Warwick’s new attendance monitoring system criticised by students and staff

More than half of students have said that they did not feel “appropriately informed” about the University of Warwick’s new attendance-monitoring system, with many also raising concerns about its reliability, according to a poll by The Boar.  

The new system has been implemented since the start of this academic year and has seen card readers be installed in seminar rooms and lecture theatres. 

Students must tap their University Student ID card onto the card reader as they enter the room, the reader’s light will then change from blue to green, confirming that attendance has been recorded. Tapping a card once on entry is all that is necessary with there being no need to tap out when you leave the session. Students can tap in 15 minutes before your seminar or lecture starts until the end of that session.  

60% of students did not feel “appropriately informed” of the changes

Attendance can still be recorded manually by lecturers or module tutors if a student forgets their card or is not comfortable with using the readers. 

The University claims that this new method of recording attendance “will be easier and more convenient for everyone”. 

While students have told The Boar that they do not find the system challenging to use, 60% have said that they lacked information on the new system. 

There have also been concerns over the new method with one individual stating that it is “extremely easy to forget” to tap in, leading to a lack of recorded attendance. 

Several other students are worried by the system’s reliability. During their “second seminar” of the year, someone was met with a “broken machine”, and another individual has scanned their card “for every seminar” but only had “one of six attendances counted so far”.  

Lecturers have expressed similar concerns, with students reporting being told that they do not need to scan in as the system is not yet reliable, and that as staff they are still manually recording attendance as well.  

This is a point of worry for international students with one finalist telling The Boar that they “must” have their “attendance monitored properly for their visa.”  

While the system aims to enforce information concerning attendance in course handbooks, it has not changed attendance policy, meaning that students are not expected to attend more sessions than they were prior to this academic year.  

With students and lecturers reporting technical issues and missed attendance records, the University’s new system is being questioned. Until it can be relied upon, many tutors are continuing to record attendance manually, leading many to question whether the readers are really making attendance monitoring “easier and more convenient for everyone”.