Student Attendance

Student Attendance & Engagement Monitoring (SAEM)

As a modern University with a student experience focused widening participation agenda, GCU takes all aspects of student attendance and engagement seriously. You are expected to attend all timetabled lectures, classes, seminars and tutorials. Your engagement in these activities is an important part of your learning experience and will allow you to get as much out of your time at University as possible. Attendance information can also be used to allow the University to identify students who are regularly absent and may need additional support.

Please take time to read through our Attendance Monitoring and Reporting policies:

Recording Your Attendance Online and On-Campus

Students are expected to attend and engage at all timetabled events, whether on campus or online. As such online as well as on-campus teaching events are used to monitor student attendance.

On-campus

Your attendance is recorded by tapping your student ID card against the card reader at your teaching event. The readers are normally located at the entrance to rooms either just inside or just outside the door. Some of our larger teaching rooms have multiple readers, at each door.

When you tap your card the reader will flash green and beep to acknowledge that your card has been registered. You only need to tap this once on entering the room. If you are in the same teaching room for consecutive classes you will need to register your attendance at each class.

If you tap the reader and it flashes red this means that there is a problem with your card. Please visit the Campus Life Desk on Level 1 of George Moore Building or GCU London Student Office to have your card checked. Please check if you have had your student ID card replaced that you are using the most recent student card.

Your attendance will only be recorded no earlier than 15 minutes before the start of your timetabled event and no later than 15 minutes after the start of the timetabled event. Any swipes outside of this 25 minute window will not be recorded against your attendance. Please note that it is at the discretion of each lecturer whether they allow late arrivals to join the class.

Online

GCU Learn automatically records your attendance at online sessions and therefore no additional action is required.

Important

Your student ID card is for your use only. Do not let anyone else use it. Giving your student ID card to someone else, or using someone else’s card, is a serious offence under the Code of Student Conduct.

Absence

Whilst you should attend every timetabled teaching event we understand that there are times when this isn't possible. You should notify your school as soon as possible if you have been absent to allow them to record your absence on SAEM system. Any medical/doctor certificates should be handed to your Programme Administrator as soon as you return from your absence.

If you have a known absence i.e. you have to attend a funeral, a hospital appointment, jury duty, family bereavement etc. you should notify your school so that they can record the absence. Please check with your Programme Administrator who you should contact within your school.

If you have been absent and failed to notify your school you will receive communication from your school regarding your attendance. It is important that you respond to any such communication as soon as possible. Failure to do so may ultimately result in you being withdrawn from your course due to non-attendance. All formal communications from the University will be sent to your GCU email account. You should ensure that you check your University email account on a regular basis.

Forgotten, Faulty or Lost Cards

It is important that you carry your student ID card with you at all times when on campus. Your student ID card is used not only for attendance purposes but you will also need your student ID card to take out books from the Library, sit examinations, prove you are a student, prove you are a member of the Students' Association etc.

Forgotten or Lost Cards

If you forget your student ID card you will be marked as absent for that teaching event. We will not update your record if you advise us retrospectively that you have forgotten your card on a particular day. It is important that you carry your student ID card with you at all times.

If you have lost your student ID card you should contact the Campus Life Desk at Level 1 of George Moore Building or GCU London Student Office to see if your card has been handed in. If you have lost your card you will need to buy a replacement card through the University's Online Store. More details on this can be found on the Student Records web pages. During this time no attendance will be logged for you, therefore, it is crucial that you buy a replacement card as soon as possible.

If you find your lost card after we have issued you with a new one you will not be able to use the original card to register attendance. Always ensure that you are using the correct student ID card. The most recent card should have the latest library number on it.

Faulty Cards

If you tap your card against the reader and it lights red there may be a problem with your card. In the first instance check that you are using the most recent student ID card if you have been issued with a replacement previously. You should take your card to the Campus Life Desk at Level 1 of George Moore Building or GCU London Student Office as soon as possible so that your card can be checked. If the card is faulty then we will issue you with a replacement card free of charge.

Important