Student Engagement Monitoring

We will will contact you in cases where more information on student visa holders is required. For example:

Engagement/Attendance

Where there is no centrally recorded evidence of engagement (physical attendance, coursework submission, supervisory meetings etc) and a student is not compliant with our engagement policy, we will ask contacts to confirm whether School staff are aware of any reason why a withdrawal should not be processed e.g. has the student been in touch with the School, Advising Team, Programme Convenor etc to provide details of any personal difficulties they may be experiencing.

Non-registered students

For new students: where visa registration is not complete and the student has missed the latest arrival date listed on their CAS, we will ask contacts to confirm whether School staff are aware of any reason why a withdrawal should not be processed e.g. has the student been in touch with the School, Advising Team, Programme Convenor etc to provide details of a delay to their arrival in the UK.

Visa Extensions

Where students required a visa extension, staff will be asked to confirm the new course end date e.g. for PGT students, this will typically be the dissertation submission date OR end of resit repeat period. For PGR students, this will be the Viva or corrections submission date, and the supervisor must confirm the student needs to be in Glasgow for any correction period

Placements

We are required to notify UKVI of a change to a student’s circumstances within 10 days of this taking effect.  This includes any changes to a student’s place of study.  In this context, a placement should be interpreted any period of time where students engage in their studies outside of the University of Glasgow locations – this includes, but is not limited to:

• Erasmus/Turing and study abroad mobility periods
• Compulsory language year abroad
• Industry placements for integrated master’s programmes (e.g. Meng or Msci)
• Clinical placements/rotations for Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Veterinary Medicine
• Other work placementsResearch furth of Glasgow (PGR)
• Time spent at a partner HEI e.g. joint degree or CDT

Absences

Where students submit a MyCampus absence report, the report has not been approved by a member of staff in the School in MyCampus, but the absence has led to the student becoming non-compliant with our engagement policy, we will ask for the absence report to be reviewed by the relevant School.

What are my responsibilities as supervisor for monitoring the engagement of my students?

Supervisors are asked to adopt the new UofG HelpDesk Engagement form, which replaces all other local forms for recording engagements with PGR students, and PGT student during the dissertation/project period.

It is the student's responsibility to submit an engagement form within 5 days of the engagement taking place. Supervisors are asked to approve/deny the form within 15 working days (21 calendar days), with email reminders sent to supervisors after 5 days.

Do I need to see all my students face-to-face?

The engagement policy states that for student visa holders, some engagements can be online (e.g. Zoom or Teams meetings), but yes some must be face-to-face.

How often should I have a supervisory meeting?

The policy states that student visa holders must document one supervisory meeting, or other type of engagement, per month.

How will the data within this process be shared?

The specific details of an engagement will be held in the UofG helpdesk, information relevant for engagement monitoring will be shared centrally to the appropriate staff for processes such as UKVI Attendance/Engagement monitoring.

Is there a guide on how to edit if students raise the engagement form? And can we access them after?

We have not included the ability to edit forms once they've been sent, as this might lead to people amending and changing dates, which can impact the quality of the data. If there is a mistake, we suggest denying the form and asking the student to reraise it with the corrected information.

Supervisors can access engagement forms that they have already approved/denied in UofG HelpDesk under ‘My Items’.

How do students use the engagement form?

Guidance on how to fill in the Engagement Form can be found in the UKVI Engagement Form guidance for staff.

What is the timeline for students to submit and supervisors to approve the engagement form?

Students are asked to submit a form within 5 days of the engagement having taken place, but they are able to record engagements up to 28 days after the meeting.

The supervisor has 15 working days to approve or deny the form. If no action is taken the form reverts to School Admin Staff for approval.

Can School/College Professional Services teams see if Engagement forms haven’t been approved?

In order to track the submission and completion of engagement forms, a dashboard view can be applied in UofG Helpdesk by logging in with ‘Student Support Analyst’ role and adding ‘UKVI Engagements’ to ‘My Dashboards’.

Additionally, Professional Services teams teams get notified if the supervisor has not signed off the form within the allocated 15 working days.

What is the process for student placements and study abroad?

As a Sponsor, we must report all student placements to UKVI, which Registry will action via the UKVI Sponsor Management System.

A placement should be interpreted any period of time of > 1 week where students engage in their studies outside of the University of Glasgow locations. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Erasmus and study abroad mobility periods
• Compulsory language year abroad
• Industry placements for integrated master’s programmes (e.g. MEng or MSci)
• Clinical placements/rotations for Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Veterinary Medicine
• Other work placements
• Time spent at a partner HEI e.g. joint degree

This data will also be used to exclude students from the standard monitoring process.

Approach

To avoid any gaps in reporting, Schools to follow the established process and add a placement record to MyCampus, unless an alternative arrangement has been agreed with Registry:

> Records and Enrolment > Placements > Student Placements

The following fields need to be populated:

• Term
• Title
• Duration of placement ('From Date' and 'To Date')
• Organisation
• Location

Any student visa holders who are not on campus for part of the teaching week (e.g. undertaking a placement of < 1 week) should continue to check in using Safezone during teaching periods.

What is the process for Research Furth of Glasgow, or Fieldwork?

Schools remain responsible for ensuring that students on placement or undertaking Research away from Glasgow continue to engage. 

PGR students must continue to meet monthly with their supervisor and submit engagement forms as usual. These meetings can be virtual for students working or studying off-campus on a placement, internship, or undertaking fieldwork, including Research Furth of Glasgow placements (those allowed to work or conduct research at institutions outside the University of Glasgow). All registered PGRs (i.e. those not on a period of suspension) should continue to record virtual monthly supervisory meetings through the engagement forms.

Schools must ensure that for students on placements, internships, clinical externships and fieldwork with duration >1 week they document this in MyCampus:

> Records and Enrolment > Placements > Student Placements. 

The following fields need to be completed:

• Term
• Title
• Duration of placement (‘From Date’ and ‘To Date’)
• Organisation
• Location

What about attendance at conferences or short research visits?

Conferences/research trips of less than 1 week do not need to be recorded for UKVI purposes.  Anything more than 1 week should be added as a placement to MyCampus.

How are leaves of absence (PGR) taken into account?

Suspensions of studies need to be approved by the School or College Graduate School and the implications are different depending on the suspension period:

• Suspensions of 60 days or less:  Visa sponsorship will continue, and the student will be allowed to stay in or re-enter the UK on their Student or Tier 4 Visa to resume their studies later. Schools need to ensure that leaves of absence are recorded in MyCampus.
• Suspensions of more than 60 days: the University is required to withdraw sponsorship of the student’s Visa and the student will need to leave the UK and apply for a new Visa when they are ready to return to resume your studies. This also applies to suspensions of study requested for maternity leave.

Students considering suspending or deferring their studies should contact International Student Support for advice.

What about PGR students writing up their thesis away from Glasgow?

Some PGR students writing up their final thesis/dissertation/project choose not to stay in Glasgow, and to write up and submit from their home country or elsewhere. These students no longer require their Student Visa and the University must inform UKVI that we are withdrawing visa sponsorship.  To facilitate this, the Student Visa – Confirm end of sponsorship form via the UofG Ivanti Helpdesk must be submitted (by the School or the student).

Withdrawing visa sponsorship means that the academic unit no longer has engagement monitoring responsibilities for the student. UKVI will curtail the student’s visa, and it will no longer be valid to stay in or re-enter the UK. If the student needs to come back for their viva or writing up corrections, they must with a visit visa. The Immigration Compliance Team will contact the student directly with all this information after the UofG Helpdesk form is submitted.

Should we take note of PGR holidays? Should these be recorded?

PGR students are entitled to annual leave as outlined in the PGR code of practice. PGRs are advised to record absences in MyCampus. All students must receive the approval of their supervisors for any period of annual leave. If a monthly supervisory meeting is missed because of annual leave, visa holder students need to engage as soon as possible on their return and submit the engagement form through UofG Helpdesk.

Do PGR students in dissertation extension/thesis pending mode only need to engage on a bi-monthly basis?

The requirement has been changed to monthly engagement. Schools/ Graduate schools need to make sure that ‘thesis pending’ information is updated in MyCampus:

> Records And Enrollment > Career and Program Information > Student Program/Plan > Academic Load

What is the procedure for students who have not met engagement but have evidence of difficult circumstances?

Students who have not met engagement are contacted by email and have the opportunity to evidence any circumstances that would be relevant prior to any withdrawal decision being initiated.  

What is classed as non-engagement? What if a student is ill?

The minimum engagement required during teaching time is for students to record one contact point per week or for PGR/PGT students during dissertation/project – one contact point per month. Records of approved absences are taken into account.

How are MyCampus absences taken into account? 

Where students submit a MyCampus absence report, the report has not been approved by a member of staff in the School in MyCampus, but the absence has led to the student becoming non-compliant with our engagement policy, we will ask for the absence report to be reviewed by the relevant School.

How are Interruptions of Studies (UG/PGT) of Leave of Absence (PGR) taken into account?

Interruptions or Leaves of Absence need to be approved by the School or College/Graduate School, and the implications are different depending on the suspension period:

• Suspensions of 60 days or less: Visa sponsorship will continue, and the student will be able to stay in or re-enter the UK on their Student or Tier 4 Visa to resume their studies later. Schools need to ensure that interruptions of studies are recorded in MyCampus.
• Suspensions of more than 60 days: the University is required to withdraw sponsorship of the student’s Visa and the student will need to leave the UK and apply for a new Visa when they are ready to return to resume your studies. This also applies to suspensions of study requested for maternity leave.

Students considering suspending or deferring their studies should contact International Student Support for advice.

What are the implications for attendance monitoring for visa holder students who have flexibility with attendance as either a Reasonable Adjustment or Supportive Arrangement?

Visa holder students are asked to check in to 1 timetabled event at a minimum, so there is flexibility in the process to account for scenarios in which students can’t attend a particular class due to agreed adjustments or provisions.

What types of engagement can be documented through the engagement form? 

The engagement form can be used for the following types of engagement, which can be selected from the engagement type drop-down: 

• Supervisor/ Tutor Meeting
• Seminar/ Workshop/ Event (which includes PGR development and training events, seminars, workshops and annual progress reviews (APRs)
• Coursework submission (which includes submitting a [section of a] dissertation for formative feedback)

Where can students find the engagement form?

Students can access the form via the UofG Helpdesk. 

What are the requirements for summer PGT students who have not progressed to project and have no classes or project meetings before the August re-sit diet?

We will need to monitor their engagement for this period, therefore students will need to either have contact with their supervisor and submit engagement forms, or attend any revision/study sessions which have been arranged for them.

What about PGT students writing up their dissertation/project away from Glasgow?

Some PGT students writing up their final thesis/dissertation/project choose not to stay in Glasgow, and to write up and submit from their home country or elsewhere. These students no longer require their Student Visa and the University must inform UKVI that we are withdrawing visa sponsorship. To facilitate this, the Student Visa – Confirm end of sponsorship form via the UofG Ivanti Helpdesk must be submitted (by the School or the student).

Withdrawing visa sponsorship means that the academic unit no longer has engagement monitoring responsibilities for the student. UKVI will curtail the student’s visa, and it will no longer be valid to stay in or re-enter the UK. If the student needs to come back for their viva or writing up corrections, they must with a visit visa. The Immigration Compliance Team will contact the student directly with all this information after the UofG Helpdesk form is submitted.

Students with approval to undertake dissertation/project research away from Glasgow can continue with visa sponsorship, and should have a placement added to MyCampus.