Attendance policy

You must attend no less than 80% of your classes of your enrolment (identified on your CoE). Your teachers will check your attendance for every session, which is twice daily Monday to Fridays. Attendance records will be entered weekly into the UWA CELT Student Management system.

If you are 15 or more minutes late for a class, you will be marked absent for that session. If you are absent for more than three consecutive days, the ELICOS Programs or Bridging Course Coordinator will contact you. If you cannot be contacted at that time we will initiate the critical incident process. If you are sick, you must see a doctor and ask for a medical certificate. Give the medical certificate to your teacher (if you need assistance, the receptionist can help you to make an appointment with a doctor).

Attendance below 90%

Your teacher will give you a verbal caution outlining the consequences if you continue to not attend classes.

Attendance below 85%

If you are at risk of going below 80% the ELICOS Programs or Bridging Course Coordinator will meet with you to talk about the reasons for your absence. They will also remind you that maintaining satisfactory attendance is a student visa requirement, and if you fall below 80%, you may be reported, and your attendance may be cancelled by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).

Attendance below 80%

The Director of Studies (DoS) will send you a letter via email telling you that your attendance is now at a level where we may report you to the DHA for not achieving satisfactory attendance. At this point you have an option to immediately provide information such as medical certificates which may allow UWA CELT to consider not reporting yet on compassionate grounds, provided your attendance is above 70%.

If you provide this information, and you can continue studying, the Director of Studies will send you a letter telling you that we will not start the reporting process at this time, but you need to attend classes and remain above 70%.

Notice of Intention to Report

If you receive a letter informing you that you have compassionate and compelling reasons for not attending, but must be in class, and then do not attend class, and reach 70%, or below, you will receive a Notice of Intention to Report (NITR) . You will also be warned that attendance will continue to be monitored during that period. Also, if you chose not to provide information at 80%, or do not have enough evidence, we will then send you a Notice of Intention to Report you to the DHA for not achieving satisfactory attendance.

If we cannot contact you, we will contact your agent or emergency contact.

Internal Appeals Process

After receiving the NITR you will have 20 working days to formally appeal this decision to the Internal Appeals Panel of:

Director
Director of Studies
Centre Manager

You can bring a support person to an Appeal Hearing.

At the end of an Appeal hearing, or 20 working days after the NITR is sent if no appeal is made, the Panel will decide if you have compassionate or compelling reasons for your absences. Please note reasons related to finances, or work outside studies are not considered compassionate or compelling circumstances. The final appeal decision will be given to you in writing via email by the Director.

If your appeal is successful you will receive a letter informing you of this and must continue to attend class and follow advice as detailed in the letter.

External Appeals Process

If the internal appeal is not successful, you will then be informed you have ten working days to access an external appeals process if you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal complaints and appeals process.

Should you undertake an external appeals process with he External Conciliator or Ombudsman, UWA CELT will do one of the following:

If your appeal is upheld by the External Conciliator or Ombudsmen, follow the instructions of the Ombudsman in this matter;
If your appeal is not upheld by the Ombudsman, cancel your enrolment at UWA CELT, report to the Department of Home Affairs, and notify UWA Admissions and the UWA Compliance Manager.