Student accommodation
Resident assistant
A resident assistant, or floor tutor, is often a senior student or a graduate who lives on a floor of a colegio mayor (a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme) or a residence and is its residents' first point of contact: welcomes newcomers, looks after community life and refers the rest on.
Also known asRA · floor tutor · resident advisor · tutor de planta
What they do and where the role comes from
No Spanish national rule defines the role. Decree 2780/1973 mentions "tutorials" only as a teaching activity of the college (art. 25.2.c), and the University Student Statute regulates the degree tutor, who gives guidance on studies (art. 19.2). The floor tutor is something else, and what they do depends on each residence. In a colegio mayor it fits the mission the LOSU gives it, promoting the all-round education of its colegiales; in universities in the United States the role is called resident assistant. Their usual tasks:
- Welcoming whoever arrives and being their first question: timetables, rules, who to turn to.
- Bringing the floor to life and supporting the activity programme.
- Looking after community life: enforcing the community-life rules and mediating in day-to-day friction.
- Referring what is beyond them to the right person: management, guidance, a medical service.
Worth knowing
What people take for granted: that the floor tutor is the one who fixes the shower. They are not maintenance or reception staff, and if faults and timetable questions end up on their phone, they stop doing their own job. It is worth giving those requests their own route, such as the maintenance ticket, so that what reaches the tutor is people, not errands.
Sources
Related terms
- ColegialA colegial is a university student or graduate who belongs to a colegio mayor, a Spanish hall of residence with a formative programme. Decree 2780/1973 sets out three kinds: senior colegiales, with at least a year there, who have earned it; residents; and affiliated colegiales, who take part without living in.
- Normas de convivencia (community-life rules)Normas de convivencia are the community-life rules every Spanish university, public or private, must approve under Ley 3/2022: they bind the university community and include measures against violence, discrimination and harassment. They reach a colegio mayor or an affiliated residence through its university.