Students who deliberately skip classes at Bermuda College will be kicked off their courses from September this year in a new hard line against poor attendance.

College president Dr. Michael Orenduff said if students missed three consecutive lessons in a subject without good reason, or five in total, per semester they would be dis-enrolled immediately.

He said the new policy had been almost unanimously agreed upon by faculty staff who were frustrated by poor attendance and lack of commitment from some students which ruined classes for others.

Dr. Orenduff said: "The vast majority of people want to work, but about 15 percent do not take it seriously. They are not committed, they fail to attend or are regularly late, and it takes valuable time away from faculty, which they should really be spending on those people who wish to learn.

"We are putting into place a mandatory attendance policy to try to improve attendance that states if they fail to come to class without a good reason they will be dis-enrolled."

Dr. Orenduff said while it was about 15 percent who failed to work at their college courses, it was fewer who regularly did not attend.

However he said he believed the hard line would initially diminish numbers at the college but said by the second semester he thought the numbers would settle down.

He added: "It will send the message that we are serious about education. It will be implemented in September and the aim is that people will be dis-enrolled without prejudice. What we are saying is come back next year or the year after when you are ready and serious about this."

Dr. Orenduff said it was not a punitive measure and the college was not trying to tell students they were bad but he said the college had a responsibility to educate people to the best of its ability.

The president said the policy was the brainchild of the restructuring advisory committee. He said at almost every meeting the issue of poor attendance had been raised, and therefore it had to be addressed.

"One lecturer said there were people on his register that he had never even seen and said he did not even know if some of them with androgynous names were boys or girls," said Dr. Orenduff.

"I have experienced these problems and frustrations while teaching math in the last year and it's very disruptive. We are spending a frightening amount of time tracking down people who are not in class, or dealing with them when they decide to come back and helping them catch up. It is not fair on everybody else."

The president said in the US he found that about five percent of students in any given class were not committed to their course.

However, he said in Bermuda he had found that number to be about 15 percent.

He added: "I'm not saying it's a huge amount of people that are not taking it seriously, but I think it is about 15 percent, so it's three times more than in the US. The vast majority of people are trying, but then there are those who are there, but not really there."

If students are kicked off their courses before September 16 this year, they will be refunded with any college fees they have paid.

However, if it is after that date, they will forfeit the cash, and a similar deadline will be in place for each semester.

An appeals procedure will be put in place for those students who wish to fight the dis-enrolment decision. The president added: "I'm sure there will be people who will criticise the college, but it was unanimous with faculty staff. By and large there is support for it. The notion that students need to attend and work is hard to argue against."