Policy for Monitoring Student Attendance

The University has agreed in principle to the development and introduction of a policy on the Monitoring of Student Attendance. This policy would cover arrangements for gathering information concerning student attendance, together with a procedure to be followed in the event of unscheduled absence. It has also been agreed that the current Student Absence Policy would be integrated into such a policy.

Current resource constraints prevent the implementation of effective attendance monitoring systems and therefore the draft Student Attendance and Withdrawal policy cannot be introduced.

However, this does not mean that students' attendance should not be monitored. Staff are asked to continue to use existing means and methods, including extensive use of the Early Warning System for First Years and monitoring attendance at seminars and labs, to continue to monitor attendance in accordance with local requirements. 

Action for Staff:  All academic and support staff delivering taught degrees are asked to maintain existing local procedures in terms of monitoring attendance and, in relevant circumstances, withdrawing students as a result of non-attendance.

Withdrawing Students from the University

Where local systems operate to monitor student attendance Schools/Colleges may withdraw students in accordance with the steps laid out in the report to Senate in June 2009:

• Two week unexplained total absence identified - letter from Adviser of Studies asking student to meet/make contact regarding their circumstances;
• If no response within two weeks, a further letter is sent out from Adviser of Studies (4 weeks);
• If no contact from the student after a further week (5 weeks) student is withdrawn - Registry and other relevant offices are advised. An administrative withdrawal form should be downloaded from http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/registry/staff/absence/ and returned to the Registry.

Arrangements for International Students with a Tier 4 Visa*

The UK Government has introduced new recordkeeping and reporting duties for universities as part of the 'points-based' immigration system. Part of these new responsibilities involves institutional monitoring of Tier 4 students' attendance at the University. Arrangements for such have been developed and have been implemented by Colleges, Schools and Research Institutes, and Tier 4 students will be made aware of interactions which will be recorded for monitoring purposes.

To comply with the University’s reporting duties to the UK Border Agency, the above timescales do not need to be adhered to for the withdrawal of a Tier 4 student in the event of an unexplained absence. Further details of both the University’s and Tier 4 student’s responsibilities can be found at www.gla.ac.uk/services/registry/support/tier4/.

Recommended by:  Education, Policy & Strategy Committee, May 2009
Approved in principle by:  Senate, 4 June 2009. For full details see: http://committees.gla.ac.uk/senate/SEN/Minutes/20090604.htm#7.1
At its meeting on 15 October 2009, Senate noted that the implementation of the policy had been suspended due to resource constraints.

*Updated: March 2013

Full Implementation of the Attendance Monitoring Policy

Matters will be kept under review with the intention of fully implementing the intended policy for monitoring attendance for all students whenever resources permit. The current development of the new student system under the Student Lifecycle Project will include consideration of procedures to enter attendance data into the new system. It is anticipated that the development of this system will facilitate some aspects of the implementation of the policy, although this will not include attendance monitoring devices such as bar code readers.