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Supplementary Policy on Attendance (UNM)

1.   Purpose

The intention of this policy is to ensure that students attend all activities, including teaching activities and meetings necessary for the pursuit of their studies, as required by their School or the University, and to satisfy attendance requirements by regulatory authorities in Malaysia.

This Supplementary Policy on Attendance should be read in conjunction with the Quality Manual (QM) Regulations Governing Attendance and Engagement, and the Attendance Monitoring Procedure for schools and departments at UNM.

This policy is applicable to all types of student on all programmes or courses registered at UNM, unless otherwise stated. Where a student’s ability to study or take assessments is in any way affected the Policy on Circumstances Affecting Students' Ability to Study and Complete Assessments should apply. This supplementary policy should therefore not be used to manage absence from an examination/assessment or non-submission of coursework.

2.   General

1. Taught (Foundation, UG, and PGT) students are required to attend at least 80% of their scheduled classes.
2. Postgraduate Research (PGR) students are required to attend supervision meetings set by their supervisor; a minimum of 10 supervision meetings per year for full-time students and minimum of 6 supervision meetings per year for part-time students, as laid out in the QM requirements.
3. Non-attendance of class/supervision meetings for whatever reason, including non-academic school or campus related activity, does not relieve a student from responsibility for any part of the work covered or required during the period of absence.
4. Students are required to apply for planned absence from their school or immediately inform their school/faculty of any unplanned absence from class and supervision, with appropriate evidence.
5. Students who fail to meet the attendance requirements (2.1 and 2.2.) in this policy will be dealt with under the attendance policies and procedures contained in Section 10.
6. UNM is required to report international students who are in breach of the attendance requirements to authorities. International students who fail to satisfy section 2.1 or 2.2. may have their student pass (visa) cancelled and study terminated.
7. All schools are to maintain the formal register (section 6) of student attendance to facilitate the successful monitoring of attendance and engagement of registered students.

3.   Responsibilities of Students

1. Attend all classes (e.g. Lectures, Tutorials, Lab sessions etc.), meetings (e.g. Supervisions) and other activities scheduled or required of them by their school or the University.
2. Postgraduate Research students should allocate the required amount of time in research, and maintain regular contact with their primary supervisor.
3. Inform their school (e.g. their Primary Supervisor if applicable) promptly of any difficulty that may prevent them from attending a scheduled class, supervision meeting and seek authorisation for absence via an absence request.
4. Submit to the Faculty Office relevant supporting documents and evidence for their absence as laid out in this policy and relevant procedures (e.g. medical certificate from doctor, police report, etc.).
5. Observe timeframes set by the School in procedures for informing the Faculty Office and lecturer of absence.
6. Attend all Attendance Intervention Meetings for them set by their school, department or faculty.
7. Familiarise themselves with University, Faculty/School requirements and procedures for attendance by reading the relevant policies in the Quality Manual, and the School Handbook.

4.   Responsibilities of Schools/Departments

1. Maintain the formal register of student attendance to facilitate the successful monitoring of attendance and engagement of registered students.
2. Ensuring compliance of the attendance policy and facilitation of attendance procedure at the school level is the responsibility of the Head of School, or person with suitable designated authority by the Faculty Dean.
3. Ensure students are aware of this policy and the attendance procedures and requirements. This may be done by including information during initial induction/orientation and in the School/Programme Handbook, and reminding students each year of its existence.
4. Ensure that students are aware of primary contacts and school’s procedure for students to inform the faculty office of their absence, submission of absence requests, and seeking advice about non-attendance.
5. Schools should ensure that their Academics and Personal Tutors are aware of this policy, associated procedures and their responsibility, if appropriate, to support and advise their students when they know of their intention to request absence or notification of absence.
6. Hold Attendance Intervention Meetings as needed for student(s) that fall below or may be at risk of breaching attendance requirements.
7. Ensure student is informed of the school’s decision in their non-attendance or engagement case(s).

5.   Responsibilities of Faculty Office Admin/Case Handlers

1. Ensure all academic programme and course information in the Attendance Register to facilitate attendance and engagement monitoring is up to date. This includes class schedule information and groupings, meetings and other teaching and learning activities.
2. Provide support, information, and advice to students on procedures if requested. Guidance provided should be within the parameters of published policies and procedures.
3. Receive, acknowledge, log and process for consideration absence notifications and/or requests submitted by students.
4. Notify students of the outcome of their absence requests (if required), decision by schools on non-attendance via the relevant letters/email, and update student records accordingly.
5. Generate Attendance Reports to view and analyse the attendance data either for cohorts/groups of students or for individual students as needed by the school or university.
6. Schedule Attendance Intervention Meetings as requested or needed by the School.

6.   Attendance Register

1. All schools, in collaboration with the relevant instructor and staff, should maintain a full attendance record of each student.
2. The applications Instatt and Campus Solutions shall serve as attendance registers at UNM. Attendance sheets and record forms may only be used to support these applications in attendance taking in circumstances where they are unavailable.
3. Schools are required to formally record attendance in activities (e.g. classes) for taught students using the Instatt application.
4. Schools are required to formally record attendance or completion of supervision meetings for postgraduate research students using the Student Milestone component in the Campus Solution application.
5. Attendance sheets or record forms may be used to support attendance, but the data must be transferred to the relevant attendance register (see section 6.2), by the designated faculty staff.
6. Attendance sheets (see Section 6.5) used to support attendance on teaching activities (e.g. classes) must be stored at least to the end of academic year by the faculty office.

7.   Absence Request

1. Absence Request shall be managed under the Attendance Monitoring Procedures at UNM.
2. Students wishing that planned or unplanned absences be authroized must submit an Absence Request, accompanied by the acceptable evidence of impact, by the timescales given under the Attendance Monitoring Procedure at UNM.
3. Faculty and Schools will reject Absence Requests if appropriate evidence is not included at the point of submission or provided within the relevant permissible timescales.

8.   Timescales

Timescales for students to inform faculty of unplanned absence, and submission of absence request for planned absence are set and published within the Attendance Monitoring Procedure and must be adhered to.

9.   Guidance on Acceptable Circumstances and Evidence

The Guidance on Acceptable Circumstances and Evidence in the university EC procedure may be used as guidance on the types of acceptable circumstances and evidence that may serve as good cause or satisfactory explanation for absence.

10.   Management of Non-Attendance

Regulations and action steps for the management of non-attendance and non-engagement are available under the QM’s Regulations Governing Attendance and Engagement and the Attendance Monitoring Procedure at UNM.

Faculties are encouraged to understand and apply these regulations in a timely manner as prescribed.

This will facilitate faculties to identify students who may be a cause for concern and can then take follow-up actions as required. This will also ensure that faculties maintain proper documentation (medical certificates, EC forms etc.) and communication evidences (letters, emails etc.) to inform any future reporting or audit activities by immigration/government agencies.

Other Important and relevant policies and procedure:

Attendance Monitoring Procedure

Regulations Governing Attendance and Engagement

Policy on Circumstances Affecting Students' Ability to Study and Complete Assessments

Voluntary Interruption of Study

Support and Guides:

Guide on Instatt are available on SharePoint.

Guides for Milestones in Campus Solutions are available on SharePoint.