Terms & Policies

THE CROUCH END COLLEGE CIC STUDENT CONTRACT – TERMS AND CONDITIONS

General Information

A contract is formed between the College and you at the point when you accept the offer of a place in order to follow a programme or programmes of study at the College.

The contract is made up of these Terms and Conditions and related regulations and documents. In the event of inconsistencies with other College documents (such as the prospectus or other material which describe programmes of study) or written or oral statements made by the College’s employees or agents, these Terms and Conditions shall prevail.

The Terms and Conditions standardise existing arrangements in an attempt to clarify the legal relationship between the College and its students and they apply to all students of the College. It is important that you read and understand them.

Queries about these Terms and Conditions should be addressed to the Course Director at CEC who shall be responsible for determining any matters of interpretation.

New editions of these Terms and Conditions shall be placed in College Learning Resource Centres and may be publicised by other means so that you can be aware of any changes.

Definitions

* A contract is a legally binding relationship between two parties. Under this contract this means the College and you the student.

* The term ‘programme’ means the programme of study for which you enrol.

* The term ‘regulations’ means the College’s regulations, rules, codes, policies, procedures and other instructions and administrative arrangements as are in force from time to time. These include regulations in the following areas (this list is not meant to be definitive): Academic; Conduct and Discipline; Financial; Health and Safety; Data Protection; Internet User Policy and Code of Practice for Internet Users; Accommodation; Library and Computing; Equal Opportunities; Complaints; and programme requirements.

Terms and Conditions

1 The College reserves the right to change the Terms and Conditions from time to time both before and after you enrol. Changes may be made in order to:

* comply with any changes in the law or to take account of a ruling by a court or similar body;

* to implement legal advice, national guidance or good practice;

* to provide for the introduction of new or improved methods of operation, services or facilities;

* to reflect market conditions;

* to make them clearer or more favourable to you;

* to rectify any error that might be discovered in due course;

* or further to codify existing arrangements.

2 In the event that any term, condition or provision contained in these Terms and Conditions, in the prospectus or elsewhere in the College Instrument and Articles of Government and regulations shall be held invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision shall, to that extent, be severed from the contract between you and the College without affecting the remaining terms and conditions which shall continue to be valid.

3 The College has a Student Charter that sets out the general principles of the relationship between the College and its students, including the College’s commitments and students’ responsibilities. It is within this context that these Terms and Conditions are written. The Student Charter can be consulted in College Learning Resource Centres.

4 You are required as a condition of enrolment to accept and comply with all College regulations.

5 The College will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver programmes in accordance with the descriptions set out in the relevant prospectuses. However, these documents are produced at the earliest possible date to provide maximum assistance to intending applicants. It is inevitable that changes will occur between the date of printing and the start of the academic year to which they relate. Some changes may be due to resource constraints, others to staff changes, to developments in the relevant area of study or to external requirements.

The College therefore:

5.1 reserves the right to make variations to the contents or methods of delivery or assessment or locations of programmes, to discontinue programmes, to merge or combine programmes and to introduce new programmes if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the College. Such changes may occur either before or after admission.

5.2 reserves the right to make variations to or withdraw services and facilities if such actions are reasonably considered to be necessary by the College. The College reserves the right to make additional charges (and to vary such charges from time to time) for services and facilities.

5.3 aims to offer maximum flexibility of study within the relevant regulations but does not guarantee that all parts of programmes will be available to all students who are qualified to take them.

5.4 in the unlikely event that the College discontinues or suspends your programme after an offer has been accepted, it will use its best endeavours to provide a suitable alternative programme at the College or suggest a suitable course at an alternative educational institution but this shall be the full extent of its liability. Any fees paid will be refunded.

6 The College reserves the right to put in place independent arbitration arrangements.

7 Neither party shall be liable to the other for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under this contract if such failure or delay is due to any cause beyond that party’s reasonable control, and, for the purposes of this contract, will include (but will not be linked to) governmental actions, wars, riots, civil commotion, fire, flood, epidemic, labour disputes (including labour disputes involving the workforce of any third party) and Act of God.

8 The College cannot accept responsibility, and expressly excludes liability, for any loss or damage suffered by a student in connection with his/her attendance at the College including:

- Personal injury or death (except where this is caused by the negligence of the College);

- The consequences of any modification or cancellation of programmes as set out above;

- Damage to your property (including vehicles and bicycles parked on College sites)

- The non-return of work submitted for assessment;

- Infection of students’ equipment caused by computer viruses and the consequences of such damage;

If despite the provisions of this clause 8 any liability on the part of the College is proven, the College limits its liability to the level of fees chargeable to the student for that year.

9 If false, incomplete or misleading information is provided by you or if circumstances relevant to your admission change prior to, or after enrolment, the Principal reserves the right to refuse admission and to require your withdrawal in particular circumstances where, in the Principal’s view, it is not in the best interests of, or to the maintenance of good order in the College, for you to be a student of the College.

10 Some of the College’s programmes have special requirements that are often imposed by law, accrediting or professional bodies, or other third parties. Examples include declarations relating to health and criminal convictions and cautions, Police checks, medical examinations, standards of behaviour and attendance requirements. Details of any current requirements that apply to your programme can be obtained from the College and variations of new requirements may be introduced from time to time. Failure to comply with requests for information, to make declarations, and/or to meet specific requirements may result in termination of your contract with the consequence that you may be required to leave your programme and/or the College.

11 The College charges fees for the delivery of its programmes and the primary responsibility for payment rests with you, although in many cases payment will be undertaken by a third party, for example, a local education authority or a sponsor. A contractual obligation to pay fees arises at the point a contract is formed, ie when you accept an offer of a place.

These fees consist of tuition fees and in appropriate cases, registration, examination, accommodation and other special fees. In addition to these fees, you may be subject to additional costs relating to your particular programme or for certain College services and facilities.

You must comply with the relevant fees policies and procedures. In particular, if you fail to pay any tuition fees by the due date specified on the College’s official invoice, the College reserves the right at any time during the academic year to withdraw you from your programme and to withhold all College services and facilities.

If tuition fees are to be paid by a third party and that third party does not pay by the due date then you will remain personally liable for the full amount of tuition fees.

If at the end of the academic year you are in debt to the College for any charges (including but not limited to accommodation, library, nursery and student emergency loans), the College reserves the right not to allow you to enrol for the next academic year.

If you are in the final year of a programme, the College may not release your certificate or a letter of confirmation of award, until debts are paid.

Tuition fees are usually charged to students in every year of their programme and you should therefore ensure that the necessary arrangements to pay your fees have been made before enrolling for the next academic session. The level of fees is the charge that applies to a particular programme from time to time.

Fee levels are reviewed and may be revised on an annual basis prior to the beginning of the year in question, the only authoritative statements on fee levels are those issued by the College Registrar who should be contacted for further details.

12 Registrar informed of any changes to this address.

13 All students are automatically deemed to be members of the CEC

14 If you are studying on a programme of study franchised from one of our partner institutions or organisations, you will also be subject to certain regulations and contractual terms of that institution/organisation, including disciplinary procedures. The College has agreements with partner institutions and organisations, which set out the roles of each in relation to your admission, studies and support services. Where responsibilities rest with the partner institution/organisation, the College excludes liability to the full extent permissible by law for failure by the institution/organisation to carry out those responsibilities, for the negligent acts or omissions of its staff, or for circumstances beyond the organisation’s/institution’s control which prevent or limit performance of its obligations.

15 All applications for a place at the College are considered on their merits within the specific and general guidance in the prospectuses. The requirements stated in prospectuses may be varied from time to time. The College is not obliged to provide reasons for its decisions in relation to applications.

16 If the College permits you to transfer between programmes, such transfer shall be treated as a variation of your contract with the College and will be subject to your continued acceptance of the Terms and Conditions.

17 Applicants permitted to defer entry to the College will be subject to the Terms and Conditions in force at the time of enrolment.

18 The contract between you and the College will terminate should you choose to withdraw from your programme(s) of study or you are expelled from the College on disciplinary or academic grounds.

19 The copyright of all work produced as part of a programme of study is owned by the College.

20 Data Protection Act 1998 – the information you provide on the Learning Agreement will be passed to the Learning & Skills Council (LSC). The LSC is responsible for funding and planning education and training for young people and adults in England, and is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. The information you provide will be shared with other organisations for the purpose of administration, careers and other guidance, and statistical and research purposes. Other organisations with which we share information include the Department of Education and Skills, Connexions, Higher Education Statistics Agency, Higher Education Funding Council for England, educational institutions and organisations performing research and statistical work on behalf of the LSC or its partners. The LSC is also a co-financing organisation and uses European Social Funds from the European Union to directly or indirectly part-finance learning activities, helping develop employment by promoting employability business spirit and equal opportunities and investing in human resources. Further information about partner organisations and what they do, may be found at: http://www.lsc.gov.uk, and by following links to data protection.

At no time will your personal information be passed to organisations for marketing or sales purposes. From time to time students are approached to take part in surveys by mail and phone, which are aimed at enabling the LSC and its partners to monitor performance, improve quality and plan future provision.

21 The programme(s) of study to which you enrol may have been part financed as a project by the European Union through the Social Fund – Helping Develop Employment by promoting Employability, Business Spirit, Equal opportunities and investing in Human Resources.