Important Information on the Student Protection Plan and Student Rights

 

This statement is designed to inform you of the rights you have as a consumer, the actions the College has undertaken and continues to undertake to ensure you receive a quality learning experience, you right in relation to course changes, and your ability to raise a complaint.

The College as a higher education provider is obliged to comply with the guidelines related to the provisions of higher education issued by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA). Our commitment to treat our students as consumers and to uphold their rights in accordance with the CMA guidelines have been clearly emphasised in our Student Protection Plan (SPP) which is on the College website. Please make time to read it along with the CMA guideline and know your rights as a student at ICON College of Technology and Management.

We have informed you about the Student Protection Plan (SPP) and your rights as consumers on several occasions, including during the admission interviews, induction classes or enrolment times as well as in the offer letter to new students. It is our obligation to create awareness about your rights and you are encouraged to ask us if you have any doubts. We will also inform you in writing if it is necessary.

We are also pleased to inform you about the creation of the College Consumer Affairs Group (CCAG, previously know as the In-College Consumer Law Group or ICCLG) which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the SCPR and assessing student rights related matters. The CCAG membership includes Student Representatives you have elected and an external expert on consumer law. The Group meets at least twice a year and reports to the Board of Governance (BoG) via the Academic Board. If you have any rights related matters, you can also raise these through your Student Representatives who are members of the CCAG.

At ICON College, your education is our number one priority and we are committed to deliver not only a quality learning experience, but also continuity until you complete your course. We have taken necessary measures to ensure the continuity of the College as a business entity and therefore the continuity of your education without interruption even if any unforeseen events were to occur (please read the SSP: https://www.iconcollege.ac.uk/Page/88 of the College for the Risk Assessment).

We are also aware of your concerns about any changes to your courses in terms of teaching methods such as online delivery, assessment methods (which always remained online), location of classes, duration and extension, etc. We are committed to duly inform you if any changes are to take place during or before the semester started. We will inform you of such changes by text message, email, via website as well as during interviews and induction time for prospective students. We have undertaken this action during the June and September 2020 semesters when we changed our teaching from face-to-face classes to online delivery. With your consent we continued to deliver your courses online using the virtual classroom platform called Kaltura. As the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unabated, we will continue to deliver your courses online according to the Government guidelines. Please be aware that there will be no changes whatsoever to the current assessment methods or duration of courses and you will be notified by text messages and email if any changes are to take place before or during the semester.

The latest information from the Department for Education notes that the government will decide after Easter 2021 whether students can return to the campus for face-to-face learning. If we are required to deliver some on-campus teaching based on the blended learning approach (online delivery with some face-to-face teaching), we will endeavour to do so. We want to assure you that the College is making necessary arrangements to accommodate students on the campus if you are required to come back to the campus after Easter.

In the meantime, we are pleased to inform you that the government has allocated some COVID-19 student hardship funds to be made available to eligible students in higher education in England via the Office for Students. The College is in receipt of the first tranche of the funds which the College is obliged to distribute by 31 March 2021. Some of you may have already applied and rest assured eligible applicants will hear from us soon. We are currently in the process of evaluating your applications based on the eligibility criteria.

In accordance with the College SPP and in compliance with the CMA guidelines as well as Office for Students guidelines on students’ rights during the COVID19 pandemic, you have the right to accept or reject any changes that we make in the delivery and assessment of courses (which always remained online) and you will be entitled to choose one of the following options as long as your request is reasonable:

1. Defer your course to retake another semester.
2. Change the College and transfer to another institution.
3. Claim refund for the semester.
4. Cancel within 14 days from the enrolment date, if you are a prospective student.

Please note that you have the right to make a complaint regarding any matters related to your rights using the complaint form on the College website/VLE. If your complaints are not handled and resolved to your satisfaction, you have the right to complain to the awarding body (Pearson: https://www.pearson.com/uk ; Falmouth University: https://www.falmouth.ac.uk ) first and then to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) if you could not resolve satisfactorily. You can find the OIA contact details (https://www.oiahe.org.uk ) in the Student Handbook.

 

Updated: 21/05/2021