Quality Handbook Section 2A - Student Attendance and Engagement Policy

2.1 These requirements apply to all students on taught courses at Levels 4, 5 and 6. They apply to Level 7 where the course is an undergraduate course with PG components. They also apply to first degrees with integrated foundation years.

2.2 These requirements do not apply to Apprenticeship courses, which have separate policy provisions for these purposes.

2.3 Where courses have specific requirements for attendance to meet PSRB accreditation, the attendance, engagement and monitoring provision sits outside the scope of these requirements. Such requirements will need to be established as part of course approval.

2.4 NTU responsibilities as a licenced sponsor of international students to come to the UK under the student route visa are additional to the requirements in this policy and can be found in Supplement 2A: Student Route Academic Engagement Monitoring.

2.5 There are some circumstances where it will not be possible to follow the procedures outlined in 4.9, below. These are where students are on placement, on exchange, or are undertaking multiple short-term placements during term time that leave insufficient time for the alerting process to work effectively (4.9, below).

Further information

• For placement students, please refer to Quality Handbook Section 10D.

3.1 NTU monitors engagement through its engagement monitoring application, the Student Dashboard. Average engagement rating is determined by considering multiple factors in the student’s daily life, including attendance and resource usage over 14 days. Ratings are Very High, High, Moderate, Low, and Very Low.

3.2 Engagement constitutes attendance to sessions, Dropbox submissions, e-resources, library loans, card swipes, NOW log-ins.

3.3 Student attendance and engagement is displayed in each student’s Dashboard and is accessible to course staff and relevant professional services colleagues.

4.1 Course teams are required to articulate expectations for students and to promote a culture of engagement and attendance. This is particularly important during induction but must continue year-round. It will encompass that students must:

1. Professionally manage their own learning and prioritise participating in their studies over other demands upon their time.
2. Prepare for, attend, and actively engage with timetabled classes (face-to-face or online).
3. Complete attendance monitoring requirements accurately and truthfully. Falsely recording attendance when a student is not in attendance may be considered as academic dishonesty as described in the University’s academic integrity policy.
4. Inform the course team if they are unable to attend; and ensure that they have made good any missed work and seek further help if required.
5. Keep contact details up to date.
6. Periodically review their own engagement data on the Student Dashboard.

4.2 Some students may face additional barriers to attendance due to legitimate circumstances. These may relate to protected equality characteristics described in the Equality Act 2010; in these cases, the University has a legal obligation to ensure that students do not suffer a disadvantage due to these characteristics.

4.3 There may be other factors not covered by this legislation that require additional consideration, for example: caring responsibilities. Whilst, as far as possible, students in this position are still expected to attend, they should discuss their needs with their personal tutor and agree a plan of action to enable them to continue to engage with the course.

4.4 Where specialist advice or additional support would be useful, students should be referred to Stduent Wellbeing and Inclusion.

4.5 Course teams are required to record student attendance and absence at timetabled sessions and complete registers within the same academic week that the session takes place.

4.6 Course teams must ensure that the following responsibilities are undertaken by personal tutors (or equivalent role) who must:

1. Ensure that they have access to their current cohort of tutees and know how to use the NTU Student Dashboard.
2. Discuss students’ engagement with them. Encourage students to monitor their own engagement in the NTU Student Dashboard.
3. Respond in a timely manner to queries about no-engagement alerts.
4. Familiarise themselves with relevant policies so they can advise students of the options available to them if there are concerns with engagement. These are:
   • Support to Study Policy: for when health, wellbeing and associated behaviour affect a student’s learning and progression.
   • Break in Study Policy: for when students request a break during, or after, a period of difficulty, or to enable them to capitalise on an opportunity that will enhance their studies. (Quality Handbook Section 17A)
   • Request for Variation in Study Rate: where students request a variation to their rate of study, to ensure that they can continue with their studies during a period of difficulty. (Quality Handbook Section 17A)
   • Consideration of Personal Circumstances Policy: allows students to tell the University about personal circumstances and to request that consideration is given to enable them to perform at their best.  (Quality Handbook Section 17A).

4.7 The School Executive Team (SET) will ensure course teams’ compliance with this policy. It will oversee and assure:

1. That course teams promote a culture of attendance and engagement to their students.
2. That students are mapped to personal tutors and that personal tutors have sufficient resources to undertake their duties.
3. That Student Opportunities and Success is kept informed of ‘non-standard’ patterns of provision lasting a week or longer, e.g. field trips, short-term placements, activity and consolidation weeks, or examinations outside designated exam periods.

4.8 To support the generation of alerts through periods of teaching, Schools are to inform Student Opportunities and Success before the start of each term of any planned breaks in teaching.

4.9 Student Opportunities and Success will:

1. Manage a process to support students who demonstrate no engagement with their studies. This consists of four stages and the Operational Framework provides further details on this process:
   1. Stage 1: Nudge communication (7 days)
   2. Stage 2: No-engagement alerts (10-14 days, 20-28 days)
   3. Stage 3: Further no-engagement alert (30-42 days)
   4. Stage 4: Wellbeing Support Intervention (40-56 days)
2. Provide an annual report of school-level student engagement to School Academic Standards & Quality Committees (SASQCs), including recommendations about interpreting engagement data meaningfully.
3. Work with schools to ensure that courses can follow this process.
4. Liaise with Student Well-being and Inclusion in circumstances where following the procedure may not be in the best interest of the student.

4.10 Student Well-being and Inclusion will carry out the Wellbeing Support Intervention (stage 4, above) for students with extended gaps in their engagement.

4.11 School Academic Standards & Quality Committees will:

1. Review attendance and engagement annually as part of the range of quality assurance processes.
2. Identify areas where further analysis or interventions are required as part of the annual reporting cycle.

4.12 Examination Boards will ensure that, where attendance or engagement is required, it is not used as the sole indicator of successful achievement of the module learning outcomes.