I'm not sure how it relates to the non-EU student issue, as we don't have any in our small department - but here we have to take attendance at EVERY lecture, workshop, seminar, tutorial etc etc etc... We are asked to monitor attendance very closely, chase non-attending students by e-mail ourselves (2 classes of a module missed) and implementing more formal withdrawal procedures when a student consistently doesn't attend (4 classes of a module missed). Even in a relatively small department this places huge demands on staff, and to my mind puts staff very unhelpfully into a position as disciplinarians rather than 'educators'.

On student forums I have noticed that students are put off coming here by attendance monitoring when it not so strictly enforced by other institutions. Is it a 'good' thing, educationally speaking, that we put pressure on students to attend? Well I think that's open to debate.

Kind regards,

Dr Allan Watson
Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
Department of Geography
Staffordshire University
Science Centre
Leek Road
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffs ST4 2DF

Tel: +44 (0)1782 294441
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Twitter: @AllanWatson1


-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric N Olund
Sent: 07 February 2013 12:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: attendance monitoring and the UK border agecny

At Sheffield the university set a certain number of 'contact points'
per semester and left it to individual departments to decide what they
are and implement, then report back to the university.  All students
are monitored for this purpose, and the university administration
sorts out who's of interest to UKBA.  This was in part due to concerns
raised over singling out international students and student-teacher
trust.  There were lots of heated discussions in various quarters
about every aspect of our being deputised by UKBA, but at the end of
the day, no compliance in UKBA eyes, no international students at our
institution.

Best,
Eric

On 7 February 2013 12:31, Andrew D. Burridge
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks for bringing this up Nick - it's something that needs to be critically addressed (and resisted!), but that seems to have been largely ignored (though I hope there are examples to prove me wrong on this)
>
> I found this article useful as background to what the UKBA expects:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/jul/16/ukba-student-inspections-university-preparation
>
> regards
> Andrew
>
> Dr. Andrew Burridge
> Research Associate
> International Boundaries Research Unit
> Department of Geography
> Durham University
> Beyond Walls and Cages: Prisons, Borders and Global Crisis:
> http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/beyond_walls_and_cages
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David C Gibbs
> Sent: 07 February 2013 12:23
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: attendance monitoring and the UK border agecny
>
> I think this is fairly common Nick - here the University asks all students to sign in once a week, but doesn't check the detail for each and every seminar/lecture etc.  I'm not certain how this plays with overseas students, but can't imagine that it exactly makes you feel very welcome!  The University had a UKBA visit last year and I think this system passed their scrutiny, but only just.  As far as I know it hasn't been much of an issue amongst staff, though I'd need to get the views of those departments (especially our business school) which have large numbers of non-EU students.
>
> David Gibbs
>
> Professor of Human Geography and Head of Department Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences University of Hull Hull
> HU6 7RX
>
> Email [log in to unmask]
> Tel. 01482 465330 (direct)
> Tel. 07734 821968 (Mobile)
> Fax 01482 466340 (Geography)
> www.hull.ac.uk/geog/staff/Gibbs.htm
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nick Megoran
> Sent: 07 February 2013 12:03
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: attendance monitoring and the UK border agecny
>
> Dear Critters,
>
> My university introduced an attendance monitoring programme last September. My understanding is that this was a response to demands from the UK Border Agency that universities should be able to confirm that non-EU students on student visas are actually participating and attending, and concern that failure to demonstrate this could make it hard to grant visas. For my department this has involved a paper register passed round all lectures and seminars. This information is then collated by administrative staff. The university is currently devising a strategy for the next academic year.
>
> I am emailing because I'd like to know what has been happening elsewhere. How have your universities responded? Have you run registers of all students at all lectures, seminars, etc? If not, what have you done? I for one would find this information useful as our university discusses how to move forwards.
>
> And I am also interested in what resistance and critical reflection there has been. Has there been open debate, boycotts by staff or students, genuine consultation, etc? Has the data been used in other ways, for example passed to tutors for pastoral care to spot students in difficulty?
>
> Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences here,
>
> Peace - Nick
>
>
> --
> Dr Nick Megoran,
> Lecturer in Political Geography,
> Co-convenor, Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Martin Luther King Peace Committee, Honorary Chaplain to Newcastle University, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, 5th Floor, Claremont Tower, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU.
>
> Tel: 0191 222 6450
> Personal website: www.megoran.org
> Chaplaincy website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/chaplaincy/

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