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Monitoring Students' Progress

GUIDANCE NOTE FOR HEADS OF SCHOOL AND ADVISERS OF STUDIES

In May 2004, the Senate approved amendments to the current trial procedures for Monitoring Student Progress.

For 2004/05 the operation of the system will change as summarised below:

• Students identified as part of the monitoring process will, in the first instance, be referred to the Senate Office. In straightforward cases, for example where a student has failed to submit a medical certificate, the Senate Office will deal with the problem and amend the student's record accordingly. Students will only be referred to their Adviser in genuine cases of academic need. In such instances a Registry Officer will inform the Adviser that the student has been referred on to them and the deadline by which the student should contact them.
• Students who either fail to contact the appropriate Senate Office or their Adviser by the specified deadlines will be deemed to have withdrawn from the course and be required to meet with the Convener of the Students' Progress Committee.

Screens are available on the student record system to enable (i) Schools to flag students whose attendance/performance is felt to be a cause for concern (e.g. where an absence of two weeks or poor performance has been noted) and (ii) Advisers to see which of their advisees have been reported by a school and to make appropriate changes to the student’s record in the event of being required to meet with the student. These screens will also allow both the School and Adviser to insert comments, where necessary, to communicate information to the School or Adviser or Senate Office, as appropriate. Guidance on the operation of these screens is given in the section on the student record system. A drop-down menu is now available in the screen for reporting students as C6 (unauthorised withdrawal) to allow Schools either to pick an appropriate comment (e.g. absence of two weeks noted) or to insert free text where no appropriate comment is available. A similar drop-down menu has been included for use by Advisers.

A more detailed explanation of the operation of the system for 2004/05 is given below:

Weeks 1-4 of teaching in each half-session

Schools to report students as unauthorised entry (C5) and unauthorised withdrawal (C6). Advisers will be asked to review these changes of curriculum at the end of week 4.

• Schools should enter C5/C6 by 5pm on the Wednesday of week 4 of each half-session using the screens for unauthorised entry/withdrawal on the student record. [It will not be necessary for a School to enter any comments when entering the C5/C6].
• At the end of week 4 of each half-session, the Senate Office will send reports of the C5/C6 entries to the relevant Advisers of Studies; these reports will be annotated by the relevant Registry Officer to indicate the nature of the changes (e.g. where they are a compulsory part of a student's curriculum).
• Advisers will be asked to approve unauthorised changes of curriculum and, by the end of week 5 of each half-session, to either make these changes directly in the student record or to return the list to the Senate Office annotated to indicate whether or not the unauthorised changes are approved.
• Advisers will not require to make contact with the School in approving these changes
• Advisers will not require to make contact with the student where it is obvious that the student has withdrawn from one course and entered another so long as this change does not affect their degree intention.
• Advisers should contact students where their change in curriculum may affect (i) their progress in their chosen degree and (ii) their full-time / part-time students.

Weeks 4-9 of teaching in each half-session

The system for monitoring students' progress will operate from the start of week 5 until the end of week 9 of teaching in each half-session.

• Schools are encouraged to carry out their own investigations in regard to students' progress before reporting a student through the new system for monitoring students' progress.
• The system will apply to all undergraduate students, both non-Honours and Honours. However, it is acknowledged that, in the case of Honours students, it may be easier for the investigation to be carried out by the School and the system for monitoring students' progress used only as an ultimate sanction.
• Criteria to be used for monitoring students' progress

Schools should not report a student as 'at risk' (C6) unless the following minimum criteria have been met:

Either (i) Absence for a continuous period of two weeks of 25% of a course (whichever is less) without good cause being reported;

Or (ii) Absence from two small group teaching sessions (e.g. tutorial, laboratory class) without good cause;

Or (iii) Failure to submit a piece of summative or a substantial piece of formative in-course assessment by the stated deadline.

• Schools may elect to impose more relaxed criteria than these set out above (e.g. absence for a continuous period of three weeks without good cause being reported). It is also acknowledged that not all of the above criteria would apply to all courses. For example, some courses have no in-course assessment.
• It is essential that students are aware of the criteria to be used for determining whether a student is considered to be 'at risk' for a particular course. These criteria should be clearly stated in course handbooks.
• Schools are required to input by 5pm on Wednesday of each week (between weeks 5-9) those students who fail to meet the course criteria for C6 (unauthorised withdrawal/at risk) and C5 (unauthorised entry). In reporting a student as C6, a School must also enter a comment to indicate why the student is being reported.
• The Senate Office will send e-mails on a weekly basis (by Friday of each week) to those students reported as C6 (and/or C5), to ask them to contact the Senate Office. Outside term-time, hard-copy letters will be sent to students at their home address. Students will be given 10 days from the date of the e-mail or letter to contact the Senate Office. Advisers will still be able to view the comments inserted by the School by accessing the monitoring screen on the student record if they wish, although there is no longer a requirement for Advisers to do so at this stage.
• In straight forward non-academic cases (for details see table 1 below) Registry Officers will amend the records of those students reported through monitoring who make contact before the specified deadline. Where necessary Registry Officers will refer students to their Adviser. In such cases Registry Officers will inform the Adviser by e-mail, indicating the reason for the referral and deadline for the student to contact their Adviser.
• Students who fail to respond to the Senate Office by the initial deadline will be referred to the Convener of the Students' Progress Committee. The Senate Office will routinely update the records’ of students who have not made contact by the appropriate deadline. In such cases students’ records will be amended from C6 to C3.
• Advisers are required to amend the record of those students referred to them using the monitoring screen on the student record to indicate whether or not the student has been to see them and, where the student has made contact, whether or not they will be continuing with the course.
• There is no requirement for Advisers to make contact with the relevant School before amending the student's record. The comment inserted by the School should guide the Adviser as to why the student been reported.
• Where the student makes contact, the Adviser should discuss their progress and try to ascertain whether there are any problems that may be able to be addresses (either by the Adviser of through referral). There is no requirement to make a judgement as to whether the student should be permitted to continue with the course.
• Where the student indicates that they intend to continue with the course, the Adviser should amend the record to C4 (authorised entry) and insert a comment to indicate the outcome of their discussion.
• Where the student indicates that they are not wishing to continue with the course, the Adviser should amend the record to C9 (authorised withdrawal) and insert a comment to indicate the outcome of their discussion. In this case, the students' record should be reviewed to ascertain whether a restructuring of curriculum is required to enable the student to achieve their degree intention and to determine whether the student will remain full-time/part-time.
• Where the student does not make contact by the deadline, the Adviser should amend their record to C3 (referral to SPC). In this case, there is no requirement for the Adviser to enter a comment. From 2004/05, Advisers will only be able to input C3 to the student record system for a first half-session course during the first half-session, similarly for second half-session courses.
• Where the student is reported as C3, they will be sent a further letter by the Senate Office asking them to contact the Senate Office to make an appointment with the Convener of the Students' Progress Committee to discuss their progress.
• At the meeting between the student and the Convener of the Students' Progress Committee, it will be for the Convener to determine, in discussion with the student, whether they should continue with the course.
• Where a student fails to meet with the Convener of the Students' Progress Committee by the stated deadline and provide a satisfactory explanation, they will be sent a letter notifying them that as they have not responded, they will be deemed to have withdrawn from the course and will no longer be able to take the end-of-course assessment in the course.

TABLE 1: Courses of action for dealing with students reported though monitoring

The table below categorises the most common reasons cited by students who saw their advisers as a result of a monitoring report during 2003/04.

During 2004/05 students who contact their Registry Officer as a result of a monitoring report will be dealt with following the guidelines in the 'Action' column below.

¹ In approving amendments to the monitoring process, the University's Working Group on Advising and Registration agreed that Advisers should only be informed of issues with their Advisees when they were being requested to take action. Therefore, in order to facilitate the process, the categories identified have been classified in terms of Adviser contact required, i.e. 'refer' to Adviser, 'notify' Adviser and from an Adviser's perspective 'ignore'. Advisers be only be required to take direct action where students are ‘referred’ to them by the Registry Officers.