Student Attendance Monitoring Martina Daly 23 rd September

Student Attendance Monitoring Martina Daly 23 rd September, 2010

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

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

University responsibilities UKBA Sponsor Management System (SMS) went live on 22 nd 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 NONATTENDANCE

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

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

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

Monitoring Interactions At least 50% of required minimum 12 interactions should be face-to-face interactions with staff Exceptions remote location 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

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

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

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

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

Additional Contact Points Date Event attended Details Confirmed 5 th-6 th July 2010 Annual Research Meeting Presented a poster Attendance confirmed by administrator by viewing register of attendees Oct 2010 Registration May 2011 1 st year presentation July 2011 Annual research meeting Sept 2011 Departmental meeting

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

Supervisory Meeting Report Research student Date of last meeting Duration of meeting . . . . . . Supervisor. . . . . Date of this meeting. . . . . Supervisor Student On a scale of 1 to 6, where 1 is very poor and 6 is excellent, how would you rate the progress of the project since the last meeting? If appropriate, please comment below. Achievements since last meeting and other comments (continue overleaf if necessary) Yes No Has the student made sufficient progress since the last meeting? Are the supervisor and student clear about current objectives? Have any specific problems associated with the work or the supervision been identified? If appropriate, please comment below. Are the supervisor and student clear about the work to be done before the next meeting? Goals for next 4 -6 weeks and other comments (continue overleaf if necessary) 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: MPhil. Ph. D: Jodie Burnham, LU 116, L Floor, RHH. MPhil-MD: Carol Fidler, LU 116, 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

Personal Tutoring Report Research student Personal Tutor(s) Date of meeting …………………………………………………………………………. Yes • • From discussions with the student, does he/she appear to have a clear understanding of what their research project is about? If No, please elaborate below. Is the student making sufficient progress? If No, please elaborate below. Are you aware of any practical factors which are currently limiting, or could in the future limit, progress with the research project? If Yes, please elaborate below. Have you identified any specific training needs that should be addressed? If Yes, please elaborate below. Is the supervisor developing a satisfactory working relationship with the student? If No, please elaborate below. Is the supervisor giving adequate support and guidance on the project to the student? If No, please elaborate below. Has the student raised any other problems (e. g. finances, accommodation, health, personal issues) that may impact on their current or future progress? If appropriate, please comment below. * Please elaborate Additional Comments Student signature ………………………………. Personal tutor signature(s) ………………………………. . No

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