Student Attendance Monitoring

1. Student Attendance Monitoring Martina Daly 23rd September, 2010

2. Background United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) charged with developing and implementing governmental immigration policy Points based system (PBS) International students (tier 4) subject to additional monitoring procedures prior to and during their time in the UK Need for HEIs etc to monitor and, if necessary, report on interactions with students

3. PBS, Tier 4 & HEIs Introduced in phases March ’09 to February ’10 To operate under Tier 4, all educational institutions must hold a UKBA sponsor licence Compliance with UKBA defined sponsor duties is a condition of retaining the licence PBS Project Group co-ordinating the implementation of immigration requirements

4. University responsibilities UKBA Sponsor Management System (SMS) went live on 22nd February, 2010 Students issued with a UKBA Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number University must report CAS students to UKBA using the SMS for withdrawal, leave of absence, change of programme, transfer to other institutions and NON-ATTENDANCE

5. Attendance monitoring Report a series of unauthorised absences Only CAS students will be reported to UKBA Senate agreed to monitor attendance of all student groups in the interests of equality and student support Support of the Students’ Union Similar approach at peer institutions Students are informed of immigration conditions when issued with a CAS number

6. What are we being asked to do? Departments are responsible for monitoring/recording attendance for their students ‘Home’ department responsible for liaising with Research Degree Support Team regarding any international PGR students who miss 10 ‘expected interactions’ Departments are NOT required to report international students to the UKBA themselves Attendance data to be uploaded centrally three times per annum

7. Minimum Attendance Monitoring Requirements Every department should monitor attendance for a total of 12 expected interactions for every PGR student, at every level/year of study, over the full academic year Option for light touch monitoring of small number of students – remote location, joint location, students on placements away from Sheffield

8. Monitoring Interactions At least 50% of required minimum 12 interactions should be face-to-face interactions with staff Exceptions remote location students students on placements away from Sheffield students undertaking research away from the University In these cases, interactions will necessarily need to be carried out remotely, online, email or telephone contact

9. Current monitoring system in the Medical School PGR students expected to have 6 recorded meetings with their supervisor and 2 with their personal tutor per annum After each meeting, a form is completed that should then be returned to the PGR secretaries Reports can/are useful in situations where disputes arise Also effective tool for identifying any problems at an early stage and offering appropriate support

10. Problems with current system Meetings do not take place Meetings take place but forms not completed Meetings take place but forms not submitted Report forms go “missing” Monitoring system is very time consuming for PGR Secretaries Inadequate records in some cases which would be a problem if a complaint were to be made

11. Monitoring from Oct 2010 Supervisors and Personal Tutors will be copied into emails requesting completion of the appropriate monitoring forms from students PLEASE respond to all requests from the PGR Secretaries in a timely manner (prefer email submission) Registers of attendance at seminars, workshops etc. Dr Cyril Sanders appointed to co-ordinate attendance monitoring for Medical School

12. Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Fixed Contact Points Registration 9 supervisory meetings per annum 2 personal tutor meetings per annum Annual progress report Supervisory meeting report Personal tutor meeting report Registration Annual progress report

13. Additional Contact Points

14. Future plans for monitoring Electronic system to record supervisory and personal tutoring meetings in development for PGR students - AUME System will be held within Minerva and similar to the PATS already developed Advantages Staff familiar with Minerva Possibility to expand for development of e-Portfolio Custom built Time saving Easier to identify potential problems

15. Supervisory Meeting Report Research student ................................ Supervisor ..................................... Date of last meeting ................................. Date of this meeting ..................................... Duration of meeting ................................. Student signature .......................................................................... Supervisor signature .................................................................... Copies of this report as a record of the student’s progress should be held by the student and supervisor. First year students are required to submit six completed reports prior to transfer of registration. Students should return the original form to: MPhilPhD: Jodie Burnham, LU116, L Floor, RHH. MPhil-MD: Carol Fidler, LU116, L Floor, RHH This form will be available for download from the School Postgraduate Research website. www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/current/postgraduates/ongoing.html

16. Personal Tutoring Report Research student …………………………………………………………………………. Personal Tutor(s) …………………………………………………………………………. Date of meeting …………………………………………………………………………. Additional Comments Student signature ………………………………………………………………. Personal tutor signature(s) ………………………………………………………………..

17. Important webpages! http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/medicine/current/postgraduates