Suspension Help
So I just yesterday had a stage 4 meeting regarding my attendance and engagement and they decided to suspend me until September 2025. This was a massive shock to me and to be honest I am absolutely distraught and feel I have not been treated fairly at all. The only communication I have gotten is from my course leader on the 11th November stating that he wanted to have a stage 2 meeting to discuss why my attendance was so bad (it was at 48%, which is not ideal but not the worst in my opinion). I stated that the day he suggested a friday i could not make as i had work (also the reason for my attendance) i was told that was no issue and that we can catch up next week. That was just under 4 weeks ago , i also had a exam week which i also told him i could not make a exam due to work which he was aware about 2 weeks ago and i was told that was fine also. Reading through the universities policy they have skipped out stage 2 and 3 and jumped to 4 with no real reasoning. I plead with the student support team and my course leader in the meeting as i was under no impression this meeting was that serious after only having a email from him previously. I have ultimately spoken to student union to plead for advice and guidance on appealing however i’m just looking for advice from others regarding my appeal and the situation.
Scroll to see replies
Original post by joelwaltonn
So I just yesterday had a stage 4 meeting regarding my attendance and engagement and they decided to suspend me until September 2025. This was a massive shock to me and to be honest I am absolutely distraught and feel I have not been treated fairly at all. The only communication I have gotten is from my course leader on the 11th November stating that he wanted to have a stage 2 meeting to discuss why my attendance was so bad (it was at 48%, which is not ideal but not the worst in my opinion). I stated that the day he suggested a friday i could not make as i had work (also the reason for my attendance) i was told that was no issue and that we can catch up next week. That was just under 4 weeks ago , i also had a exam week which i also told him i could not make a exam due to work which he was aware about 2 weeks ago and i was told that was fine also. Reading through the universities policy they have skipped out stage 2 and 3 and jumped to 4 with no real reasoning. I plead with the student support team and my course leader in the meeting as i was under no impression this meeting was that serious after only having a email from him previously. I have ultimately spoken to student union to plead for advice and guidance on appealing however i’m just looking for advice from others regarding my appeal and the situation.
Hey? Could you just explain why your attendance is low then I’ll see if I can help. Wdym work? Like a job?
Original post by offshore-cauldro
Hey? Could you just explain why your attendance is low then I’ll see if I can help. Wdym work? Like a job?
Of course , I’m in accommodation and on the lowest loan which leaves me 1200 to find a term so. i have no choice but to work so i have been prioritising work over my studies. However i was only told once very informally that i should cut my hours down and then it was escalated to suspension immediately. Also a combination of laziness with working late nights however if i was told i would be suspended , i could have dropped my hours immediately, i just was not given the chance.
Original post by joelwaltonn
So I just yesterday had a stage 4 meeting regarding my attendance and engagement and they decided to suspend me until September 2025. This was a massive shock to me and to be honest I am absolutely distraught and feel I have not been treated fairly at all. The only communication I have gotten is from my course leader on the 11th November stating that he wanted to have a stage 2 meeting to discuss why my attendance was so bad (it was at 48%, which is not ideal but not the worst in my opinion). I stated that the day he suggested a friday i could not make as i had work (also the reason for my attendance) i was told that was no issue and that we can catch up next week. That was just under 4 weeks ago , i also had a exam week which i also told him i could not make a exam due to work which he was aware about 2 weeks ago and i was told that was fine also. Reading through the universities policy they have skipped out stage 2 and 3 and jumped to 4 with no real reasoning. I plead with the student support team and my course leader in the meeting as i was under no impression this meeting was that serious after only having a email from him previously. I have ultimately spoken to student union to plead for advice and guidance on appealing however i’m just looking for advice from others regarding my appeal and the situation.
Mate, you didn't go to half of your lectures and then you didn't go to the meeting for a month, it is pretty clear why you are being suspended. I understand you weren't able to make it two of the weeks, but why not the other two?
This should be a wake-up call to you, do you even want to go to uni?
Original post by stilllearning123
Mate, you didn't go to half of your lectures and then you didn't go to the meeting for a month, it is pretty clear why you are being suspended. I understand you weren't able to make it two of the weeks, but why not the other two?
This should be a wake-up call to you, do you even want to go to uni?
This should be a wake-up call to you, do you even want to go to uni?
Mate , i wasn’t supported is my entire point , i wasn’t told my attendance was poor , last year i done a foundation and my attendance was worse and i didn’t have any issues. I went to every single lecture ive missed seminars and that’s it.
Original post by joelwaltonn
Mate , i wasn’t supported is my entire point , i wasn’t told my attendance was poor , last year i done a foundation and my attendance was worse and i didn’t have any issues. I went to every single lecture ive missed seminars and that’s it.
But isn’t your overall attendance around 50%?
Original post by Admit-One
But isn’t your overall attendance around 50%?
50% , i started end of september and haven’t had any formal intervention to question my attendance or encourage it.
Look unless I'm reading this wrong you're putting work above uni constantly. You're missing classes, missing exams and missing meetings, this clearly sounds like you aren't engaging with the course or being realistic about it. You're talking about not being supported or told about your attendance, but you're the one making these choices? You shouldn't need them to prompt or warn you at every stage, It's not like school where if you don't attend they have an obligation to chase after you.
I wouldn't be shocked if since avoiding the Stage 2 meeting your attendance has degraded further and that has escalated the process. Missing the exam especially sounds like 'last straw' behaviour tbh
I wouldn't be shocked if since avoiding the Stage 2 meeting your attendance has degraded further and that has escalated the process. Missing the exam especially sounds like 'last straw' behaviour tbh
Original post by StriderHort
Look unless I'm reading this wrong you're putting work above uni constantly. You're missing classes, missing exams and missing meetings, this clearly sounds like you aren't engaging with the course or being realistic about it. You're talking about not being supported or told about your attendance, but you're the one making these choices? You shouldn't need them to prompt or warn you at every stage, It's not like school where if you don't attend they have an obligation to chase after you.
I wouldn't be shocked if since avoiding the Stage 2 meeting your attendance has degraded further and that has escalated the process. Missing the exam especially sounds like 'last straw' behaviour tbh
I wouldn't be shocked if since avoiding the Stage 2 meeting your attendance has degraded further and that has escalated the process. Missing the exam especially sounds like 'last straw' behaviour tbh
i had spoke to my lecturer letting him know i missed it via email and he said it was no problem , all of the emails i have show no issue or problem with me working. How am i supposed to know im breaching a policy at a uni i’ve been at for under 2 months ? Yes my attendance and engagement is under their requirements however i do still attend all of lectures and a handful of seminars. I can drop work and not save however i had not been told to do so , given any attendant target to meet or had a meeting to give me an ultimatum as you will. This is a requirement in the university’s policy and they have breached it.
Original post by StriderHort
Look unless I'm reading this wrong you're putting work above uni constantly. You're missing classes, missing exams and missing meetings, this clearly sounds like you aren't engaging with the course or being realistic about it. You're talking about not being supported or told about your attendance, but you're the one making these choices? You shouldn't need them to prompt or warn you at every stage, It's not like school where if you don't attend they have an obligation to chase after you.
I wouldn't be shocked if since avoiding the Stage 2 meeting your attendance has degraded further and that has escalated the process. Missing the exam especially sounds like 'last straw' behaviour tbh
I wouldn't be shocked if since avoiding the Stage 2 meeting your attendance has degraded further and that has escalated the process. Missing the exam especially sounds like 'last straw' behaviour tbh
i also did not ‘avoid’ the stage 2 , i was told a date which i could not make and was told to enjoy my reading week and it was no issue we will catch up again. Not receiving another email until my stage 4 and suspension. I have not been treated fairly in the slightest.
Original post by joelwaltonn
i had spoke to my lecturer letting him know i missed it via email and he said it was no problem , all of the emails i have show no issue or problem with me working. How am i supposed to know im breaching a policy at a uni i’ve been at for under 2 months ? Yes my attendance and engagement is under their requirements however i do still attend all of lectures and a handful of seminars. I can drop work and not save however i had not been told to do so , given any attendant target to meet or had a meeting to give me an ultimatum as you will. This is a requirement in the university’s policy and they have breached it.
So you are blaming the uni for what you have done wrong?
Original post by stilllearning123
So you are blaming the uni for what you have done wrong?
I am not blaming , I am stating there are procedures in place that they have to follow. As well as I , they have not.
All I can say is attend the meetings, be honest, explain any comms and interactions you've had about attendance and importantly be contrite rather accusatory.
NB. You still need to reconcile the fact that you're on a full time course of study and need income to do it. but that is your problem rather than the unis. I think you've had the wool pulled over your eyes by your FY's shoddy acceptance of sub-50% attendance, There is no way on earth that is going to fly now.
NB. You still need to reconcile the fact that you're on a full time course of study and need income to do it. but that is your problem rather than the unis. I think you've had the wool pulled over your eyes by your FY's shoddy acceptance of sub-50% attendance, There is no way on earth that is going to fly now.
Original post by joelwaltonn
I am not blaming , I am stating there are procedures in place that they have to follow. As well as I , they have not.
Well, if you are now suspended, you should have all the time in the world to go and work, and not have to go to uni.
Original post by joelwaltonn
i had spoke to my lecturer letting him know i missed it via email and he said it was no problem , all of the emails i have show no issue or problem with me working. How am i supposed to know im breaching a policy at a uni i’ve been at for under 2 months ? Yes my attendance and engagement is under their requirements however i do still attend all of lectures and a handful of seminars. I can drop work and not save however i had not been told to do so , given any attendant target to meet or had a meeting to give me an ultimatum as you will. This is a requirement in the university’s policy and they have breached it.
I don't say this to be rude, but you should not have needed to be told most/all of this. You should know that work is interfering with your education and it's not for the uni to tell you how many hours to work or what to earn, it's your choice. As @Admit-One said above, your foundation year being lax might have gave you a false sense of what was expected of you. When you enrol in a full time course they expect full time commitment.
"I also did not ‘avoid’ the stage 2 , i was told a date which i could not make and was told to enjoy my reading week and it was no issue we will catch up again. Not receiving another email until my stage 4 and suspension. I have not been treated fairly in the slightest"
You said you couldn't go and didn't offer an alternative by the sound of it, the very fact you were told to attend an attendance meeting should have been all the motivation or ultimatum you needed but it sounds like you still kept missing things? If I was asked to attend a meeting abut my attendance at either work or uni, my first thought would be 'My position is in danger'.
I was a mature student/student rep and able to talk a bit more directly as an equal to many of the uni staff and something that a program director said always stuck with me, 'If they don't give a **** about the course we don't give a **** about them, we focus on the ones who want to be here'.
Original post by StriderHort
I don't say this to be rude, but you should not have needed to be told most/all of this. You should know that work is interfering with your education and it's not for the uni to tell you how many hours to work or what to earn, it's your choice. As @Admit-One said above, your foundation year being lax might have gave you a false sense of what was expected of you. When you enrol in a full time course they expect full time commitment.
"I also did not ‘avoid’ the stage 2 , i was told a date which i could not make and was told to enjoy my reading week and it was no issue we will catch up again. Not receiving another email until my stage 4 and suspension. I have not been treated fairly in the slightest"
You said you couldn't go and didn't offer an alternative by the sound of it, the very fact you were told to attend an attendance meeting should have been all the motivation or ultimatum you needed but it sounds like you still kept missing things? If I was asked to attend a meeting abut my attendance at either work or uni, my first thought would be 'My position is in danger'.
I was a mature student/student rep and able to talk a bit more directly as an equal to many of the uni staff and something that a program director said always stuck with me, 'If they don't give a **** about the course we don't give a **** about them, we focus on the ones who want to be here'.
"I also did not ‘avoid’ the stage 2 , i was told a date which i could not make and was told to enjoy my reading week and it was no issue we will catch up again. Not receiving another email until my stage 4 and suspension. I have not been treated fairly in the slightest"
You said you couldn't go and didn't offer an alternative by the sound of it, the very fact you were told to attend an attendance meeting should have been all the motivation or ultimatum you needed but it sounds like you still kept missing things? If I was asked to attend a meeting abut my attendance at either work or uni, my first thought would be 'My position is in danger'.
I was a mature student/student rep and able to talk a bit more directly as an equal to many of the uni staff and something that a program director said always stuck with me, 'If they don't give a **** about the course we don't give a **** about them, we focus on the ones who want to be here'.
Just because you think this does Not mean everyone else will. Nor is it correct to ‘assume’ someone recognises that there is a risk of being suspended just on the bases of an informal email. They did not know that i ‘don’t care’ about my course at all. The student support team did not reach out , nor did my personal tutor to let me know. You state it is not their responsibility however i should be given a chance to prove i care about my studies as it is MY future.
Original post by joelwaltonn
Just because you think this does Not mean everyone else will. Nor is it correct to ‘assume’ someone recognises that there is a risk of being suspended just on the bases of an informal email. They did not know that i ‘don’t care’ about my course at all. The student support team did not reach out , nor did my personal tutor to let me know. You state it is not their responsibility however i should be given a chance to prove i care about my studies as it is MY future.
True, I can only speak for myself and I can't say at what point in development I would have spotted this danger sign and I absolutely got kicked out of college twice as a teen for not caring about these things, but I can tell you now from a position of age and experience that when you get asked to attend any meeting about your attendance that you are already on very thin ice, and that there is no such thing as an informal meeting abut your attendance.
In terms of not caring this is what I'm trying to tell you, if you keep missing things and putting your work first they will eventually start to assume you don't care and it's not a priority for you, at that point it's on you to make the extra effort to engage or discuss, not them to chase you or lead you by the hand.
In terms of being given a chance to prove you care, wasn't that was this final stage 4 meeting was for? (or was the meeting just to inform you of their decision?) It may have been you simply weren't able to convince them at this stage 😕 (I think missing the exam for work, after already being in the low attendance process might have really hurt you)
Original post by StriderHort
True, I can only speak for myself and I can't say at what point in development I would have spotted this danger sign and I absolutely got kicked out of college twice as a teen for not caring about these things, but I can tell you now from a position of age and experience that when you get asked to attend any meeting about your attendance that you are already on very thin ice, and that there is no such thing as an informal meeting abut your attendance.
In terms of not caring this is what I'm trying to tell you, if you keep missing things and putting your work first they will eventually start to assume you don't care and it's not a priority for you, at that point it's on you to make the extra effort to engage or discuss, not them to chase you or lead you by the hand.
In terms of being given a chance to prove you care, wasn't that was this final stage 4 meeting was for? (or was the meeting just to inform you of their decision?) It may have been you simply weren't able to convince them at this stage 😕 (I think missing the exam for work, after already being in the low attendance process might have really hurt you)
In terms of not caring this is what I'm trying to tell you, if you keep missing things and putting your work first they will eventually start to assume you don't care and it's not a priority for you, at that point it's on you to make the extra effort to engage or discuss, not them to chase you or lead you by the hand.
In terms of being given a chance to prove you care, wasn't that was this final stage 4 meeting was for? (or was the meeting just to inform you of their decision?) It may have been you simply weren't able to convince them at this stage 😕 (I think missing the exam for work, after already being in the low attendance process might have really hurt you)
Their usual process is a informal stage 1 (which i attended and it was very very informal) Stage 2 which i received a email however was told we would catch up soon , stage 3 to discuss a action plan on how to tackle attendance and improve this. i was not given a stage 3 or offered a stage 2 even after emailing my tutor and course leader re other course related things. Then stage 4 which is to discuss exclusion or suspension. My entire point is the entire process was skipped , even though i did respond to a stage 2 via email. I was invited to a stage 2 and in the matter of 3 weeks suspended (there was also a reading week). So i had two weeks to ‘assume’ i was being kicked off my course. Can you see why i feel hard done by ?
Original post by joelwaltonn
Just because you think this does Not mean everyone else will. Nor is it correct to ‘assume’ someone recognises that there is a risk of being suspended just on the bases of an informal email. They did not know that i ‘don’t care’ about my course at all. The student support team did not reach out , nor did my personal tutor to let me know. You state it is not their responsibility however i should be given a chance to prove i care about my studies as it is MY future.
From the uni's POV you've already flubbed your first chance to show that you care about the course - by not attending half of it. You stated that you were attending lectures and if so by my reckoning you must have missed pretty much every seminar since your course began. "Oh I didn't know this was important and you should have told me" is not the tone of response you need to give in the meeting.
Your tutor may have been over-casual in their comms to date, but they may not have been aware of the whole picture. You were.
If I was being called into a meeting about attendance, whether I perceived it as serious or not, there is no chance whatsoever I would tell them I had to reschedule as I working at that time. You are a full time student and that will have raised even more alarm bells.
Your monitoring points and requirements will have been laid out when you enrolled. If you don't know what they are, ask where they are expressed in the meeting. Maybe that info was missed, maybe the uni has not followed it's notification process, but ultimately what has triggered this is you not attending the course you're enrolled on. The meeting is to establish why.
All of this stuff should be in your handbook,a nd it's your responsibility to read the handbook, not the University's responsibility to spoon-feed it to you. Sub-50% is not acceptable, missing exams because of work is not acceptable (I findt his absolutely flabbergasting).
The other thing here is that you have to take what an individual lecturer says with a pinch of salt. Odds on they don't know a) the extent of this issue and b ) the procedure to deal with it. I see this every day. I know our place's procedures inside out because I am the academic contact who deals with them. The rest of my colleagues do not, and wouldn't have a clue where to start. The process is broadly administrative and barely involves academics at all outside of the programme directors and specialist academic leads or advisors. They just see data, and unless presented with sufficient mitigation to the contrary, will make decision based on this data alone.
It is a little strange that the process has jumped stages so quickly, but it's not unheard of and it could well be because the administrators see the consistent non-engagement (from their POV) with the process and the course as the key issue. Missing the exam will have really hurt any point you think you had, it's bonkers that you'd do that, and in my institution, missing an exam for work would pretty much guarantee an escalation.
As above, you need to go in and speak to them honestly and frankly about this, and even then I am far from convinced any appeal will succeed. At the end of the day, if you can't make the time to sufficiently engage with the course, you probably shouldn't be there. I'm not saying that to be mean.
The other thing here is that you have to take what an individual lecturer says with a pinch of salt. Odds on they don't know a) the extent of this issue and b ) the procedure to deal with it. I see this every day. I know our place's procedures inside out because I am the academic contact who deals with them. The rest of my colleagues do not, and wouldn't have a clue where to start. The process is broadly administrative and barely involves academics at all outside of the programme directors and specialist academic leads or advisors. They just see data, and unless presented with sufficient mitigation to the contrary, will make decision based on this data alone.
It is a little strange that the process has jumped stages so quickly, but it's not unheard of and it could well be because the administrators see the consistent non-engagement (from their POV) with the process and the course as the key issue. Missing the exam will have really hurt any point you think you had, it's bonkers that you'd do that, and in my institution, missing an exam for work would pretty much guarantee an escalation.
As above, you need to go in and speak to them honestly and frankly about this, and even then I am far from convinced any appeal will succeed. At the end of the day, if you can't make the time to sufficiently engage with the course, you probably shouldn't be there. I'm not saying that to be mean.
(edited 1 month ago)
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Does a internal suspension 1 day affect me in the long run
- If I can still get into a good university
- Ford Ka failed MOT due to rust- repair or scrap
- I may of sealed my fate
- Adult nursing programme suspension question… help please!
- 'Old Marley was as dead as a doornail'
- Suspension of studies
- Suspended studies help re finance
- Decided to take gap year at UoL - question regarding first term tuition fee paid
- Could someone pls mark my english lang Q5 AQA
- School exclusion
- Suspended studies queries
- Maintenance loan suspension
- year 11 gyg
- Pause my degree
- Suspension of studies VS Placement year
- Suspending Studies and SFE
- A Candy Cane
- Interviews CSM 2024
- should i log into ucas before i get my results
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 month ago
How to socialise at university (function as a normal human being)?Last reply 1 month ago
University Local appeal rejected and I just don't know what to do...
