MySurrey Attendance is a new app that will modernise how we capture your attendance at timetabled teaching sessions, giving you access to more insightful data about your learning engagement.
MySurrey Attendance allows us to capture your attendance electronically at your timetabled teaching sessions using a mobile app or browser. Soon you will be able to see your attendance record within MySurrey Engagement where it’ll contribute to your engagement rating.
MySurrey Attendance is very easy to use and it takes just a few seconds to log your attendance.
We have also produced a selection of frequently asked questions – we recommend reading these if you would like to know more about MySurrey Attendance and why we have introduced this platform.
You will need to log your attendance or absence at timetabled teaching sessions. Your academic will provide you with a unique one-time code at the start of the session, which you will use to check-in. The code takes seconds to use.
For a more detailed step-by-step guide on how to use MySurrey Attendance please watch the how to video or read the user guide below.
If you are using the app, ensure that your device has access to the Eduroam WiFi on campus, and that you have Bluetooth and location services are turned on in your settings.
If you have just started at Surrey, then you must complete pre-registration and register in-person before you can access MySurrey Attendance. If you have not yet done these please do so as soon as possible.
This is the most convenient way of logging your attendance. Download the app to your mobile device via the Apple or Android app stores.
MySurrey Attendance can also be accessed using your computer, mobile or tablet’s browser.
As a student at Surrey, you have made a commitment to engage with your educational experience as much as you can. Attendance is essential, and there are many reasons why you should aim to attend 100% of your timetabled teaching sessions.
We have created a short summary of our attendance policy for you to read if you would like more information.
If you are studying on a Student or Tier 4 visa then you also have a responsibility to attend as part of your visa conditions, and similar requirements apply to students on accredited courses.
We also know that there could be many reasons for not attending your teaching sessions, including wellbeing, personal circumstances or financial difficulties. We want to be able to provide you with tailored and targeted support to help you get back on track and make the most of your University experience, so it’s also important that you use MySurrey Attendance to log your absence too.
By combining the information collected in MySurrey Attendance and MySurrey Engagement we aim to:
- Give you access to personalised information to see how you are doing on your course and allow you to make proactive changes to improve your chance of success
- Provide you with tailored support when you need it and to help you make the most of your time at Surrey
- Improve your learning and teaching experience, satisfaction and success.
Soon your attendance stats will form part of your engagement score on your MySurrey Engagement dashboard, therefore if you don’t check in your score will not be as accurate and helpful as it could be.
Also, as mentioned above, if you are studying on a Student or Tier 4 visa or on an accredited course, the University will use data from MySurrey Engagement as part of our reporting requirements. If you do not check-in, we may be unable to provide accurate data to the relevant regulatory bodies or authorities.
If you are finding it hard to attend your timetabled teaching sessions then we encourage you to get in touch so that we can provide the right support and guidance.
We recommend speaking to your personal tutor in the first instance, but the services below are also here for you:
The University Attendance policy expects you to attend your timetabled sessions. This is part of your agreement when you start your studies at Surrey.
In addition, if you are on a course that has mandatory modules as part of your accreditation, the position has not changed. You are expected to attend these sessions.
For most sessions you will need to use MySurrey Attendance to confirm your attendance or mark yourself as absent. You will need the unique one-time access code provided by your tutor at the start of every session. Should you not check-in or state your absence, your history within the app/browser will show that you not recorded attendance or absence.
Some timetabled sessions that take place in wet labs, where devices aren’t allowed and a handful of other sessions such optional dissertation support sessions etc won’t require you to check in. However, for the most, you will be asked to check in for every session.
The University attendance policy expects students you to attend your timetable teaching session and you are strongly encouraged to use MySurrey Attendance to check-in to your classes.
Using MySurrey Attendance enables you to reflect on your attendance in a similar way to the rich data available on your MySurrey Engagement dashboard.
MySurrey Engagement is used by Personal Tutors to reach out to all students and provide additional support if required, but it also gives you an opportunity to self-reflect.
In the event of a University strike, some timetabled events may be impacted. If any are cancelled the event will no longer appear as a timetabled session you were scheduled to attend.
If you are unable to attend due to other strike action (for example train strikes), and you have no other alternative to get to campus, you should report yourself as absent.
Your daily engagement score is generated based on 7 days' worth of activity, across a number of learning resources, therefore missing one day of timetabled sessions will have minimal impact on your daily engagement score providing you are continuing your studies with online learning such as SurreyLearn, captured content and e-textbooks (Bibliu).
Everyone is expected to attend teaching sessions but we know that some students commute quite some way to campus or are juggling work commitments with their studies. If you are not going to be able to make your timetabled teaching session, you will need to log your absence in MySurrey Attendance too, but you do not need a code to do this.
Some of our seminars, or other sessions, are duplicated during the week. Sometimes we might be able to move students from one session to another to help if you are experiencing significant difficulties commuting or managing work. You can contact MySurrey Hive to see if this would be possible in your case.
If you are missing teaching sessions from your MySurrey Attendance, please speak to MySurrey Hive in the first instance.
Should you have any questions regarding the functionality of the app/web browser please refer to the user guide in the first instance and if you still have queries contact the IT service desk giving as much information on your query as possible.
Yes - you can only check-in with the one-time access code provided by your tutor at the start of the timetabled session, and you must be on campus to do so. The code provided is unique to each timetabled session.
If the code given to you, doesn’t work for you, it’s most likely you are not timetabled to be at that session. Please check your timetable. If it's missing from your timetable please speak to MySurrey Hive in the first instance. If you are timetabled to be there, but the code isn’t working, please ask your academic to check you in for this occasion, and then log a query with IT service desk giving as much detail as possible, ie session name, date/time etc.
You will need to have Bluetooth and location services enabled on your device for your check-in to be validated, which allows the app to see if you are in the correct location. If you try and check-in when not on campus, your check-in will not be validated.
Should your academic not hand out the code, please feel to remind them at the start of the session. Should the code not be made available, please email the academic leading the session, ideally on the day of the session, to ensure your attendance is recorded.
You need to let the academic leading the session know, via email, as soon as possible (ideally on the day of the session) so that your attendance can be corrected.
If you don’t have your phone, or you have no battery, and you’ve also not got access to a desktop/laptop you can ask your lecturer to check you in on your behalf. This will be at your lecturer’s discretion to do so. You are encouraged to check-in yourself in, so this method should not be relied upon.
The window to check-in starts 10 minutes before your teaching session begins and 30 minutes prior to the end of the session. So, if you are delayed and check-in late you still have plenty of time to check-in.
Whilst you should aim to attend 100% of your timetabled teaching sessions, we know that there could be many reasons why you cannot attend your teaching sessions, both as a one-off or a more regular occurrence. This could include reasons related to your wellbeing or situations outside of your life at Surrey.
If you are unable to attend a timetabled session, you should record your absence using MySurrey Attendance. There is an option against each timetabled session to check in or record your absence, and you will not need the one-time code to record your absence.
If you find that you are missing sessions regularly then we recommend speaking to your personal tutor or MySurrey Hive. We are here to help you get back on track.
If you would like more detailed information about our attendance regulations, read the University’s attendance policy.
Help with logging your attendance at timetabled teaching sessions
The data collected regarding your own attendance will feed into MySurrey Engagement and contribute to your personal engagement rating.
The University will not use the platform or data for any student disciplinary purposes. The focus is on using the information to empower you to make the most of your time at Surrey, enhance our student support services and allow them to engage more proactively and at an early stage.
The data may also be used to supply attendance records to regulatory bodies for example, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and for UKVI/Visa Compliance.
All data use is in line with the University's student privacy notice, and you can also see more about data safety specifics via the respective app stores for your device (iOS App Store and Google Play Store)
How the University uses the data
If you are studying on a Student or Tier 4 visa then you also have a responsibility to attend as part of your visa conditions, and similar requirements apply to students on accredited courses. These requirements have always been in place and have not been introduced specifically for MySurrey Attendance.
The data from MySurrey Attendance will not be used in isolation for reporting to the UK Home Office.
The UK Home Office requires all universities to monitor the overall engagement of Student visa holders with their programmes. To meet this requirement, the University considers a range of different metrics, which includes attendance, but also covers things such as use of SurreyLearn and other online resources for example viewing captured content and e-textbook usage, plus the submission of assessments/exams and meeting with Personal Tutors regularly.
Information for Tier 4 and Student Visa holders
You may notice that, when you download MySurrey Attendance, it requires access to a list of features on your device, and we appreciate that this may be unsettling when you are taking your privacy seriously.
This app has many potential uses beyond just logging your attendance, some of which uses features like your camera, contacts and microphone. However, at Surrey we are not using any of these features and are not intending to do so. We will only be using the attendance capturing feature, which uses Bluetooth and location services to determine whether you are present in the timetabled session or not. Therefore, we can assure all users you are not being tracked through the use of this app.
All data use is in line with the University's student privacy notice, and you can also see more about data safety specifics via the respective app stores for your device (iOS App Store and Google Play Store)
In the unlikely scenario that the MySurrey Attendance app goes down/has technical difficulties, signing a paper list to record your attendance will be sufficient. This information will then be transferred to MySurrey Attendance when it is up and running again.
Should you be having technical issues on a more personal level (for example your phone has no signal/Wi-Fi won't connect) please inform the academic leading the session, if time allows. You should then follow this up with an email to the academic and MySurrey Hive, ideally on the same day, to let them know that you were unable to check in.
You should also contact the IT Service Desk to ensure your Wi-Fi issues are resolved for next time.
Technical questions
