Student Attendance and Engagement Policy

1.   Purpose

This policy sets out the NCI approach to student attendance and engagement, as core elements of our strategy for supporting student retention and success. The intent is to enable NCI to apply early, supportive interventions that help enhance the quality of teaching, learning and assessment experiences for students and Faculty/Associate Faculty within NCI. While this policy emphasises support over sanctions, it also outlines the systems used in NCI as a TrustEd Ireland provider, for monitoring international student compliance with immigration law as required by the Department of Justice.

2.   Scope and Definitions

This policy spans all validated undergraduate, postgraduate programmes delivered across on campus, online, or in hybrid formats. This policy should be read in conjunction with the NCI Attendance and Engagement Monitoring Procedure which outlines how the institution delivers this policy consistently across NCI programmes. 2026 will see the launch of a new NCI Attendance monitoring system, which will apply to full time, on-campus deliver in the first instance. Further communications on this will be shared with students and staff. There will be some programme specific exceptions to this policy, that will be agreed in programme validations and/or re- validation. Also linked to professional body requirements, academic decision-making, or contracts for on or off-campus delivery through academic partnership arrangements.

• Attendance: Physical or synchronous presence in scheduled learning sessions (including blended and online delivery). Attendance data may be gathered – in line with GDPR requirements - through a variety of tools including manual registers, electronic attendance tracking systems, Bluetooth beacons; Learning Management System (LMS) and MS Teams log-in records.
• Engagement: Active participation in scheduled learning demonstrated by a combination of behaviours and achievements including attendance; email and Learning Management System (LMS) interactions with faculty and other students; participation in presentations, group-work, labs, and discussions; successful attempts at in-class assessments, continuous assessments, and terminal examinations.

3.   Principles

1. Student Retention: The primary goal of attendance and engagement monitoring is to retain our students until they successfully complete their programme of study.
2. Supportive & Timely: Data informs early identification and interventions by faculty and support services who will respond with empathy and provide solution‑ focused actions to drive student retention and the successful achievement of module and programme learning outcomes.
3. Inclusive & Flexible: Reasonable flexibility and accommodations will be provided for students with personal, professional, and financial constraints impacting on their ability to attend campus or online scheduled learning sessions.
4. Transparency and Proportionality: Students will be informed during enrolment and registration the device specific requirements needed. E.g. Smart phone. How attendance and engagement data is captured, measured, and used is communicated plainly to students and faculty/Associate Faculty. Punitive measures are last resort and used only where required by funding or regulatory authorities (e.g., visa compliance) or in relation to academic integrity concerns.

4.   Policy Statements

• All students are expected to attend and proactively engage in all scheduled teaching, learning and assessment activities at NCI.
• Data will be captured in a variety of mechanisms including through SEAtS (NCIs new electronic system for full-time students 2026 onwards); manual registers; MS Teams log-in data; emails; Learning Management System (LMS) interaction data including polls and in-class tests, and formative and summative assessment results.
• Attendance and engagement monitoring data will be captured, held, and reported in compliance with NCI, GDPR, regulatory, professional body and funding authority policies and Department of Justice requirements.
• Students will be provided with access to their own data.
• Students will be provided with mechanisms to identify reasons for absences or correct ‘false negatives’ in attendance data.
• International student attendance data will be provided to the Department of Justice upon request, or if failing to meet Department of Justice obligations.
• Faculty/Associate Faculty; Programme Directors; Vice Deans and Deans will have direct access to relevant dashboards to inform decision making about individual students, modules and programmes.
• Central statistics will be gathered and shared to inform College governance and management decision-making around programme and support service quality, as well as teaching, learning and assessment practices.

5.   Procedures

This Policy is delivered across two phases:

6.   Roles and Responsibilities

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