Student Frequently Asked Questions

Dear student, 

We hope the second semester of this academic year is going well for you so far.  

We have had a few questions and thoughts from students about the way we record your attendance and why we do it, so we wanted to give you some information to hopefully explain these processes. 

Why is my attendance recorded? 

Coming to teaching sessions is a crucial part of your time here at University, and the best way to put yourself in a position to succeed. We record attendance because we want to help support you do the best you can in your studies, and also to check you are ok. If someone’s attendance suddenly changes, it can be because something is going wrong for them and we want to be able to help.  

There are also more formal expectations about attending teaching and these are set out in the University’s Code of Practice on Student Attendance / Engagement and Reasonable Diligence.   The Code explains the process to be followed when a student is found to be showing a cause for concern due to a lack of attendance. Broadly, we expect students to attend 70% of teaching sessions, although ideally students should try and attend all of them if they can.  

What if I have a legitimate reason to miss a session? 

If you miss a session because of being unwell or another legitimate reason, just let us know by submitting a Declaration of Absence. If you miss sessions for RAP-related reasons, that is also of course fine. There is no need to worry – you won’t be penalised. 

The University recognises that there may be times when you need to be absent from the University for a longer period of time due to unforeseen circumstances (such as a bereavement or illness of an immediate family member). Students may also be permitted to undertake a period of study in or outside the UK, not based at the University of Birmingham (e.g. fieldwork or to work on your thesis or dissertation). For this kind of absence, you will need to submit an Authorised Absence request before travelling. As you can see above, you must have an exceptional reason for travelling during term time.  

What happens if my attendance is low? 

If your attendance is consistently lower than expected on your programme over a space of time, a process called ‘Reasonable Diligence’ will begin. This is a supportive process and not a punitive one; It is designed with the intention to help students achieve the most out of their learning and support their wellbeing. The first step is an email to the student to check they are ok and to see if they need any additional support. Receiving an email like this does not mean you are in trouble. 

When is attendance captured? 

My Attendance is being used in all small group teaching sessions, this includes seminars, workshops and practicals and it is vital you log your attendance as soon as you are given the code by your academic.  Law students are also required to log their attendance at lectures.   

What if my lecturer doesn’t give out a code? 

If a lecturer does not provide an attendance code for a teaching session, don’t worry. This will not show as an absence on your record. Attendance codes are expected to be provided by your academic tutors, so if you have not been provided with a code and you are expecting one, please request this from your tutor if you are able.  

Can I share a code with a friend who wasn’t present? 

No. The code is only for people who are at the session, and shouldn’t be shared. Students are reminded of their duty to observe the University’s Code of Practice on this matter. 

What should I do if I am worried about my attendance? 

If you are worried about your attendance or are experiencing challenges that prevent you from fully engaging with your studies or University life, we encourage you to speak with your personal academic tutor in their office hours or make an appointment with your wellbeing team.   

What should I do if I am having problems recording attendance? 

Firstly, don’t worry.  

If you experience issues with the My Attendance app and cannot log your attendance at your teaching session, you should complete an attendance confirmation form. Please save the following link should you need to complete a form for any teaching at which you were unable to log your attendance:  CAL Attendance Confirmation Form. 

If you have been experiencing IT issues with the app, you need to contact us or the IT services as a matter of urgency to resolve this issue. You can log a call via the IT portal: https://universityofbirmingham.service-now.com/itportal/?id=uob_kb_article&sys_id=8a49650a1b829910c2a61178b04bcbaa  or call them on 0121 414 7171 or visit them in the main library behind the reception desk. 

The College of Arts and Law (CAL) Student Attendance Team exists to record, track and monitor student attendance within the College to support students to maximise their attendance and engagement so that they can acieve their full academic potential. You can find the members of the team, along with all of our contact details, at the bottom of the homepage. This includes details for School-specific enquiries.

There are four main facets to what we do as a team:

• Attendance Recording

  • Setting up Engagement and Recording mechanisms to enable data to identify students who could potentially benefit from wellbeing support.

• Attendance Monitoring

  • Using attendance and engagement data to evidence the academic engagement of International Students in line with visa requirements.

• Reasonable Diligence

  • Reviewing attendance and engagement for all students in the College
  • Sending Attendance Support Advisory emails to students with low engagement to encourage re-engagement.
  • Hosting the Making the Most of Your Studies event alongside Wellbeing and Academic colleagues.
  • Administering the Reasonable Diligence process in consultation with Wellbeing and Academic colleagues.

• Absence Reporting

  • Processing Declarations of Absence submitted by students.

We would encourage students to contact the CAL Student Attendance Team via email or telephone in the first instance. Contact details for the team, including those for School-specific enquiries can be found at the bottom of the homepage.

Students are also encouraged to contact their Personal Academic Tutor with any specific concerns or queries about their academic studies such as difficulties with assessments or other programme content. Alternatively, we encourage students to contact the Wellbeing Officers for their School with any concerns or queries about attendance relating to wellbeing such as: personal issues impacting attendance, to disclose and seek support with an existing, new, or suspectived disability, or to apply for extenuating circumstances.

A map of the University of Birmingham campus and a link to download the campus map app can be found here.

Knowing about changes in your circumstances (eg. deferring your start date, taking a leave of absence, changing your programme, or withdrawing from study)  enables us to make sure that our student data record and fee liability information is correct for the current academic year. This is especially important if you are receiving a loan from the Student Loan Company (SLC).

If your circumstances have changed and you have decided to defer your start date, take a leave of absence, change your programme of study, or withdraw from your studies at the University of Birmingham, it is very important that you let us know via this online form https://forms.office.com/r/2wmWQAkJXW so that your record and fee liability can be updated. This survey will close on the 28th of September 2022 at 8am (UK Time) and will take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

If you have not yet completed the online registration for your programme of study, and intend to continue with your programme of study with us, please do complete the registration process (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/welcome/2022/before/online-registration.aspx) as soon as possible, as this is required for you to attend your programme of study, access services link your student email and the Library, and to participate in Guild activities.

You should fill out a Declaration of Absence form, which can be found on the Submit an Absence page, and should also contact your lecturers or seminar leaders if you are going to be missing any of their teaching sessions.

If you are going to be away from your studies for an extended period then you should talk to your School's Wellbeing Officer, who will discuss with you the potential impact this may have on your studies. This may include submitting an Authorised Absence for International Students or a Leave of Absence if the period of time is going to have a significant impact on your studies. Further information on these types of absences can be found on the Submit an Absence page.

If you are studying remotely and therefore wholly online during Semester One of the 2020-21 academic year, you will need to state these intentions in one of two ways:

1. If you are a Home Student, you will need to complete a Study Intentions form online, which can be accessed via the Submit an Absence page.
2. If you are an International Student and didn't complete the International Student Study Intentions online form sent out by the International Student Team (IST) before the start of Semester One, please contact the CAL Student Attendance Team on calsat@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

If you need to leave the country during term time, you must submit an Authorised Absence form to the relevant e-mail address. This process can take up to ten working days to complete, so please submit the form as soon as you have all the details you need to complete it. Further information and a link to the form can be found on the Authorised Absence for International Students page.

You should also notify your Personal Academic Tutor that you will be out of the country.

If you are leaving the country during vacation times (i.e. leaving after the 5pm on the final day of term and returning before the first day of the next term), then you do not need to submit an Authorised Absence.

If you wish to attend a different seminar, please get in touch with your Programme Team, who will consider your request with the relevant academics and central timetabling team. Please note that permission may not be granted to change your seminar due to a number of limiting constraints.

Please DO NOT attend a session without prior approval as you will be turned away.

If you are unsure how to contact your Programme Team, please review the CAL Education Support Gateway.

Please make sure you attend the teaching sessions that are on your timetable as these are the ones you are registered onto and therefore will be the ones that you will be marked either present or absent from.

If you must attend an alternative seminar, please notify your lecturer or seminar leader to let them know and to ask them to contact us regarding your attendance at the class. We cannot guarantee that your attendance for the session will be recorded, however.

Due to health and safety considerations students are not authorised to attend alternative teaching sessions to those displayed on their online personalised timetable via the MyUoB app even if the session’s leader has agreed that they can do so.  As such students who do attend alternative sessions will be marked as absent at the session they should have attended and will not be marked present at the session they have attended instead.

Please contact us on calsat@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

The University hopes your attendance and engagement data will be available for you to review shortly.

If you have a timetable clash meaning you are unable to attend a teaching session, please contact the Programme Team for your School who will be able to look into resolving the clash and therefore ensure that you do not have to miss teaching sessions.

If you are unsure how to contact your Programme Team, please review the CAL Education Support Gateway.

Attendance at your in-person timetabled seminars will be recorded via the MyAttendance tile on the MyUoB app or it can be accessed online. Your wider engagement is recorded through Canvas and Zoom. To ensure that we can accurately maintain your attendance record, please login to services such as Zoom with your University login details.

The academic leading your session will tell you if you need to record your attendance, and will provide you a code with which to do so. You can then input this code into the MyAttendance tile on the MyUoB app or it can be accessed online and your attendance will be recorded.

If you cannot log your attendance due to a technical issue with the app then please log a call via the IT Service Desk with as much detail as possible about the fault so we can work on fixing it.

If you attended a scheduled in-person seminar for which you should have had your attendance recorded but there was an issue which meant your attendance wasn't recorded, please contact the academic leading the session. Once you have done that you can fill out the CAL Attendance Confirmation Form to register your attendance at the session.

The College of Arts and Law (CAL) Student Attendance Team is responsible for evidencing academic engagement for international students studying under the student route.

We are responsible for recording and monitoring attendance at scheduled teaching, evidencing coursework submissions and processing Authorised Absences for International Students.

Introduction to the Student Route

The University of Birmingham has over 10,000 overseas students, the majority of whom are studying here under the student route. In order for an International Student (non-EEA/EU citizens) to study here in the UK they will require an appropriate visa to allow them to enter the UK, reside in the UK, and study here for the duration of their proposed course.

The UK operates a points-based immigration system and the cornerstone to this system is the principle of sponsorship. The student route is one of the points-based immigration routes into the UK. The majority of our students come to the UK under the student route which allows then to study on a full-time basis here at the University of Birmingham.

This is subject to certain conditions, as well as the University of Birmingham formally sponsoring their studies. For the purposes of the student route this means that the University takes responsibility for their time in the UK as our international student studying under the student route. The University is the Student Sponsor.

As part of its sponsorship obligations regular checks are carried out to ensure that the College is meeting its obligations under UK law. The consequences of not meeting these responsibilities could mean the university’s ability to sponsor students under the student route is revoked with severe consequences for the university’s finances and reputation.

Our Sponsorship Duties

As a Student Sponsor we have multiple duties to maintain, these can be divided into two main categories: reporting duties and record keeping duties.

The reporting duties require us to report certain information about international students studying under the student route to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) including:

• where a student has had a change in circumstances. These include when they change course, take a leave of absence, withdraw from their studies, or complete their studies early.
• where we believe an international student studying under the student route is breaching the conditions of their visa, for example, working over the permitted allowance, or is not a genuine student.
• where a student does not arrive and begin their course as expected.

Collectively as a university, all staff should be aware of and follow policies and procedures agreed by the University and their Colleges. This ensures that the University remains compliant with our duties as a Student Sponsor at all times.

The record keeping duties require us to keep records of your attendance and engagement throughout the academic year to evidence to the Home Office and UKVI that you are engaging in your studies as per your visa requirements. Forms of evidence of engagement include:

• Attendance at any scheduled teaching session
• Coursework submissions
• Exam attendance
• Dissertation Supervision Meetings

Student attendance and engagement is monitored primarily through your in-person timetabled seminars, the submission of coursework, dissertations, or exams, and one-to-one meetings with Academic Staff.

For more information on the reasons behind attendance monitoring, please visit the Student Attendance Team's Handbook page.

For more information on how the University protects your data, please see the University's Data Protection policy.

After the conclusion of your scheuled teaching, there are a number of other forms of evidence that can be used to demonstrate your ongoing academic engagement. The most common are:

• Coursework submissions
• Exam Attendance
• Dissertation Supervision Meetings

If you are concerned that you will not be able to evidence yor ongoing academic engagement through any of the above, then you should contact the CAL Student Attendance Team (calsat@contacts.bham.ac.uk) to discuss other options available to you.

If you need to continue work on your dissertation away from campus then you should usually submit an Authorised Absence application.

An exception to this is if you are studying on a twenty-four (24) month full-time Masters programme in which case you do not need to submit an authorised absence application in the vacation period between your first and second year.

When completing the authorised absence online request form you must give ‘Dissertation – writing up in home country’ as the reason. Although you are not required to provide evidence when using this reason, academic engagement with your supervisor must continue during the period of absence.

As part of your application your dissertation arrangements will need to be confirmed and so you should discuss and agree these arrangements with your supervisor before completing your application.

The College’s Student Attendance Team will contact your supervisor to inform them that you are an international student studying under the student route and will be completing your dissertation in your home country over the summer period via the Authorised Absence process and that they will need to provide evidence of your academic engagement with them where possible.

The purpose of the Reasonable Diligence is to support students to engage as effectively as possible with their studies and to ensure they attain their full academic potential. If your attendance rate has indicated that you may be experiencing difficulties with this it will be continually reviewed to best support you. Students who are provided with an action plan should endeavour to attend all of their teaching, to submit Declarations of Absence where absence is unavoidable and to meet any other requirements of their action plan.

However, the most important thing that you can do is to keep communicating with your Wellbeing Officer, Personal Academic Tutor and the CAL Student Attendance Team; if your attendance continues to decrease without a satisfactory explanation then you may be removed from your programme of study so it is important that we are aware of difficulties that you are experiencing and able to best support you to address them.

The College reviews attendance rates at given points throughout the academic year, and will reach out to students who are not meeting the required standards of attendance.

You must make every effort to attend as many of your scheduled teaching sessions where possible and to inform the Student Attendance Team and your seminar leader or lecturer of any unavoidable absences as soon as possible.

Your attendance will not affect your ability to graduate unless you are progressed significantly through the Reasonable Diligence process. You will be informed of this process, the support available to you, and the potential consequences, throughout the process.

The purpose of the Reasonable Diligence is to support students to engage as effectively as possible with their studies and to ensure they attain their full academic potential. If your attendance rate has indicated that you may be experiencing difficulties with this it will be continually reviewed to best support you. Students who are provided with an action plan should endeavour to attend all of their teaching, to submit Declarations of Absence where absence is unavoidable and to meet any other requirements of their action plan.

However, the most important thing that you can do is to keep communicating with your Wellbeing Officer, Personal Academic Tutor and the CAL Student Attendance Team; if your attendance continues to decrease without a satisfactory explanation then you may be removed from your programme of study so it is important that we are aware of difficulties that you are experiencing and able to best support you to address them.  

Your School's Wellbeing Officer will be able to guide you through personal issues by offering direct support or pointing you in the direction of other services.

You can find more information on this on the CAL Wellbeing Canvas pages.

Your School's Wellbeing Officer will be able to guide you through personal issues by offering direct support or pointing you in the direction of other services. They will also be able to make recommendations that may help you to improve your attendance or find alternative solutions.

You can find more information on this on the CAL Wellbeing Canvas pages.

Your School's Wellbeing Officer will be able to discuss your disability with you, and offer direct support or point you in the direction of other services.

You can find more information on this on the CAL Wellbeing Canvas pages.

If you would like to apply for extenuating circumstances, please contact the Wellbeing Officer within your School. There is no need to share this information with the Student Attendance Team as Wellbeing will prevent extenuating circumstances from impacting on your attendance or the Reasonable Diligence process where appropriate.

You can find more information on this on the CAL Wellbeing Canvas pages.

If you need to leave the country during term time, you must submit an Authorised Absence form to the relevant e-mail address. This process can take up to ten working days to complete, so please submit the form as soon as you have all the details you need to complete it. Further information and a link to the form can be found on Registry's Authorised Absence page.

You should also notify your Personal Academic Tutor that you will be out of the country.

If you are leaving the country during vacation times (i.e. leaving after the 5pm on the final day of term and returning before the first day of the next term), then you do not need to submit an Authorised Absence.

If you are experiencing difficulties with your visa, please contact the International Student Team (IST).

If you are experiencing language difficulties, please contact the Birmingham International Academy and the International Student Team (IST).