My Education

Every student on an Anthropology programme is assigned an Academic Mentor, usually before week 1 of Autumn Term. You will meet with your Academic Mentor regularly for mentoring meetings. Your Academic Mentor is the first point of enquiry for questions of an academic nature but will also be able to offer some guidance and assistance with personal concerns. 

You will receive feedback on formative assessments from your Academic Mentor and they will be your dissertation supervisor. If you have other questions about your studies. Regular contact with your Academic Mentor is recommended and will be beneficial for later reference writing and personal development.

Bear in mind that they won’t always have the answer to all your questions but they will listen to you. When they don’t know themselves, they will be able to direct you to the most appropriate team in the School.

Your Academic Mentor will be in touch with you at the beginning of the academic year. You can also contact your Academic Mentor via email or book their office hours via StudentHub.

Office Hours
All members of LSE teaching staff hold weekly term-time office hours. During these times, teachers will be available to meet to answer particular questions you might have about the courses they teach, or to discuss more general issues relating to your course of study. You can use office hours to get additional guidance and support, and to receive more in-depth feedback on your assessed coursework. You can book appointments through Student Hub.

The Department of Anthropology recognises that our students work hard. We recognise their achievements through the following prizes:

UG Prizes
Departmental Prize for Year 1 Social Anthropology
Departmental Prize for Year 2 Social Anthropology
Departmental Prize for Year 1 Anthropology & Law
Departmental Prize for Year 2 Anthropology & Law

Jean La Fontaine Prize
Awarded for outstanding overall degree(s) in BA/BSc Social Anthropology and/or BA Anthropology and Law.

Simon Roberts Prize
Awarded for outstanding overall degree(s) in BA Anthropology and Law.

Sallnow Prize
Awarded for the best Special Essay Paper in Social Anthropology.

Loizos Prize
Awarded for the best AN298 Ethnographic Report

PGT Prizes
Bloch and Parry Prize
Awarded for the best dissertation submitted for the MSc in Social Anthropology (Religion in the Contemporary World).

Fei Xiaotong Prize
Awarded for the best dissertation submitted for the MSc China in Comparative Perspective.

Maurice Freedman Prize
Awarded for the best dissertation submitted for the MSc Social Anthropology.

Lucy Mair Prize
Awarded for the best dissertation submitted for the MSc Anthropology & Development 

The Olivia Harris Prize
Awarded for the best dissertation submitted for the MSc Culture, Justice & Environment

Departmental Prize for MSc Anthropology & Development 
Departmental Prize for MSc China in Comparative Perspective
Departmental Prize for MSc Social Anthropology
Departmental Prize for MSc in Social Anthropology (Religion in the Contemporary World)
Departmental Prize for MSc Culture, Justice & Environment

Student Hub
The Student Hub is LSE’s app, designed to help you navigate your day-to-day life at LSE. With the Student Hub, you can:

• View your timetable and upcoming deadlines
• Find your way around with the campus map
• Keep up to date with news and events from around LSE in your newsfeed
• Book appointments with academic staff (office hours) and some support services.

Available on iOS and Android app stores or as a web app.

Moodle
Moodle is LSE’s virtual learning environment.

The majority of taught courses have a corresponding course on Moodle, the online learning platform used at LSE. Moodle courses contain essential resources such as lecture slides, lecture recordings and reading lists. Moodle also enables activities such as quizzes, discussion forums, and allows for online assignment submission, marking and feedback. How Moodle is used is determined by the course convenor and so this may vary from course to course. LSE also provides a Moodle Archive service which provides teachers and students with read-only access to previous year’s courses. 

LSE for You

LSE for You is a web portal which gives you access to a range of services. As part of ongoing development work, some of these services have been moved onto a new platform.

In Student LSE for You you can:

• View and update your term time (contact) and home (permanent) address
• Access your candidate number
• View your teaching timetable.

To select your courses, please use course selection in LSE for You.

Email
LSE will use your LSE email address to communicate with you, so check it regularly. Microsoft Outlook is available on all public PCs.

You can also access your email offcampus using webmail (mail.lse.ac.uk) or on the move via the outlook app. For help setting up email on your device search “LSE mobile email setup”.

Microsoft Office 365 @ LSE
All our students are eligible for a free copy of Microsoft Office 365 on their personal computers and devices.

Microsoft Office 365

Training and Development System
The Training and Development System allows you to book a place on many of the personal development opportunities offered around LSE. You can access the Training and Development System at apps.lse.ac.uk/training-system

Log in using your LSE username and password.

Information security awareness training
The LSE Cyber Security Awareness Training can be self-enrolled at Course: LSE Cyber Security Awareness Training. We strongly advise you to complete the training which equips you with the skills to spot phishing emails, keep your data and devices safe, and protect your privacy.

More tips are available at lse.ac.uk/cyber

Lectures
These are normally an hour long. Lectures will introduce you to the particular topic of the week, as detailed on the reading list for the course, and they will provide you with a critical framework through which to tackle your own reading. Reading lists are available through Moodle.

Classes/Seminars
Undergraduate students attend 60minute classes and postgraduate students attend 90minute seminars, although there are some exceptions. Both run in parallel with the lectures; they consist of small groups, normally of a maximum of 15 students. In the Department of Anthropology classes and seminars for most core and optional courses take place weekly. They enable you to engage critically with the material and the ideas presented in the lectures. They provide an opportunity for you to express your own ideas and to ask the teacher for clarifications on issues introduced in lectures.

Attendance 
Classes and mentoring meetings help you develop oral and written presentation skills and they encourage leadership and co-operation, independent reading and research. Classes and mentoring meetings are also means of monitoring your progress. Student attendance and performance is regularly recorded and failure to attend classes or to complete written work may result in refusal to grant permission to enter for the written examinations. At the end of each term, teachers write class and mentoring reports via the Student LSE for You registers. You can read these reports and discuss them with your Academic Mentor at the beginning of the following term. These reports form a permanent record of your performance at the School and give us information when we write reference letters.

If you are unable to attend lectures and seminars you are required to notify the teacher.

If you are unable to attend lectures and seminars for a prolonged period, please get in touch with your Academic Mentor and the administrative team. 

Key information about exams and assessments can be found here.