Student Attendance Monitoring

Attendance Monitoring Requirements

The University Senate has agreed to monitor attendance of both home and international students. This is to ensure equity of treatment across the whole student population and enable attendance monitoring to be an effective tool for identifying any problems at an early stage and offering students appropriate support. Departments are required to monitor the attendance of all students from the 2010-11 academic session onwards.

Further guidance about the 'standard' and 'light touch' attendance monitoring approaches departments should adopt for particular student groups is provided in the document "Student Attendance Monitoring (SAM): Guidance Note for Departments" (see link in Downloads box on the right).

Systems for Attendance Monitoring

The University has developed three different systems to assist departments in recording student attendance, along with a Reporting Facility. Further information and guidance on the various systems available can be found at:

Systems for Attendance Monitoring

Attendance Monitoring and Tier 4 of the Points-Based System (PBS)

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has introduced a new immigration system for international students: Tier 4 of the Points Based System (PBS). Under Tier 4 all educational institutions must have a UKBA approved sponsor licence to recruit and retain students on a student visa. In order to retain its sponsor licence, the University has a number of duties that it is required to undertake. Among these is a requirement for the University to report to the UKBA any international student with a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) Number who is absent, without permission, from 10 compulsory prescribed 'contact points'. Under PBS, a record of a student's attendance must be stored and may be requested by the UKBA during a compliance visit.

Further information about how Tier 4 of PBS affects the University and the range of duties required of the University under its sponsor licence can be found at:

How PBS affects the University

Guidance/assistance about the Tier 4 Points-Based System (PBS) or student immigration matters can be obtained from the Student Services' International Student Support team by contacting:

email : tier4enquiries@sheffield.ac.uk

Further Contacts for Queries

UG and PGT Students - In the first instance please contact your normal Faculty Support contact in the Taught Programmes Office.

Taught Programmes Office contacts

For more general queries about UG/PGT policy etc. contact Helen Grindley
(h.grindley@sheffield.ac.uk, Ext. 21272)

PGR Students - In the first instance please contact your usual PGR Student Support contact in the Research Degree Support Team.

Research Degree Support Team contacts

For more general queries about PGR policy etc. contact Joanne Rowlands
(j.l.rowlands@sheffield.ac.uk, Ext. 22892)