University of Leeds

Leeds

Compulsory attendance for lectures?

Is it compulsory to attend lectures? I get that seminars and tutorials are probably compulsory but are lectures compulsory? Is attendance recorded for lectures? I'm planning on going to my lectures but gotta make sure I know the answer for those days where I REALLY don't feel like going

Reply 1

999tigger

Original post by Confuseeed

Varies between unis, some make you sign a register others dont care.

You do have the issue that you are paying c £40 a lecture.

You will know within a few weeks if you can skive off. For the most part i went just to have peace of mind I hadnt missed stuff.

You will just have to wait and see. Some lectures are more use than others.

University of Leeds

Leeds

Reply 2

Confuseeed

Original post by 999tigger

Thanks for your reply! my bad though, should've been a little more specific, uni of Leeds is where I'm headed. I guess I'll just have to go to all of my lectures for like a week or two until I figure it out. I think most of my lectures are recorded, thats why I'm a little relaxed about missing some of them

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 3

Segsation

It varies between schools at Leeds. I'm in school of maths and they register about 1 or 2 lectures per module per semester and it's just a paper register they send round so if you're not there you can just ask someone else to squiggle next to your name. So basically they don't register you and you can get away with missing them. That is risky though as lecture capture can be unrealiable. For example it sometimes doesn't record or the sound is terrible as the lecturers who all have masters and PhDs can't ever manage to work their microphones. Also if your lecturer writes the notes on the whiteboard as they're teaching then it's basically impossible to read on lecture capture so you're hoping for a lecturer who uses powerpoint that they upload to minerva (VLE). Some schools however do register almost every lecture and if you're in a really niche course/module then it's more obvious when you skip.

Reply 4

iElvendork

I do Chemistry at Leeds, we have a register for almost every lecture, as the university has a legal obligation to ensure you attend lectures. If you miss 10 lectures in a row without giving a reason, you'll receive an email about your absence and then if you continue to miss lectures you get pulled in for a meeting with your tutor. Happened to three people I know.

A year ago they tried to do online signing in, but it was useless. They quickly scrapped it when we all complained

Reply 5

Confuseeed

Original post by Segsation

Do you know which lectures are going to be registered or is it just random? The lecture capture problem seems to be an issue though, thats what I was relying on, so hopefully my lecturers are able to make it work. Do you know if the business school or the philosophy schools register every lecture?

Reply 6

Confuseeed

Original post by iElvendork

What about if I just miss the odd lecture here and there? Will I be contacted about it at all or would they just ignore it and only contact me if I start missing too many of them?

Reply 7

iElvendork

Original post by Confuseeed

What about if I just miss the odd lecture here and there? Will I be contacted about it at all or would they just ignore it and only contact me if I start missing too many of them?

You should be alright if it's a couple, if it's every lecture for a week and you haven't given a reason i.e. illness, then they may email

Reply 8

Confuseeed

Original post by iElvendork

You should be alright if it's a couple, if it's every lecture for a week and you haven't given a reason i.e. illness, then they may email

oh right, brilliant thank you!

Reply 9

Segsation

Original post by Confuseeed

No they don't tell you in advance and i'm not sure about those schools sorry. Lectures are fine because you can get someone else to sign your name, it's seminars/tutorials/workshops that you really need to go to because it's very obvious if you skip. That said i'm talking about what you CAN get away with but obvs i would recommend going to everything if possible because you're paying for it and you will really kick yourself when it comes to exam time for not going because even with the best intentions you are very unlikely to catch up on lectures missed, especially if they start racking up.

Reply 10

CatusStarbright

Original post by Confuseeed

For Law, attendance isn't compulsory for anything. There is however a register that is signed for each seminar, but not for lectures.
I would highly recommend attending all the contact time you are physically able to.

Reply 11

cookieesxo

At my uni for my course if you miss just 5 lectures they send you an email about it and if you miss more than 5 lectures you get called in for a meeting which is ridiculous.

Reply 12

username3661762

In my uni it's compulsory to attend lectures (as well as studio tutorials/sessions/crits) since they're timetabled (in the case of crits you sometimes get graded for specific criteria), sometimes students tap themselves in to lectures then go home lol (my uni has a TAP IN system where you swipe your card on a card reader for lessons or a register if the readers don't work). Usually if a student misses more than three timetabled sessions, they end up receiving an email about poor attendance (sometimes my year leader informs everyone about poor attendance in an email to the entire year). My year leader and course leader also have meetings with students that have poor attendance (this is to discuss whether they're going to be removed from the course).

TBF, you should try to attend as much lectures as possible (sometimes if there is a PPT it is hard to catch up on material if it's not mentioned in the actual lecture). If your lectures are lecture captured then you can catch up on missed material if you're absent.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 13

Confuseeed

Thanks for all the replies!
update: attendance is compulsory and some lectures are even registered, but for those that are too big, no one even notices if you don't turn up. I have been going in, but I can see the amount of students attending a lecture shrink every week lol

Reply 14

CatusStarbright

Original post by Confuseeed

That's to their detriment. Lectures are really important as they are the foundation upon which your other contact hours/work for that module build on.