A. Setting out attendance expectations for students

1. All students are expected to attend and engage with all scheduled teaching and learning sessions in every year of study, unless alternative arrangements or flexibility in attendance has been agreed for individual students, if unavoidable circumstances such as illness prevents them from attending or if absence has been authorised. There is plenty of evidence to show that students who do not attend or engage with teaching and learning activities do not perform as well as those that do and the teaching and learning on each unit will have been designed with students’ participation in mind.
   
   
2. Regulation XX: Monitoring Attendance, Engagement and Wellbeing of Students states that:

         The University monitors the attendance and engagement of all students to:

a)     support academic attainment and progression,
b)  help minimise awarding gaps and ensure all students are supported to succeed,  
c)  flag up any causes for concern in a timely manner,
d) ensure student wellbeing, and
c)    satisfy external body reporting/accreditation requirements.

3. Schools must make information on attendance/engagement requirements explicit in relevant prospectuses, programme handbooks, webpages, etc.  as well as during student inductions.  There must also be explicit information provided to students about the consequences of not meeting attendance/engagement requirements e.g., not permitted to take examinations or submit assessed work, exclusion and, for international students, there may be implications for their permission to remain in the UK.

4. Schools must ensure that information on the procedures to be followed by students for reporting on and, where appropriate certificating, absence, is explicit in relevant handbooks and online information, and during student inductions (e.g. information about student self-certification of absence is available on the Regulations microsite), though any School/programme specific information should also be included.  Academic Advisors must also be aware of such procedures so that they are able to advise students about the implications of non-attendance or engagement on performance and achievement.

5. Such expectations must be encompassed and published in a School document, detailing attendance/engagement requirements, monitoring and review that may also include discipline or programme specific requirements, as well as those of any relevant external, professional organisations or governing bodies.

6. For joint honours programmes, where requirements may differ between disciplines or Schools, these must be stated explicitly and brought to the attention of the students concerned.  Academic Advisors to joint honours students must be aware of any differing requirements across disciplines/Schools for those students.

Additionally, if there are specific requirements for individual units which are stricter than the School Attendance Policy or requirements, these should be highlighted within the course     unit outline and course unit directory.

7. Schools may also wish to set out expectations for students in terms of their participation within the taught elements of their programmes, whether face-to-face or online.  Teaching and learning methods are designed on the basis that students will be, where appropriate, active participants in the learning experience.  Whilst a student may be attending class, if they do not actively engage in that learning activity (e.g., discussion, group work), there may be a detrimental impact on the learning of other students in the group, as well as the student themselves.

8. Students studying abroad are expected to attend all the classes/learning activities associated with the courses for which they register at the host institution and to abide by the attendance requirements of that institution.