Terms and Conditions of Registration

Payment Procedure
A student paying any part of their fees by cheque must allow at least eight full working days for UK bank cheques and at least 28 full working days for a foreign bank draft to clear. Before the cheque or draft has cleared, the student is not eligible to claim any action from the Admissions or Administration departments with regard to the application for which the student has made the payment.

A £30 processing fee will be charged to the student for any cheque or local draft which is returned and not honoured to the College when deposited to its account. This fee is £100 in the case of overseas bank drafts.

Students making payment by direct bank transfer or money transfer will be liable to pay all necessary bank and/or transfer charges. The College will not be liable to pay any such charges, nor any charges arising from the receipt and refund of fee deposits by any other method.

Please note that by making a fees deposit payment to the College, students agree to pay the full amount of their tuition fees to the College in due course. When applicable, the College will use legal channels to recover the outstanding balance of tuition fees from students refusing to fulfill their financial obligations to the College within an appropriate time frame. In this event, the student will be liable to cover any costs incurred to the College in recovering the balance of their tuition fees, in addition to the fees themselves.

Tuition Fees
Overseas students applying from abroad must pay all of their first year’s tuition fees prior to their enrolment in the College. Students applying from the UK are allowed to pay in pre-approved installments, in accordance with the installment plan offered to them by the Admissions Department.

The College reserves the right to suspend or expel students from College or prevent them from attending lectures without any advance notice if their fees are in arrears.

Tuition Fees Refund Policy
Unless explicitly stated otherwise in this section, overseas students will not be eligible for a refund nor to transfer any of the fees paid to the College once they have used the College’s Confirmation of Acceptance (i.e. CAS) to obtain a UK Student Visa or other travel permit to study at Maritime Greenwich College.

Please note that the pre-paid tuition fee is refundable (less £250 administration charges) in the event of application withdrawal from the student prior to allocation of a CAS, a CAS withdrawal from the College before the course commencement date or student visa refusal on CAS ground not securing required points. If the student does not use the CAS for his/her visa applications before the course commencement date or withdraws application after a CAS is issued or the visa is refused on the ground of maintenance fund, then administrative fees of £500 will be non-refundable from the tuition fees deposit. However, where there are clear evidences to the college that the student produced fraudulent documents and therefore visa was refused, then the College will have a right to forfeit the deposit paid by the student as this may cause serious financial or reputational loss to the college. However, an extra care will be taken not to penalise the student unfairly.

If students have appealed against the visa refusal, refunds will not be processed until the appeal or administrative review is heard. There will also be no refund if the outcome of appeal is in the student favour. The original letter of refusal from the British High Commission/Embassy or the Home Office, the original CAS and the original receipt of payment issued by the College must be attached to the refund request.

All refund requests must be made by overseas students within three months of their visa refusals or no refund of tuition fees will be made under any circumstances.

UK residents with no visa restrictions may claim a refund of tuition fees paid, less administrative charges of £250, if the Admissions Office receives a written request from the student for cancellation of admission at least six weeks prior to the commencement of course. In the event that the Admissions Office does not receive this notice within the specified timeframe, no refund will be made.

Refunds will not be made to a third party unless we have received explicit authorisation from the applicant to do so. This should be in the form of a signed hard-copy letter from the applicant specifically authorising us to refund their fees to a named third party. This condition applies regardless of the source of the original fee payment.

The College aims to process every refund request as quickly and securely as possible. In order to verify that refund requests are genuine and to eliminate the possibility of fraudulent or inappropriate refund requests being approved, the College reserves the right to make various security checks on any refund request we receive, including enquiry or consultation with the local British High Commission or British Embassy. While the College reserves the right to take as long to process a refund request as is necessary to complete the aforementioned security checks, students should normally expect their refund requests to be approved within eight weeks from the date of the receipt of all required documentation. Failure to provide all of the required documents to the College may make it impossible for the College to approve a refund request or may lead to further delays in processing the request.

While we recognise that delays in processing a refund request may not always be convenient, the security checks made on refund requests are designed to ensure the safety of your money. The College will not be liable for any damages, financial or otherwise, related to the length of time required to process a refund request.

In the event that a student requests a refund of their tuition fees deposit by bank draft, an appropriate courier charge will be deducted from the refundable amount to cover the cost of dispatching the draft by courier, in addition to any other deductions for bank charges or processing fees. If the student requests a refund of their tuition fees deposit by bank draft, the College will not be in any way responsible for the draft after its dispatch from the College premises and will not issue a replacement draft if it is lost or misplaced after its receipt at the mailing address provided by the student.

No interest or profit is claimable on any refund payments.

The College reserves the right to change or amend any or all of these refund procedures at its discretion and without any prior notice.

Attendance
A record of attendance is kept for each student. All students are expected to attend lectures in accordance with their timetable and required number of hours for their course. The College reserves the right to bar a student from examinations and withdraw them from their course if the student’s attendance record shows that they have attended fewer than 80% of their scheduled lectures. The College will expel students, without any liability whatsoever to the College when the student has missed 3 weeks of a course without informing the College.

In the event of unforeseen circumstances that prevent the student from attending their lectures, the College must be informed immediately to seek advice on how best to handle their situation. In the case of an illness that prevents the student from attending their lectures for six attendance days or more, the student are advised to present a Medical Certificate to the College to avoid being marked absent for the lectures they have missed.

Non-arrival Students
Overseas students who do not arrive at College to complete their enrolment and commence their lectures in time for the start of their course once they have been granted a UK Student visa must inform the College in advance of their situation and acquire an appropriate extension on the start of their course. Late students who fail to report the College within 5 working days after their final joining date of their course will be deemed to have absented themselves from their course and will be expelled from the College, in accordance with the College’s regulations on non-arrival. Students expelled in this manner will not be eligible for any refund of their paid tuition fees.

English Language Comprehension
Overseas students applying for courses below NQF Level 6 (excluding foundation degrees) must be able to demonstrate at least B1 on the CEFR and also a minimum of CEFR B1 equivalent level across reading, writing, speaking and listening. Applicants from a majority English-speaking country are excluded from this requirement.

The College, however, reserves the right to test the level of fluency in English of incoming international students if it is suspected that their low level of understanding of the English Language may be detrimental to their studies.

Students who fail such a test may be required to attend Intensive Pre-session English Language or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lectures before being permitted to continue to their chosen course of study. In this event, the student will be required to meet any additional costs arising from the provision of lectures.

Academic Progress
The College reserves the right to expel or transfer students who fail to complete and submit requested coursework, assignments and/or dissertations to the appropriate lecturers or who fail to satisfactorily progress their understanding of the subject matter taught on their chosen course, without any liability to the College.

Students who make exceptional progress in their studies and who are subsequently able to cover their course syllabus and pass all associated examinations prior to the scheduled end date of their course will not be able to maintain their student status beyond the date of completion of their examinations without re-enrolling on a new course of study representing a clear academic progression from their previous academic endeavours.

Students wishing to continue studying at Maritime Greenwich College after their previous studies have ended in either of the above circumstances must re-enrol on a new course of study. New enrolments in either of these cases will incur the College’s standard course fees.

Study Hours
Full-time students are normally expected to attend daytime lectures for minimum of 15 hours per week, depending upon their curricula. Students of Information Technology-related courses may be required to spend additional time at College outside of their lectures given the nature of these courses.

Books and Stationery
The College will assist students in acquiring recommended textbooks and relevant materials at reasonable cost. Some reference material is available in the Learning Resource Centre for consultation. Students must arrange to acquire and read the required textbooks and course study materials prior to the relevant lecture. Students should also arrange to purchase such stationary as may be needed for their studies.

Examination Entry
Only those students who complete their attendance requirements, do not have any pending financial dues, are allowed to take periodic examinations for their course, provided their Coordinator has recommended that they take such exams.

Where applicable, the student must seek and obtain a certificate of eligibility from the appropriate examining body, before applying to Maritime Greenwich College, and pay any relevant registration and/or examination fees to the respective body directly. Students must understand that gaining admission into the College does not necessarily guarantee their registration with such bodies directly. In the event that the examining body refuses a student’s application to register for examinations for their chosen course of study, the student must either register for an alternative course or for a course that will qualify them for their chosen course of study. In the event of such a refusal and a subsequent transfer to a new course of study, students may be required to pay the standard tuition fees for their new course of study.

The College will not be liable for any damages, financial or otherwise, resulting from the refusal of an examining body to accept a student onto a particular course of study or onto a particular academic level of a course of study.

When requested, the College will inform, counsel and assist students in negotiating different external examination entry procedures. However, it is the responsibility of the students to keep themselves informed and prepared for such examinations as recommended by the College and to register with these authorities as Student Members well in time. Students will be expected to pay all student examination and membership fees. The College does not charge any fee for helping students in this regard.

Personal Conduct
The College imposes a strict code of conduct on its students. Maritime Greenwich College expects its students to behave as responsible and mature individuals and to act within the moral and legal norms of society, whether they are on College premises or otherwise.

The use of recreational drugs, alcohol or tobacco products are prohibited on College premises.

Students are required to attend all lectures and tests and to submit written work as required by lecturers and tutors.

Changes and Amendments
The College reserves the right to amend advertised course content, tuition fees and start dates for its courses at its discretion and without any prior notice. The College reserves the right to run its courses in any of the College premises, including temporarily hired or rented rooms within London's M25. We may allocate your teaching centre or transfer your enrolment to our partner institutions. The College reserves the right to amend or alter its prospectus at its discretion and without any prior notice.

The College reserves the right to amend or alter any or all of these Rules and Regulations at its discretion and without any prior notice. Students are reminded to visit www.greenwichcollege.co.uk/rules_regulation.htm for the details of up-to-date Terms and Conditions.

Cancellation or Rescheduling of Course(s)
It is strongly recommended that interested students take time in making the decision to apply to Maritime Greenwich College. You have a cooling-off period of 7 working days during which you have an unconditional right to withdraw your application after we have received full or part-payment of your fees. Otherwise a £500 administrative fee will be deducted from your refund once we issued CAS, although you have not applied a UK Student Visa or other UK travel permit to study at Maritime Greenwich College. Please note that overseas students will not be eligible for a refund nor to transfer any of the fees paid to the College once they have used the College’s CAS to obtain a UK Student Visa or other travel permit to study at Maritime Greenwich College.

The College reserves the right to cancel or reschedule any advertised courses at the College without liability for reasons including, but not limited to, insufficient admissions or enrolments. The College authorities may cancel or reschedule affected lectures, courses or programmes, due to very low attendance making it impossible to continue teaching a given lecture.

Students will be eligible for a tuition fee refund, less administrative charges of £250, if their chosen course is discontinued before its commencement and the College is unable to arrange a suitable alternative course of study. The College will not be liable for any refund of paid tuition fees if courses are discontinued, amended or cancelled due to reasons pertaining to the external examining body associated with or responsible for the course.

Deferral of Start Dates
Students are not allowed to defer a course if their UK Student Visa is granted. In such cases the student’s permission to be in the UK will cease to be valid and the student should leave the UK. When the student is ready to resume their studies they will need to make a fresh visa application.

If the student has deferred their admissions more than once before issuing the CAS from the College and submitting their successful Student Visa application, the College reserves the right to deduct from their fees deposit a separate administration charges of £250 for each session, or students may be asked to pay extra administration charges of £500 once the CAS is issued from the College.


Transfer between Courses
The College has strict regulations regarding requests from students to transfer from one course of study to another once the student has accepted an offer for their original choice of course by submitting a tuition fees deposit to the College. The College reserves the right to refuse any such transfer request for any reason and with no liability to the College.

In the event that an alternative course is authorised by the College authorities due to unanticipated circumstances, no fees will be refundable in the case of a student who is transferred from one course to another with lower course fees. Students who wish to be transferred their studies to a course with higher tuition fees that their original course of study must pay the difference of these tuition fees before the transfer will be approved.

Disclaimer
It is the student's responsibility to provide valid and up-to-date contact information for themselves and, when appropriate, their agent. This contact information should also include a working e-mail address and contact number. The College reserves the right to suspend or expel students from College without any liability who do not comply with this. The College will assume that any method of communication for which the student has provided contact information, including e-mail, is secure. The College will not be liable for any damages, financial or otherwise, resulting from the release of the student's personal information to a third party as a result of communication with an invalid or insecure contact point or the interception of communication with said contact point, be it a postal or e-mail address, a telephone or fax number or an SMS.