Attendance & Absenteeism Policies

DCU International Academy expect students to attend all their classes. The following rules and procedures have been put in place to make sure students make the most of their time and follow immigration guidelines where applicable. DCU International Academy reserves the right to instigate expulsion procedures arising from sustained absenteeism.

From 20th January 2016 the following procedures will be in place for non EU / EEA students who are subject to immigration requirements:

• Issues of poor attendance are addressed through the Attendance Policy and Procedures system (Section B3.5).
• When these steps have been exhausted, the company may decide to initiate expulsion process if the situation has not been resolved.
• Any student in this positions will have been notified of the likelihood of expulsion in a previous meeting and via the written final warning (See section B2.5)
• The stages involved in expulsion are:
  • 1. Formal meeting with the student, attendance officer and a manager
  • 2. (Possible) second formal meeting
  • 3. Issue of final warning (written)
  • 4. Issue of expulsion notice (written)

• If all the previous steps have been completed, the expulsion procedure is normally activated once a student’s attendance falls to 50% or below.
• However, in all cases, the decision to expel a student is at the discretion of the CEO.
• All expulsion notices will be communicated in writing to the student. These written communications will be signed by the CEO
• Copies of the communications will be forwarded to relevant organizations such as INIS, booking agents, embassies etc.)
• Students expelled for reasons of  absenteeism are not entitled  to refunds  on any part their fees (As stipulated in Terms and Conditions)

DCU International Academy request that students attend classes each day and are punctual.

From 20th January 2016 the following procedures will be in place for non EU / EEA students who are subject to immigration requirements:

• If a student arrives 15 minutes late or more, the student is marked absent for that segment of the lesson.
• If a student leaves class 15 minutes or more before the scheduled end of class, the student is marked absent for that segment.
• A record of student attendance and punctuality will be kept by DCUIA.
• Students must attend for at least 85% of their programme. If a student’s attendance rate falls below 85% DCUIA will contact the student to discuss their absence.
• One or more formal meeting  may be  arranged to discuss severe or on-going poor attendance.
• Persistent  /unresolved attendance issues and / or failure to attend formal meetings related to poor attendance  may lead to expulsion procedures being initiated
• DCUIA is obliged to report all details of poor attendance to the Irish Immigration authorities.