Student Support
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Student policies & guidelines

Protocol for responding to a report of a missing student

  1. To enable the University to exercise its duty of care responsibilities, all students should be aware that they are expected to be in attendance. University Regulation 3.1 provides that ‘Students should attend regularly…’. Regulation 3.4 provides that except in cases of illness ‘students will be granted leave of absence only with the prior permission of the Head of Department…’. Therefore, students should advise and seek permission from their department in advance of any planned absences of more than two weeks. In addition, students living in University halls of residence should give the Accommodation Office prior notice of any planned absence. This requirement can be reinforced through induction activities, and accommodation and department handbooks.
  1. Resident Tutors, Personal Tutors and Supervisors should play an active role in monitoring the attendance and well-being of students allocated to their care, and should report any concerns to their line-manager and/or the student support services without delay. Academic departments and the Accommodation Office should also liaise directly with each other at an early stage about any concerns they may have.
  1. Any unplanned absences of more than two weeks should be immediately notified to the Head of Student Services who will coordinate the University’s response to this report. The Head of Security will act as the alternate in the absence of the Head of Student Services. Some students will have already disclosed to the University information which makes them particularly vulnerable, and students aged under 18 will automatically be considered vulnerable. In these cases, any absence of more than a few days should be reported to the Head of Student Services without delay.
  1. Concerns about the apparent disappearance of a student are most likely to be raised in the first instance by friends and family, the student’s academic department, and/or Accommodation Office if the student is resident in a University hall of residence. These concerns should initially be investigated without raising undue alarm at the local level within the student’s academic department and University hall of residence or private sector accommodation. This may include emailing, telephoning and writing to the student, as well as contacting the student’s friends, housemates, fellow students etc. At this stage, it should not include contacting parents, emergency contacts or other third parties external to the University, such as the Police, Embassies etc.
  1. If these local enquiries fail to locate the student, their academic department should contact the Head of Student Services who will assess with the department and other relevant service colleagues, including the Head of Security, the possible level of risk involved. This may include searching the student’s University hall of residence room for possible clues to their whereabouts, asking the Students’ Union, BUCS, STV and the Library for any electronic evidence of the student’s whereabouts, and assessing whether the student is particularly vulnerable and likely to have come to any harm. For example, there may be mental health issues, a history of self-harming, academic difficulties, financial difficulties and/or cultural issues. The Head of Student Services will also notify the Director of Marketing and Communications with the name of the student reported as missing.
  1. If the Head of Student Services, academic department and other relevant service colleagues conclude there are grounds for considering the student to be vulnerable, the Head of Student Services will use the student’s emergency contact number to see if he/she can locate her/him. In most, but not all cases, this will be the student’s family.
  1. If the emergency contact cannot confirm the location and well-being of the student, the Head of Student Services will discuss with the emergency contact, the academic department, Student Accommodation Manager, Head of Security and other relevant support service colleagues the need to report the student as missing to the Police and, in the case of international students, their Embassy.
  1. If it is considered appropriate to report the student as missing to the Police and/or their Embassy, the Head of Student Services will inform the Pro-Vice Chancellor Learning and Teaching, the relevant Dean, the Director of Marketing and Communications, and the Academic Registrar to ensure any subsequent incoming enquiries from the Police, Embassy, media, family and friends can be dealt with appropriately.
  1. The Head of Student Services will then report the student as missing to the Police and/or their Embassy, and become the main University point of contact for the Police, as well as coordinate the responses of the University to this situation, seeking advice and approval from colleagues, as appropriate.
  1. Once the student has been located and their safety and general well-being ensured, the academic department will remind them of the expectation that they will be in attendance, and that any planned absences for longer than one week should be notified in advance to their academic department. Support to help address any underlying difficulties will also be offered.

 

Mark Ames
Head of Student Services
31 January 2007