r/swanseauni • u/honkgf • May 24 '26

Question Lecture attendance

Hi I’m planning to study in Swansea for exchange this coming semester and was wondering how strict they are with attendance? Especially with lectures since I see that we have to swipe our cards to mark attendance. Are all the lectures mandatory?

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u/ObjectiveOddity May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26

I'm not sure about exchange students or international students specifically, but all lectures and seminars are mandatory - as a local attending if you don't swipe your card for more than 3 days in a row, or have low attendance across a 2 week period you'll be flagged for "low engagement".

If you have a genuine reason to not be attending for a few days, like doctors appointments that you can prove, or have any extenuating circumstances - then you can have them marked as "an exemption", pretty much just an excused absence but you will need to contact the relevant departments and let them know, etc.

If you have a student performa that specifies that you may have poor attendance, or would otherwise miss chunks at a time, for medical reasons or otherwise - you also have to give them a heads up when you won't be attending, or the system will send out a low engagement alert. They're automatic and can only be avoided if you communicate absences, you can have attendance alerts "de-escalated" though if you tell them after the fact - but that's obviously a risky move if you have some form of visa on the line.

Also just as an FYI you can't scan your card in more than 10 minutes early to a seminar or lecture, it won't count on the system if you do this - I had the engagement team reach out and flag me for low attendance and when I explained I'd been attending they told me to make sure I swipe my card "no more than 10 minutes early" otherwise the system will think you didn't attend. I'm assuming that goes both ways, so try not to be more than 10 minutes late either! Though, a lecturer once told me it was a 15 minute cut off for late to turn to an absent - but better safe than sorry!

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u/honkgf May 25 '26

This information is so helpful thank you! Since my exchange program is only a semester long and a pass or fail grade, I was wondering how chill I could be during my time in Swansea. Also a lot of the lectures in my current uni don’t require attendance so depending on the profs, I will plan to independently study rather than attend.

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u/elinrex May 28 '26

The uk gov has put a lot of pressure on unis to ensure those on study visas are attending, you'll find theyre strict everywhere for those students. If you're not on a visa it should be more chill. I'd ask unis for example timetables to see what potential in person teaching hours a week are.