Attendance and Engagement

Attendance and Engagement

Maintaining satisfactory attendance and engagement is an important requirement of your Student visa. This requirement is laid out in the University regulations and this Attendance and Engagement policy document.

The Home Office requires the University to monitor the engagement of all Student visa holders and to provide this data when requested. You must check-in regularly, as this helps us demonstrate to UKVI that you are fulfilling your visa requirements. If you do not engage with your studies, the university may have withdraw your Student visa sponsorship.

For more information about how to check in and for support with any technical issues, please visit the Digital Hub here. 

Advice and support

We understand that there are many reasons why you cannot engage with your programme. We want to help you get back on track, so please use our support services. We have helped other students before and really want to help you too.  

Communications

We will contact you if your engagement is below what it should be. If you receive one of these emails it is important that you read the information in it carefully and follow the advice provided. This will include sources of advice and support for you to access if you are experiencing any difficulties affecting your attendance at scheduled teaching sessions. If you do have any ongoing health or personal problems which are impacting upon your studies, it is important that you make the University aware of these so that you can be offered appropriate support.

Monitoring Attendance and Engagement

The way in which your attendance and engagement is monitored will differ depending on your level of study: 

We collect data on: digital check-ins at timetabled teaching sessions; online learning materials; and submission of assessments and exams. For more information about how to check-in and for support with any technical issues, please visit the Digital Hub

If you study in the Medical School on the Nursing or BMBS programmes and have a Student visa, you must complete digital check-in using a One Time Code (OTC). This is available as a tile on the iExeter app. Information on how to use One Time Code check-in is available here.

Absence 

If you have to miss a teaching event due to, for example, illness, you should report this using the link in the MyExeter app. 

During placements 

As the University continues to act as Student visa sponsor during periods of study abroad or industrial placement, we are also required to continue monitoring your attendance during this time. Please make sure you maintain good attendance while you are studying overseas or are on industrial placement, and respond to emails from your placement coordinator.

 

Attendance of postgraduate research students is monitored through the monthly supervisor contacts in MyPGR. Please make sure that you submit these each month as soon as possible after the meeting with your supervisor has occurred.

Frequently asked questions

As part of our system for monitoring engagement on academic programmes, Student visa holders must check in to all timetabled teaching sessions using the MyExeter app. The exception is students in the Medical School on the Nursing or BMBS programmes who need to use iExeter to check-in.

All Student visa holders need to complete the digital check-in process. 

Maintaining satisfactory engagement is an important requirement of your Student visa. The Home Office requires the University to monitor the engagement of all Student visa holders and to provide this data when requested. It is critical that you complete your digital check-ins regularly so that we can demonstrate that you are fulfilling your visa requirements. 

To support you in upholding your visa requirements, we will monitor your attendance check-ins and direct you to sources of support if you miss them. 

If you have any questions about your visa requirements you can check the information above, or contact immigrationcompliance@exeter.ac.uk 

Download MyExeter for free from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

If you don't have a smartphone you can use the MyExeter web app. This web app isn't as developed as the app that you will find on the app stores, but it has all the essential features you'll need.

In app stores you might also see ‘iExeter’ labelled as the University of Exeter app. This is our old app. Please only use MyExeter unless you’re specifically told to use iExeter's one-time-code function.

If you are going to be absent you should make sure that you report this through the MyDay tab in the MyExeter app by clicking the report an absence link . If you are a BMBS or Nursing student in the Medical School you will need to report your absence through iExeter (under the Teaching & Learning Tools tile). You do not need to worry about using digital check-in if you have reported your absence.

To support you to uphold your visa requirements, we will monitor your attendance check-ins and will direct you to sources of support if you miss them. This is because they are an essential condition of your visa.

The University uses your check-in data to confirm to the Home Office that you are attending your programme of study at the University, which is an essential condition of your visa. We do not use the data for any other purpose and the University’s personal data policies on why and how we collect this data apply.

Using your phone, you can download the My Exeter app. This will then locate you and show teaching spaces nearby. You can also use your laptop or tablet if you prefer. However, phones are more accurate because they use GPS and other data sources. You can then check-in to the teaching space, and your successful check-in will then appear on the app. This is then recorded, and the data is automatically reviewed and passed to the University’s Immigration Compliance Team to ensure you meet your student visa requirements. UK Visas and Immigration will periodically request access to this data.

No, your location and distance to a teaching space are only recorded when using the check-in feature and not at any other time. At no time is your location tracked.

If you forget to check in to an individual teaching session or have a temporary problem with your device and cannot check-in for an individual teaching session, you do not need to worry. There will not be any negative consequences. However, please make sure you remember to check-in regularly.

If you do not check-in to teaching sessions on multiple occasions, you may receive a notification from the University's Immigration Compliance team reminding you of the importance of recording your attendance and advising you of sources of support if you are struggling. 

If you have technical questions about digital check-in or are confused about how to use the app, please review our troubleshooting page. If that doesn’t help you, please contact our Digital Hub team either in person at Streatham and St. Luke’s or Penryn or book a 1:1 Teams call for help.

If you have questions about attendance and engagement rules as required by the Home Office please contact the University’s Immigration Compliance team.    

If you have general questions about your visa status or the visa process, then please contact the International Student Support team .