Absence from classes and attendance requirements

Alliance Manchester Business School defines an unauthorised absence as an occasion or continuous period of absence when a student is not present at a scheduled class or programme related activity such as a tutorial, seminar, assessment, examination or dissertation supervisor meeting, and when there are insufficient reasons or evidence to account for the absence as one which resulted from circumstances beyond your control.

We endeavour not to cancel sessions except through illness. Where this occurs, the School will make every reasonable effort to communicate this with you at the earliest possible opportunity. It is not our policy to reschedule teaching sessions for reasons other than staff illness but in an exceptional case where this becomes necessary (e.g. lack of availability of a replacement lecturer) we will aim to give you at least one week’s notice.

Your attendance will be recorded and monitored and, if considered unsatisfactory, you will be warned at an early stage and given the opportunity to improve. If there is no improvement, and you persistently fail to meet the School's attendance requirements, the University has the power to refuse permission for you to take the relevant examinations with the consequence that you will be excluded from the Programme.

Your record of attendance will be taken into account if your examination results are marginal, or if you have medical or other special circumstances affecting your examination performance. You should not expect to be shown sympathy by the Board of Examiners if your record shows indifferent attendance.

1. Please fill in the 2023/24 AMBS PGT absence from teaching form AND
   • For absences up to seven (7) days: If you are unable to attend any of your classes - seminars, tutorials, workshops, labs or lectures - because of illness or other good reason, you do not need to provide a medical certificate. You are only required to fill in the 2023/24 AMBS PGT absence from teaching form at the link above.
   • For absences of more than seven (7) days due to illness or other serious circumstances, you must send suitable supporting evidence (e.g. a medical certificate) to the Student Support & Wellbeing Team at ambs.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk. When sending in your supporting documents, please put ‘Supporting documents for absence’ with your full name and student ID in the subject box.
     You are also required to fill in the 2023/24 AMBS PGT absence from teaching form at the link above. You should also notify the Course Unit Director or seminar/workshop leader that you will miss teaching.
   • For short-term and prolonged illnesses which might affect your attendance and/or your completion of assessment: You should refer to the Mitigating Circumstances section of the handbook which provides information on the certification needed for both short-term and prolonged illnesses which might affect your attendance at classes and/or your completion of assessment - either coursework or examinations.

1. Students' attendance at all classes is compulsory and will be monitored across seminars, tutorials, labs and workshops. Spot checks across lectures may also be undertaken each year. Alliance MBS will take action in response to absences - see below.
2. If, in either semester, your engagement has been deemed to be unsatisfactory, you will be contacted by a member of the Student Support and Wellbeing Team or the Attendance Monitoring Team and asked to provide an explanation (unless you have already completed the 2023/24 AMBS PGT Absence from Teaching form and are in contact with the Student Support and Wellbeing Team). Failure to respond to this request to contact the Student Support and Wellbeing Team is a serious matter, so students must ensure that they check their University email accounts each day during teaching periods.
3. If you fail to respond to the request from the Student Support and Wellbeing Team or the Attendance Monitoring Team, your Academic Advisor/ Programme Director will contact you to arrange a meeting to discuss your situation and possible ways to improve your attendance/ engagement.
4. If you receive a warning letter and fail to comply with the requirements laid down in it, Alliance MBS's Director of Undergraduate Studies will issue a letter of refusal, which will exclude you from formal assessment and thus terminate your degree programme.
5. If you are refused permission to take an examination or other form of assessment on the grounds of unsatisfactory attendance you may submit an appeal against that decision within twenty working days of notification of the decision in accordance with the provisions of Regulation XIX (Academic Appeals).