Attendance and Engagement
We expect you to attend and engage with all teaching activities, including lectures, seminars, practicals and personal tutorials, and online teaching sessions.
Regular and appropriate attendance is a University requirement, as outlined in the Curricular Ordinances and Regulations.
During registration, you sign up to the Student Contract. During the prescribed periods of study, students must attend regularly, punctually and in an orderly manner. Unauthorised absence may lead to formal warnings and can even result in you being excluded from the University. For Taught Students please see the University's 'Unsatisfactory Work, Attendance and Engagement Procedure’, available from the Student Cases webpage. For Postgraduate Researchers please see the ‘Unsatisfactory Academic Progress Procedure’.
Exceptions to normal attendance monitoring
In some instances, the process for monitoring attendance and engagement may need to be adapted to take account of your mode of study. The following guidance is provided in relation to these “exceptions”.
Clinical Placements
It is your responsibility to inform the school and placement provider if you are unable to attend your placement. It is also usual practice for placement providers to inform the school placement coordinator of your absence within a couple of days.
Distance Learners
If you are on a distance learning programme, please refer to your school’s guidance for programme specific information on attendance and engagement monitoring.
On-line Distance Learning (Digital Education Service - DES)
For 100% online distance learning programmes via the DES, attendance is defined as accessing online information through the University of Leeds Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Minerva, with weekly webinars on Collaborate Ultra. Learning materials built into the online modules enable staff to monitor engagement e.g. completion of activities and posting to discussion fora. Staff will use reporting tools from Minerva to monitor which students have accessed the online materials, and where a student has failed to engage an email reminder will be sent to the student. If the level of student attendance is unsatisfactory, the Unsatisfactory Work, Attendance, and Progress Procedure will be initiated.
For further information and attendance requirements, please refer to the DES attendance policy “Taught Postgraduate Code of Practice on Attendance” available in your Minerva Programme organisation or from your Student Education Service team.
Fieldwork
Your fieldwork tutor will monitor your attendance and engagement if you are participating in fieldwork away from the University. Any absences will be followed up at briefings and progress meetings that make up part of this activity. Please refer to the guidance provided by your programme/school for specific detail in relation to this area.
Cross-disciplinary programmes
If you are on a cross-disciplinary programme, the teaching schools will notify your parent school if your attendance or engagement is a cause for concern.
Joint programmes
In the case of jointly-run programmes delivered with another university, your sponsor institution will have overall responsibility for reporting continuous absence to the Home Office. In cases where you are taught at Leeds but sponsored by another institution, we will notify the partner institution of any continuous unauthorised absence or lack of engagement.
Study abroad
Attendance monitoring is carried out in cooperation with staff at the partner university abroad. This includes when students are studying remotely as part of their study abroad year/programme.
The School Study Abroad Coordinator or their representative should have regular contact points throughout the placement with all study abroad students. In addition, Student Visa holders should also complete and submit the ‘Short Report of Academic Activities’ form on a termly basis. This form should be completed by the student, and should then be signed and stamped by the Study Abroad Adviser at the partner university to confirm the student remains in attendance. Receipt of this document should be recorded as an ‘engagement point’ on the attendance and engagement monitoring system used by the School.
If you are an incoming study abroad student, your parent school will be responsible for monitoring your attendance in line with the University attendance and engagement monitoring processes and policy.
Visiting students
If you are a visiting student that intends to study at the University for fewer than six months and enter the UK with “Student Visitor” status, you will be monitored as part of the school’s general duty of care. You do not fall under the requirements of the UK Visas and Immigration Points Based System.
Work Placements
If you are on work placement, your placement provider will monitor your absence in the usual way and notify the University of any unexplained absence, as per existing arrangements.
Alongside the standard University attendance monitoring requirements, attendance on placement must be monitored to ensure that students are meeting the total hours required by their respective placement module and where relevant, UKVI visa requirements. This includes when students are working from home as part of their placement.
There should be clear mechanisms in place to enable the placement host to report student absence or attendance concerns to the University in a timely manner in adherence with the signed tri-partite agreement.