English 
ATTENDANCE POLICY AND PROCEDURE
This policy has been developed as part of the BIC’s commitment to provide a supportive learning environment in which encouragement is given to all students to develop a range of skills, abilities and approaches to their studies and other activities.
AIMS
The Attendance Policy aims to:
- Encourage all its students to maintain a 100% attendance;
- Ensure compliance as a Tier 4 college to monitor attendance and take appropriate actions if this is below the minimum required standards;
- Enhance the overall learning environment by encouraging active participation through regular attendance in all areas of study;
- Provide guidance on why attendance is important;
- Use attendance as one of the factors to be taken into account in reviewing a student's commitment to, and performance in, their academic studies and in developing an appropriate response to specific concerns about performance.
WHAT IS ATTENDANCE
Regular and consistent attendance at college is expected and is critical to a student’s success and achievement of their learning goals. The college aims to have 100% attendance, however, UKBA requirement is that it should not fall below 80% in each term unless there are exceptional circumstances which can be justified to the administrator. Each case of absenteeism is different and will be treated individually on the basis of circumstances and evidence provided. Procedure:
- All the students are expected to attend all lectures unless these are declared as non compulsory. Students are also expected to adhere to prescheduled meetings and feedback sessions with their tutors and meet all deadlines for submission of coursework and examinations etc.
- Students whose attendance is below 85% will be terminated and reported to UKBA.
- All students are expected to be punctual and arrive on time. A maximum late arrival of 15 minutes is allowed. A student who is late by more than 15 minutes will join class but will be marked Late. Any student who is late by more than 30 minutes will be marked 'N' but it is up to the discretion of tutor to allow attending class.
- In case of no show or no improvement within 2 weeks of sending final warning and reporting to UKBA, the student registration will be cancelled and reported to UKBA.
WHAT IS CONTACT
At BIC, a “contact” is defined but not necessarily confined to a period of one lecture time. Students will have minimum of 5 contacts per week. There are two separate attendance sheet for each lecture, before break and after the break. Attendance is taken for 2 sessions but constitutes as “one contact”. A student who misses one session but attends the second one will be eligible to ½ contact attendance.
- Attendance is entered in the SMS system daily and is administered daily by the Admin Manager.
- The Cumulative Attendance Reports are printed weekly, usually on Mondays, and necessary action is taken when a student's attendance falls below 80%. For this purpose the action will taken one of the following form:
First Week:
Students whose Attendance is below 85% but above 0%: shall receive a phone call from the Admin. A Verbal Warning is given.
Students whose attendance is 0%: First Warning Letter will be issued parallel with the telephone call and student will be closely monitored.
Second Week:
Students with attendance still below 85%: A First Warning Letter will be issued.
Students whose attendance was 0% for the previous week: These are closely monitored and Final Warning Letter is issued.
Third Week:
Students with attendance still below 85%: A Second Warning Letter is issued.
Students whose attendance was 0% for three weeks:
If the student still fails to attend she/ he will be suspended and suspension letter will be sent to student’s local / overseas address. College will contact the overseas contact and inform about the suspension.
Fourth Week and thereafter:
Students with attendance still below 85%: A Final Warning Letter is issued and intention to cancel registration and report to UKBA is clearly stated.
Attendance will then be closely monitored for two weeks after issuing the Final Warning Letter. If a student doesn’t show up or improve attendance past 85%, the student registration will be cancelled and UKBA will be reported of termination.
Students whose attendance was 0% for four weeks:
Student will be terminated and reported to the UKBA
NB: If it is determined that a student is unable to make up to the required level in the remaining time period, the above process could be fast tracked.
Recording Students attendance:
- Attendance is taken for each session; this includes the lecture, workshop and Lab sessions.
- The college admin department will print a copy of the Attendance sheet for the respective classes and keep it ready for the respective lecturers according to the Timetable.
- It is the lecture's responsibility to collect the student attendance sheet for their session.
- At the beginning of the class, the lecturer takes attendance, he / she marks Present / absent / authorized leave and should sign the form. Lecturer should return it to the admin office after the lecture.
- The admin department will maintain the hard copy and will enter the data into the system.
- In the system, daily attendance, weekly report and the cumulative report is maintained.
The college will report a student to UKBA:
When the college has terminated a student registration due to no-show or no improvement in attendance was found after two weeks of serving the final warning letter.
