Attendance

I've started university this year and was wondering if poor attendance in the first year is taken too seriously. especially in the first few weeks? I personally have missed more lectures than I have attended, stupid I know.

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Reply 1

harreeeee

Do they even take attendance in your lectures? They dont in mine. If you fail your exams then they will check your attendance probably. If you pass it should be fine. Its up to you to make sure you pass :smile:

Reply 2

LewisIsAmazen

At some of the lectures theres been problems with the registers so I could maybe get around it by that

Reply 3

TimmonaPortella

Which uni is this?

I'd be interested to know how common register taking at lectures is. I took it for granted that all unis treated their students like grown ups until I saw that other thread the other day.

Oh, and in answer to your question I've no idea.

Reply 4

marcusfox

I answered this earlier today.

You will get a reputation as a deadbeat if you miss too many, and if you fail, they will point to these missed lectures and are less likely to allow you a chance to repeat.

One of the reasons they take attendance records is because of the increasingly litigious nature of students getting thrwn out of university nowadays - given that they paid more for it - and should it happen, they will be on pretty safe ground if they can show that you didn't attend the course tuition.

Another possibility that I can imagine is that you need a certain attendance to be eligible for student finance. It could be that if they report your under-attendance to Student Finance, you may have problems.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

LewisIsAmazen

Original post by TimmonaPortella

I'm at uclan in answer to your question

Reply 6

Norton1

Original post by TimmonaPortella

Depended on subject at my place.

Reply 7

Carmen205

I've been told I have to go in for a 'formal tutorial' to discuss my attendance. I'm kind of the same as you: I've missed quite a few lectures and lessons, but when I do go in, we actually don't get taught anything. I'm annoyed that nobody said anything to be before now, even though we all had tutorials a week ago. If the issue was that serious then somebody should have mentioned it before it became a problem.

They treat us like children and don't seem to realise that we're the ones who are paying them! We have to sign a register each morning and afternoon and for every lecture. Even if they see us during the day but we forget to sign in, it counts as an absence. I was looking forward to being independent at uni, but it's even worse than school and college...
I just hope that they don't take any serious action against me, because I do all the work they ask and I always have it in on time. I feel like I've been working my butt off so why does it matter where I work? Surely as long as I'm not failing, they don't really have the grounds to punish me?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 8

dj1015

You are the customer. Therefore you can attend as you see fit.

Reply 9

marcusfox

Like I said already, they take attendance so they can point to the lack of such when they kick you out after a poor showing in the assessments/exams.

Reply 10

pinkbullets

They don't take attendance in my lectures. I think it depends how big your class is. For example, I'm in history, there's about 250 of us and they don't take the register. My friend does Theology, there's 60 of them and they do take the register in lectures. If lectures don't help you, then there's no point in attending.

Reply 11

username474976

If you're bright and a good independent worker, then go ahead and don't attend - it won't be a problem. If not, then show up for two reasons: firstly, you'll need the help and secondly, if you fail then your chances of re-sitting are lowered.

Personally, I find lectures useless (one person trying to teach over 100 students... never going to work) and don't like the group learning and student-lead nature of seminars/tutorials (I want to hear an expert's opinion on a topic, not a clueless student's, and want to do so in the comfort of my home). Hence, I haven't attended university since the first month of first year and I'm now in third year.

I wouldn't worry about student admin getting on your case. As long as your grades are high they won't be any nuisance at all. I have only ever been emailed once about my attendance and I simply told them the reasons above about why I dislike lectures/tutorials and highlighted my First in the coursework - never heard back.

Reply 12

ThomasD96

Original post by LewisIsAmazen

I'm at uclan in answer to your question

LOL definitely not then

Reply 13

daindian

End of the day it depends on class size and uni. If the class is big and a register is taken, get a friend to sign you in. If the class is small and your absence is noticeable then that's different. Most unis dnt care that much about attendance they just believe passing is directly proportionate to attendance. I my view is if you hardly attend but pass the year f*** what they say.

Reply 14

discomposure

For 2 modules I've probably missed around half of my lectures but I've done well on assignments & tests so far.

I don't think they're THAT bothered by lecture attendance (some don't take registers), it's more of a problem if you miss tutorials/seminars but even then it's up to the individual lecturer/tutor.
I know at my uni your personal tutor/academic adviser will contact you if your attendance is too low- I've not had a message yet aha :p:

I'd imagine they're more lenient in first term anyway, a lot of people struggle to adapt to university life & get a bit carried away with the social aspect.

Plus, some lectures are rather pointless so you're actually better off spending that hour going over the lecture notes&reading up on the topic rather than attending I find.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

Really_now

Original post by maskofsanity

Wow, are you serious? Maybe it's different for me because our lectures only have about 20-30 people if everyone turns up. The lecturer doen't teach per se but goes over the journal articles we read and it's a chance to iron out anything we don't understand in the reading.

As for student contributions they're not all "clueless" but offer fresh perspective on a topic when they are intelligent and creative enough.

Don't worry too much about it OP but just try not to fall behind. Why have you missed so many lectures anyway?

Reply 16

username474976

Original post by Really_now

I iron out confusion with the internet and books. If you prefer a lecturer, then that's fair enough - like I said, it depends how much you prefer independent working.

As for "fresh perspective", do you honestly think that anything an undergraduate student (especially one in 1st/2nd year) comes up with in a tutorial is going to be original or academically worthwhile? There are masses of journals and books written by academics who have spent their lives researching the topics that you discuss in these tutorials - so yes, relative to them, your fellow students are completely clueless.

Reply 17

sarahlousie

At my university we had registers taken for certain modules and in some cases if you failed to attend more than 10% of the classes then you would lose 10% of your grade!!

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Reply 18

ancientone

There seems to be some confusion here caused by the "we're the customer" attitude. Just because you pay your fees doe not entitle you to a degree. You need to meet the requirements of the particular course - the payment is for tuition and use of facilities - if you choose not to take advantage then that's your concern. For many years many academic bodies have charged fees and the law is quite clear - all that's changed is the level of fee charged nothing else. Many learned societies charge fees in exactly the same manner.

It's also the case (often not realised by students) that you need to have a certificate (usually generated internally and so not seen by the student) that indicates you've met all the requirements to sit the examinations of the university. In many, many universities this includes a minimum attendance level. Fail to meet the minimum attendance levels and many universities will refuse to allow you to sit the exams and therefore pass the unit. This is one of the consequences of first year students being told their first year doesn't count. It does and every year in every university there are students that find this out the hard way by having to pay a not inconsiderable fee to resit examinations.