1. Introduction
1.1 This policy is made for the use of staff and students of Tgs College and it’s associated brands. For convenience, and unless otherwise indicated the group of colleges is referred to as ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘the College’. ‘You’ and ‘your’ refer to all students of the Tgs College.
1.2 These terms and conditions, together with the documents to which they refer, form the contract between you and The Tgs College with regard to your Higher Education (HE) programme of study.
1.3 The College’s procedures, policies and regulations set out the agreed practices of the College.
1.4 By enrolling on a programme of the College and/or accepting the offer of a place on a programme, you agree to comply with these regulations, procedures and policies, as amended from time to time.
1.5 The regulations, procedures and policies can be located at https://tgscollege.com/terms/
2. The College’s contract with you
2.1 When you accept the offer of a place at the College, a legal contract is made between you and the College. The contract sets out your rights and responsibilities as well as those of the College.
2.2 No contract will exist until you formally notify the College that you accept an offer of a place, either direct to the College or through other agency, whichever is appropriate to your application process.
2.3 It is important to know what is in your contract before you accept a place at the College. It is also important that you understand what you are agreeing to and what your rights are.
2.4 These terms and conditions, along with your entry requirements, acceptance letter and the College’s regulations, procedures and policies, form the contract between you and the College.
2.5 The terms and conditions are set out below and your acceptance of a place is subject to them. In the event that the provisions of the terms and conditions conflict or are inconsistent with any other documents forming part of the contract, the provisions of these terms and conditions will apply.
3. Admissions
3.1 The college admissions policy sets out the HE Admissions Policy and Procedure and can be found on the College website at tgscollege.com
3.2 The offer of a place on a programme at the College is subject to you satisfying the academic and/or non-academic entry requirements for admission set out by the College in the offer.
3.3 The offer may be conditional or unconditional. If the offer is conditional, the conditions that you need to fulfil in order to be enrolled on the programme will be made clear to you.
3.4 If you do not fulfil the conditions by the date set out to you in the offer, the College reserves the right to withdraw the acceptance letter.
3.5 The College may amend or withdraw an offer or revoke your subsequent registration as a student, without liability to you, if your application is found to have omitted key information or contains inaccuracies or fraudulent information.
Enrolment
4.1 Following acceptance letter for a place at the College, you will receive an offer pack which will confirm an enrolment date on which you must attend in order to enrol on your programme of study.
4.2 If you do not enrol by the enrolment date, the College reserves the right to decline to enrol you and to withdraw you from the programme without liability to you.
4.3 By enrolling at the College you are accepting a legally binding liability to pay Tuition Fees.
5. Tuition Fees and Payment
5.1 The College aims to provide timely and clear information about tuition fees to help you make informed decisions about your application. Information on tuition fees and other known mandatory costs is available on the College website and confirmed in your offer letter.
5.2 If you accept an offer of a place on a programme at the College, you agree to pay all tuition fees (and any mandatory programme costs and expenses) as and when they fall due.
5.3 If you fail to pay your tuition fee, the College reserves the right to withdraw you from your programme.
5.4 If you decide to withdraw (including postponing or transferring your studies to another institution) after accepting an offer of a place at the College, the College will make the following charges in relation to your tuition fees: This clause does not affect any rights you may have under clauses 7, 8 and 9 below.
5.5 The College reserves the right to require a deposit payment towards your tuition fees. Where this applies, this will be set out in your offer letter. The College reserves the right to withdraw the offer if you do not pay the deposit by the date set out in the offer letter.
5.6 The College will invoice you (or if applicable a third party paying on your behalf) for the tuition fees to be paid on the date set out in the invoice.
5.7 Tuition fees are usually charged in each academic year of your programme and you should ensure that you have made the necessary arrangements to pay your tuition fees before enrolling for the next academic year of your programme.
5.8 When you register on your programme the tuition fees set at the start of your programme will remain fixed for the duration of your programme.
6. Failure to Pay Tuition Fees
6.1 It is your responsibility to ensure that the College tuition fees, and all other expenses related to your programme are paid in each academic year.
6.2 If someone else is paying on your behalf, you must ensure that they do so. You remain responsible if they do not pay.
6.3 If your tuition fees remain unpaid 10 days after the date that they are due, the College may:
• Start debt recovery processes to recover the debt.
• Exclude you from the College and end this contract; and/or
• Withhold any award or qualification that would otherwise have been made to you, suspend the services the College provides and/or refuse to allow you to proceed any further, until all outstanding amounts have been paid or repayment arrangements have been made, which the College considers satisfactory.
• Take legal action to recover the debt if necessary.
7. Right of Cancellation
7.1 You have the right to cancel your contract with the College within fourteen days of the date on which the contract is entered. Subject to 7.2 below, this will be within fourteen days of the date that you accept an offer of a place either direct to the College or through other agency, as appropriate to your application process.
7.2 You will have a right to cancel at a later date if you receive an amended offer from the College which you then accept or where you enrol on your programme ‘at a distance’ (i.e. online), rather than coming in to College to enrol ‘face to face’. In this case, your right to cancel will be within fourteen days of your acceptance or enrolment.
7.3 To exercise this right to cancel you must inform the College in writing (by letter or email) of your decision to cancel the contract.
7.4 If you cancel the contract in accordance with this clause 7, subject to
7.5 below, the College will reimburse to the original payer any payments received (including any deposit paid) no later than fourteen days after the day on which the College is informed of your decision to cancel. You should not incur any fees because of reimbursement.
7.5 If your programme has already begun or is due to begin before the end of your right to cancel as set out in this clause 7, by accepting the offer and/or enrolling on the programme you expressly agree that the programme begins within the cancellation period.
7.6 If you subsequently decide to cancel the contract within the cancellation period then you will be liable to pay a proportion of the Tuition Fees to cover the period of programme delivery and/or the College may retain any deposit paid by you to reserve a place.
7.7 You do not have to give any reason for cancelling the contract. The College may ask you to help inform it of the reasons why students may decide not to come to the College.
8. Programme Delivery and Changes
8.1 The College prepares its prospectus and online information about its study programmes with care and every effort is made to make sure that the information is accurate. The College will always try to deliver programmes in line with the descriptions set out in the prospectus and/or on its website. The hard copy version of the prospectus is published at least a year before the study programmes commence and sometimes the information can change in this time.
8.2 If changes to the prospectus need to be made, the College website will be updated as soon as reasonably practicable to reflect the changes to a programme.
8.3 The College reserves the right to make changes to programmes where it considers such changes to be reasonable. If any changes are made, prospective students and/or students will be notified as soon as reasonably practicable and the College website will be updated to reflect the changes. These changes will usually be for one or more of the following or similar reasons:
• To improve and enhance students’ experience of a programme or to incorporate changes arising from student feedback for the benefit of students.
• To make updates to programmes to reflect best practice or new academic developments and to refresh curricula to ensure their currency for the benefit of students.
• To safeguard academic standards, for example, in response to external examiner feedback.
• As a result of minimum numbers for study programmes or modules not being met.
• To meet external, professional, or accrediting body requirements.
• To consider staff changes.
8.4 The College will make all reasonable attempts to avoid making changes to your programme later than 28 days before your programme starts. However, sometimes changes need to be made, for example, for the reasons as set out above in clause 8.3. Most changes of this nature will be made to improve the programme for the benefit of students and will not adversely affect students. Most changes will become effective from the start of the next academic year, but sometimes in year changes need to be made. You will be notified of changes to your programme as soon as reasonably practicable.
8.5 The College website will be updated as soon as reasonably practicable to reflect the changes to the programme.
8.6 If a material change needs to be made later than 28 days before your programme starts or during your programme the College will notify you in writing of the proposed change and student representatives will be consulted.
A material change includes:
• Where the College discontinues or merges your programme or combines it with other programmes of study.
• A change which may reasonably be expected to have an adverse effect on you.
8.7 You will be deemed to have consented to the material change referred to in clause 8.6 above unless you notify the College in writing that you do not consent to the change within two weeks of receiving notification from the College.
8.8 If you have notified the College, within two weeks of receiving notification of the material change, that you do not consent to the
change, the following will apply:
• The College will arrange to discuss the matter with you within a reasonable time and seek to find a resolution to which you and the College can agree.
• If no resolution can be agreed within a reasonable time, you have the right to withdraw from your programme.
• You must notify the College in writing of your decision to withdraw.
• On request, the College will use its reasonable endeavours to provide a suitable alternative programme at the College (for which Tuition Fees will be payable) or suggest a suitable course at an alternative educational provider.
• The College will usually refund any Tuition Fees already collected through an employer or through self-funding, or via the Student Loans Company overpayment process, for the term in which you withdraw from the programme. The College will not refund any Tuition Fees for previous terms.
9. Programme closure and teaching out
9.1 Through regular reviews of its provision, the College may occasionally decide that closure or replacement of a programme is the appropriate way forward.
9.2 The College recognises that a programme closure or replacement is a material change to your programme, to which clause 9 above will apply. If you are an existing student registered on a programme which is proposed for closure, the College will consult with you, discuss concerns and provide a clear plan for you to be able to complete your study. These plans may include teaching out the cohort of students or transferring to a similar course within the College or outside of the College.
9.3 The College will assist you, provide guidance on transfer of credit/academic progress achieved and help in identifying similar programmes of study, both within the College and outside of the College, but will not coordinate any application for you.
9.4 Where teaching out is not possible and none of any proposed alternative options are acceptable to you, you should confirm to the College in writing your decision to withdraw. The College will usually refund any Tuition Fees already collected through an employer or through self-funding, or via the Student Loans Company overpayment process, for the term in which you withdraw from the programme and will record the amount of credit/academic progress achieved. The College will not refund any Tuition Fees for previous terms.
10. Events beyond the College’s control
The College will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations, including any liability under clauses 8 and 9 above, if this failure or delay is due to any cause beyond the College’s reasonable control, which includes (without limitation) any government action, any act or omission of third parties which wholly or partly provide or fund the programme, political unrest, fire, flood, war, strike or other labour dispute, staff illness, public health concern, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster or act of God.
11. Intellectual Property Rights
The intellectual property in theses, dissertations, exercises and answers to tests, assignment tasks and examinations will ordinarily be owned by you as part of your course work or research, unless a different agreement is made, for example in collaborative work. The College will have the right to use your intellectual property for teaching, research and other academic purposes (a non-exclusive royalty-free perpetual licence).
12. Liability for Damage
12.1 The College does not accept liability, and expressly excludes liability for the following, for which you are advised to take out your own appropriate insurance cover:
• Any loss or damage to your property (including but not limited to any motor vehicle or cycle) unless caused by the negligence of the College or its employees.
• Any loss or damage suffered by you as a result of use of any computer equipment or software made available by the College, including (but not limited to) any contamination of software or loss of files as a result of using the College equipment or software.
12.2 Nothing in these terms and conditions excludes the College’s liability for death or personal injury caused by the College’s negligence or for fraudulent misrepresentation.
13. Changes to these terms and conditions
13.1 The College reserves the right to make reasonable changes to these terms and conditions. Changes will usually be made in order to:
• Comply with changes in law or government policy, court and similar body rulings, Office for Students, or similar funding body requests.
• Implement good practice and legal advice.
• Improve operations, services, or facilities.
• Make them clearer or correct errors.
13.2 Where changes are made, the College will inform applicants and students before the changes are made or as soon as reasonably practicable and any new editions of these terms and conditions will be made available on the College website
14. General
17.1 If any provision in these terms and conditions is or becomes unlawful, invalid or unenforceable that will not affect the legality, validity or enforceability of the other provisions.
17.2 Any notice or other communication under these terms and conditions will be addressed to you at the last address notified by you to the College and shall be deemed to have been properly served and delivered when left at that address by hand, or of posted be prepaid first class post, 48 hours after being posted to that address.
17.3 If you breach these terms and conditions and the College decides not to exercise any right it may have, this does not prevent the College from exercising its rights in future in relation to that breach or any further breaches by you.
17.4 These terms and conditions do not confer any rights or benefits on third parties (including a student’s parents)
17.5 These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the republic of South Africa and both the College and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Africa.