Student contract 2013-14

If you joined the University of Leeds this year, you should refer to the Student Contract 2014-15

General

1. This document sets out the principal terms and conditions that will form an essential part of the contract between The University of Leeds and you.2. The University reserves the right to make reasonable changes at any time to the terms and conditions as it deems appropriate or necessary. Any substantial changes will be brought to your attention.

Condition of admission to the University

3. Your admission to the University is subject to the requirement to adhere to the University’s procedures for registration and enrolment.  You must comply with the terms and conditions set out in this document and with the provisions of the University’s Charter, Statutes, Ordinances, Regulations, guidelines, rules, policies, codes of practice, protocols and procedures that are currently in force, which govern your studies, learning and conduct at the University and your use of the services provided to you by the University. You will be responsible for making yourself aware of these requirements: information about them can be found in the Taught Students Guide and the Research Students Handbook. The full requirements are published on the University’s intranet with access to the specific URLs being facilitated by the inclusion of the relevant links in the Taught Students Guide http://www.leeds.ac.uk/qat/tsg/ and Research Student Handbook http://www.leeds.ac.uk/rds/handbooks.html.

4. You must obtain your student ID card from the Student Services Centre to complete the registration process. Failure to do this may result in you being withdrawn permanently from your University studies.

5. You must also adhere to any particular conditions and requirements set out in the University’s offer letter to you, your programme and module specifications and any School/Institute/Faculty guidelines, rules, codes or policies.

6. The offer of a place at the University is usually only valid for the year specified in the University’s offer letter to you. Any fees and charges you are informed of will normally be for the academic year for which you are to register.

7. The University may withdraw or amend its offer to you or terminate your registration at the University if it is discovered that you have made false statements or omitted significant information in your application to the University.

Delivery and Exclusion of liability

8. The University will provide you with tuition, learning opportunities and other related services which will lead to the award of the appropriate University award subject to you successfully fulfilling the requirements of your programme and modules. Specific details relating to the delivery of your programme will be provided before or at the time of your registration on your programme.

9. Where circumstances change outside the reasonable control of the University, the University reserves the right to change or cancel parts of, or entire, programmes of study or services at any time without liability, even after students have registered at the University. Circumstances outside of the University’s reasonable control include, industrial action, over or under demand from students, staff illness, lack of funding, severe weather, fire, civil disorder, political unrest, government restrictions and concern with regard to the transmission of serious illness.

Payment of fees and other charges

10. The responsibility for the timely payment of tuition and accommodation fees and all other charges incurred at the University lies with you. Information of the tuition and accommodation fees and other relevant charges and how these should be paid is specified at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/studentservicescentre/.

11. You must make payment promptly on demand for fees and charges due to the University or other parties helping deliver part of your programme. Where  someone else is responsible for payment on your behalf, you must ensure that they do so. You remain responsible if they do not pay. Demand for payment will be made in accordance with the University’s practice at the time, and additional charges may be levied if payment is not made as required.. If arrangements have been made whereby periodic payments fall due on agreed dates, you must make payment on such dates without any further notification from the University. If any fee or charge remains outstanding after the due date, the University reserves the right to terminate services and terminate its contract with you. The University may take such action as it deems necessary to recover such fee or charge, including but not limited to excluding you from the University, withholding any award that you might be entitled to and taking legal action against you to recover the outstanding amounts.

General Student conduct

12. You must be aware of and abide by the University’s disciplinary regulations and codes of conduct, this includes awareness of the right of the University to suspend or exclude you on disciplinary grounds. If you are undertaking a programme which, at any point, requires compliance with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, you must be aware that if the requisite checks and/or, the University's ongoing duties of Referral to the DBS result in you being barred from carrying out a role required to be undertaken by the programme, the University may have to exclude you from completing that programme. The University also reserves the right to suspend or exclude you from your studies on academic grounds in accordance with the provisions of the General Academic Regulations and Procedural Regulations (details of which are accessible at http://campus.leeds.ac.uk/govern.htm and www.leeds.ac.uk/AAandR).

13. Unauthorised absence may lead to formal warnings and can even result in you being excluded from the University.  For Taught Students please see the University's 'Unsatisfactory Students Procedure' http://www.leeds.ac.uk/AAandR/unsatis_stu_proc.htm and for Research Students see the Research Student Handbook.  In addition, for international students, the University has a legal responsibility to report serious cases of non-attendance to the UK government – since this may affect the validity of a student’s visa. It is therefore important that you notify your school in advance of absence. If at any time you have problems which may prevent you from attending sessions or continuing as a student, please talk to your personal tutor/supervisor or a member of student support staff who will do their best to help you.

Intellectual property rights

14. According to the University’s policy on intellectual property rights, the University will normally be regarded as owning all intellectual property generated by you during your studies. Details of this policy are accessible at http://campus.leeds.ac.uk/govern.htm.

Accommodation

15.  If you have secured a place in University accommodation, this is subject to your continued registration as a student at the University. There are specific terms and conditions that apply to the provision of such accommodation to you, details of which are available from the University’s Accommodation Services at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/accommodation/.

IT facilities

16.  You will have access to the use of the University’s IT facilities while you are a registered student at the University. You must be aware of and observe the rules and regulation governing such use as set out in the University’s Information Security Policy and supporting policies, including the Use of Computer Systems Policy. Further information on the policies is available at http://campus.leeds.ac.uk/isms.

Liability

17. The University does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage to your property. You are advised to obtain relevant insurance against theft and other risks.

Distance selling regulations

18. For the purposes of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, after you have registered on a programme at the University you have a limited period "cooling off period" of up to 10 days in which you may change your mind, withdraw your registration and cancel this contract with the University. You must give written notice of your cancellation to the University within the 10 day "cooling off" period. Please send your notification by email to registration@leeds.ac.uk.

19. If you cancel as required above, the University will refund any tuition fees paid. After the "cooling off" period has expired, if you wish to withdraw your registration and cancel this contract, you must contact your School in the first instance. Any ongoing commitment to continue payment or right to refund is explained at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/studentservicescentre/financial_admin/leavers.htm.

Data protection notice

20. The University will hold and process your personal data including some sensitive personal data. You agree to this personal data being processed in accordance with the University’s Code of Practice on Personal data (see http://www.leeds.ac.uk/secretariat/data_protection_code_of_practice.html). Your particular attention is drawn to Appendix 1 of the Code.  In the Code the University states its purposes for using your data.  In particular the University will process your data necessary for completion of your studies, use of University services and Alumni activities.  Other purposes are also included.  The Code also identifies when your data may be disclosed to third parties such as the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Home Office and other Government agencies.  If you have any queries relating to the University’s use of your personal data, please address your queries as directed under the University’s Code.

Health & Safety

21. You must abide by the University’s Health & Safety Policy, a copy of which is accessible at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/safety/policy.htm. You have a legal duty to take reasonable care to avoid injury to yourself or to others and not interfere with or misuse any clothing or equipment provided to protect your health & safety. If you suffer from a medical condition which may be caused by, or made worse by study activities, you should notify your Head of School. You should check the Health and Safety Services website at www.leeds.ac.uk/safety for information on relevant topics and report any accident, injury, near miss, unsafe working conditions or suspected faults in the buildings or equipment, immediately to your academic tutor.

Notices

22. Any notice or other information that is required to be given by either the University or you relating to the contract between the University and yourself must be in writing and may be given by hand or sent by post, facsimile transmission or email. The University and its Schools, Institutes and Services may also draw your attention to important information through announcements on the University's website, Student Portal and through messages displayed on the computer desktop displayed when you log-on to the University network. You will be responsible for informing the University of any change of address, otherwise any notices or information sent to the last address provided by you will be deemed to have been properly given.

Governing law and Third parties

23. The contract between you and the University shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

24. If any provision of the contract, formed by your acceptance of the University’s offer of admission, is held to be void or unenforceable in whole or in part by any court or other competent authority, that contract shall continue to be valid as to the other provisions contained in it and the remainder of the affected provision.

25. The University’s contract with its students does not confer third party benefits for the purposes of the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

Questions or complaints

26. Questions about these Terms and Conditions should be addressed to the University’s Secretary, Room 13.08, Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Building, The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT.

27. Should you be dissatisfied with an aspect of the handling of your application, you may address such concerns to the University Complaints Officer who can be contacted at The Secretariat, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT.