• Information about social activities on and off campus
• Support for homesickness and culture shock
• Advice on financial hardship
• Support through times of crisis.

You can make an appointment to meet us in person or online. Email internationaladvice@brighton.ac.uk, call us on 01273 644300, or keep up-to-date with news and events on Facebook, X, Instagram or via our blog.