The Small Print // Postgraduate study 2017-18 // University of Essex

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Postgraduate study, 2017-18

We are really pleased you want to be part of our global community.

Hopefully you find this information useful as you prepare to become a member at Essex.

By accepting an offer from the University, you will be entering into a legal contract with us, subject to you fulfilling the conditions of your offer. Your rights and obligations to us and our rights and obligations to you are set out in this booklet.

Part 1 – Admissions information 1. Your offer 1.1 Conditional offers 1.2 Unconditional offers 2. Course structure 3. English language requirements for EU and international students 4. Changes to your application 5. Correspondence with the University 6. Visits to the University 7. Your applicant portal 8. Our social media channels 9. Accommodation 10. Tuition fees, deposit payments and financial support 11. Information for students who require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK 12. International students 13. Term dates 14. Deferring your entry 15. Admissions terms and conditions 15.1 Tier 4 requirements 15.2 14-day right to cancel 15.3 Fee status 15.4 Verification of qualifications 15.5 Criminal convictions or police cautions 15.6 Offers conditional on Work Health Assessments and DBS checks 16. Instructions for setting up your applicant portal 17. Graduate Admissions Office contact details

Part 2 – University terms and conditions 18. When might courses change or close?

19. Tuition fees 19.1 Tuition fee increases during your course 19.2 T uition fee increases if you defer entry, or if you have a break in your studies 20. Fee status 21. Your compliance with University Regulations 22. Limitation of the University’s liability to you and others 23. Personal data and data protection 23.1 How we use your personal data 23.2 Y our obligations when dealing with other peoples’ personal data during your course 24. The law governing your contract and who can deal with claims and complaints 24.1 Complaints 24.2 14-day right to cancel 25. The University of Essex Statement on Equality and Diversity

1. Your offer Your offer is based on the information you provided in your application and has been made in accordance with the University’s admissions regulations and policy. Full details of the admissions policy are available online. w www.essex.ac.uk/quality/university_policies/admissions 1.1 Conditional offers If your offer is conditional you will need to provide evidence that you have completed your qualifications and met your offer conditions in order to secure your place at our University. However, you can inform us that you wish to take up your offer by completing the ‘reply to offer’ form now.

You can only firmly accept one course, so click on the option next to your choice course. Then select the second statement: “I have not met the conditional offer but I am interested in taking a place as stated in my offer”.

Once you have completed your ‘reply to offer’ form, you can upload evidence of your qualifications as you complete them, using the document upload facility in myEssex. We are normally able to accept scanned colour copies of your qualification certificates; however in some cases we may request original certificates.

1.2 Unconditional offers If you have already completed your qualification(s), and fulfilled all other requirements, your offer will be unconditional and you can secure your place at Essex by completing your ‘reply to offer’ form that is available in your myEssex portal.

2. Course structure Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. To ensure your modules are as relevant as possible, your course structure may be subject to change. w www.essex.ac.uk/programmespecs 3. English language requirements for EU and international students Your offer will include a requirement to meet the University’s minimum English language requirement for entry, if you have not already met the minimum level. The English language qualifications and tests which are acceptable for entry to the University and the levels required are listed on the following web pages: International, EU and EEA applicants w www.essex.ac.uk/study/pg/documents/english_language_requirements.pdf The University offer a range of pre-sessional English courses to help you improve your English before the start of your degree programme. w www.essex.ac.uk/internationalacademy/study/el 4. Changes to your application If you need to make changes to your personal details, you can update your myEssex portal. We’ll correspond with you regularly by email and it’s important that you provide up-to-date contact details.

5. Correspondence with the University We are always happy to help with any queries you may have. To make sure we can help you as quickly as possible, please quote your name (first name and family name), course and PG number when you contact us.

6. Visits to the University If you’re interested in having a look around our Colchester or Southend campuses, get in touch to arrange a tour.

Colchester Campus E tours@essex.ac.uk

Southend Campus E southend@essex.ac.uk

Can’t visit us in person? Why not take an online tour of our campuses and accommodation? w www.essex.ac.uk/life 7. Your applicant portal You can see your offer online in your personal myEssex applicant portal.

It also provides you with important information about accommodation, facilities on campus, our Students’ Union, and much more. You can also personalise your applicant portal to gain more from your application experience.

If you have not already done so, please set up your applicant portal as soon as possible. Instructions on how to do this are in section 16. w www.essex.ac.uk/apply 8. Our social media channels Get an insight into life at Essex and ask any questions on our school, department and centre pages.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook.com/uniofessex Twitter.com/uni_of_essex Subcribe to Vimeo to discover more about living and learning at Essex. You can also find out about what our students and academics have to say.

Vimeo.com/uniofessex 9. Accommodation We will contact you by email from April 2017 to invite you to book your accommodation at Essex. Bookings are made via myEssex. w www.essex.ac.uk/accommodation SU Lets is run by our Students’ Union in Colchester who maintain a register of private accommodation should you wish to live off campus. w essexstudentlets.sites.letmc.com

10. Tuition fees, deposit payments and financial support We offer a range of financial support packages through our scholarships and bursaries, to support academic excellence and to ensure students from all backgrounds reach their full potential.

For up-to-date information about tuition fees and financial support, including bursaries and scholarships, please refer to our student fees and funding web pages. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding If you plan to fund your studies yourself or if your sponsor is not recognised by us, we may ask you to pay a tuition fee deposit. Our Tuition Fee Deposit Policy is online and we also recommend that you read our Tuition Fee Payment and Liability Policy. w www.essex.ac.uk/tuitionfeedeposit/documents/tuition_fee_deposit_ policy.pdf Tuition fees are set annually for a one-year duration which corresponds to the standard academic year (October through to September). We set tuition fees for HEU research degrees in line with Research Councils UK (RCUK), which are published normally in January. Your offer letter will contain a tuition fee if the amount is known.

If you are studying for more than one year, the tuition fee normally increases in subsequent years. Please see section 19.1 of this booklet for more information. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/documents/fee-notes.pdf If you are starting your course in January or April, your offer letter will include the fee you are required to pay from your start date until the following October. When you register for the next academic year, you will pay the full annual tuition fee.

You can pay tuition and accommodation fees online. You’ll need your unique personal University ID code (PRID) to use this service. We’ll send you your PRID via your myEssex account. w www.essex.ac.uk/accommodation/payments

Our wide range of postgraduate scholarships are for students who have demonstrated high academic achievement and have the potential to distinguish themselves in their studies. Visit our Scholarship Finder for information. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/scholarship-finder If you are an Essex alumnus, you can save up to 33%. We also offer a 10% discount if you previously studied at Essex on a study abroad programme for at least one term. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/masters/loyalty You can also see how much our students normally spend on living costs. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/money/cost-living To find out what it’s like to live and study at Essex as an international student, visit our website which includes information about travel, living costs, bank accounts, insurance and support services. w www.essex.ac.uk/international 11. Information for students who require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK If you’re a national of a country outside the European Economic Area, you’ll probably need a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK. Up-to-date advice and guidance about immigration requirements is available on our immigration webpages. We also recommend you consult the UK Home Office website, and familiarise yourself with the Tier 4 policy guidance. w www.essex.ac.uk/immigration w www.gov.uk/tier-4-general-visa/overview To apply for a Tier 4 visa, you’ll need a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from your university. Your CAS statement is a unique number that you’ll need to provide, along with all your relevant documents, when you make your visa application. Should you choose to accept the University of Essex’s offer and if we are able to confirm your place, we will be in contact with you about your CAS statement

from July 2017 onwards once your status with us is unconditional. By accepting our University’s Tier 4 sponsorship (using our CAS), you’ll have responsibilities both to us and the Home Office. You must continue to meet the Tier 4 immigration rules, requirements and conditions of your leave and understand what you must do to maintain your Tier 4 immigration status. To help you, we provide detailed advice about your responsibilities as a Tier 4 student on our immigration webpages. w www.essex.ac.uk/immigration/studies/responsibilities.aspx We will require full details of your academic history including all previous study (even if you did not pass or complete your course), any changes you make to your current study, and any breaks from studying you may have had. If you have not declared any previous study details on your application form, please contact the relevant Senior Admissions Adviser. We may not be able to issue you with a CAS statement if you have not told us about something in your application which may affect your eligibility to successfully apply for a Tier 4 visa. In addition, if the UK Home Office makes any changes to the Tier 4 guidance, we may not be able to issue you with a CAS statement if you no longer meet all the requirements.

Please also see section 15.1 on Tier 4 requirements.

If you’re an international student holding an offer for a research degree in biological sciences, mathematics, computer science, electronic engineering, or health and human sciences, you will need to obtain clearance from the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) before you can apply for your Tier 4 visa. Your offer letter provides detailed information if this is relevant for you.

12. International students We publish general advice and guidance for international students coming to live and study in the UK for the first time on our international student web pages. w www.essex.ac.uk/students/new/international

13. Term dates Term dates for the majority of our courses are listed below. Welcome Week, which includes registration, takes place Sunday 1 – Saturday 7 October 2017.

Autumn term

Thursday 5 October 2017 – Friday 15 December 2017

Spring term

Monday 15 January 2018 – Friday 23 March 2018

Summer term

Monday 23 April 2018 – Friday 29 June 2018

Term dates for some of our courses may be different. We’ll send you more detailed information about term dates when your place is confirmed.

14. Deferring your entry If you wish to defer your entry for a year, please complete the reply to offer form and select the third option: “I wish to defer the offer to the next academic year (the same course and start date, ie October, January or April, as stated in my offer)”. If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, we will only be able to defer your place if we believe that you will continue to meet all the Tier 4 requirements. Please note that we will only be able to issue deferred applicants with a CAS statement if we believe that they meet all the Tier 4 requirements as set out in the UK Home Office Tier 4 Policy Guidance, including where any subsequent changes have been made to the guidance between now and the deferral date. Please check the UK Home Office webpages to see the most up-to-date Tier 4 Policy Guidance. w www.gov.uk/tier-4-general-visa/overview For the effect of deferring your place on tuition fees, please see section 19.2 in Part 2 of this booklet.

15. Admissions terms and conditions Please note that your offer is subject to the following admissions terms and conditions: 15.1 Tier 4 requirements We reserve the right to make changes to your offer where we are required to do so in order to ensure compliance with UK Home Office regulations. We may also be unable to confirm your place and/or issue a CAS if you are unable to meet all Tier 4 requirements, including where there have been changes to these requirements made by the UK Home Office.

15.2 14-day right to cancel Please refer to section 24.2 in Part 2 of this booklet for information.

15.3 Fee status Please refer to section 20 in Part 2 of this booklet for more information.

Further information about fee status is available on the University’s website. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/current/fee-status 15.4 Verification of qualifications Your offer is subject to verification of the qualifications you declared in your application and results of your qualifications. You’re required to submit all relevant qualification documents to us on request during the admissions process. Scanned colour copies are normally acceptable, but we reserve the right to request original documents, including certified translations where necessary, before confirming your place or, in some cases, before permitting you to register at the start of your course. Please note that black and white copies of certificates will only be acceptable where the original document is produced in black and white.

In any case where there is satisfactory and sufficient evidence that fraudulent documents have been used to obtain an offer, we reserve the right to withdraw your offer with immediate effect.

15.5 Criminal convictions or police cautions Applicants are required to declare if they have a criminal conviction in their application. If you’re convicted of a criminal offence or receive a police caution after you’ve applied, you must inform us. Disclosures must be made in writing to our Head of Graduate Admissions.

15.6 Offers conditional on Work Health Assessments and DBS checks If you are holding an offer that is conditional on satisfactory occupational health and/or criminal record checks, you can firmly accept your offer before these checks have been completed. Please refer to section 1.2 of this booklet to follow the instructions set out for unconditional offers.

16. Instructions for setting up your applicant portal 1. Go to www.essex.ac.uk/apply

2. Click on the ‘Register’ link

3. Fill in the form containing your details as follows:

a. PG reference number b. Date of birth c. Email address d. Choose a ‘passphrase’ and select a secret question

You will see a page titled ‘Account creation accepted’ informing you that your account request is being processed. You will then be sent an email from no-reply@essex.ac.uk which contains a link to validate your portal account. Sometimes the email is filtered into a spam or junk mail folder, so check your email carefully.

Click the link in the email to validate your account. You will not be able to log in to the portal until you have validated your account.

4. Go to www.essex.ac.uk/apply again

5. Enter your email address and passphrase and click ‘Login’

6. C lick on the ‘View Application’ link beside your application if you are not taken through to your portal immediately

On subsequent visits: 1. Go to www.essex.ac.uk/apply

2. Enter your email address and passphrase and click ‘Login’

3. C lick on the ‘View Application’ link beside your application if you are not taken through to your portal automatically

If you have any problems setting up your portal account, please email it.helpdesk@essex.ac.uk, giving details of the issue or error message, your full name, date of birth and PG reference number.

17. Graduate Admissions Office contact details If you have questions or require further information about your offer or our admissions process, contact our Graduate Admissions Office for both Colchester Campus and Southend Campus courses.

E pgquery@essex.ac.uk Loughton Campus T +44 (0) 208 8508 5983 E east15@essex.ac.uk

19. Tuition fees For up-to-date information about tuition fees, please refer to our student fees and funding web pages. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding 18. When might courses change or close?

The University will make every effort to provide the required teaching, supervision and academic facilities. However the University cannot guarantee that teaching or supervision will be provided by a particular named individual.

After you have accepted an offer, the University will only make changes to courses, or close courses due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory or academic reasons. Examples of such reasons might include: change to law or regulatory requirements; industrial action; lack of demand; departure of key personnel; change in government policy; or withdrawal or reduction of funding. Changes to courses may be made in the students’ overall interests, for example because of new teaching or assessment practices, new technology or changes to the University’s premises or structure. Examples of changes include changes to the content or structure of courses, to the location or method of teaching or assessment, or to the type of award.

If a course change or closure is proposed in such circumstances, the University will take all reasonable steps to minimise disruption to students. This will include informing students of the changes in advance and giving them appropriate opportunity to comment on the proposals.

A course would only be closed in exceptional circumstances. If it is ever necessary to close a course, the University’s preferred approach would be to continue to teach current students on that course until they have completed their studies. If exceptionally that is not possible, the University will explore other options with the affected students for example by considering whether those students can be offered places on alternative courses.

19.1 Tuition fee increases during your course For students commencing their part-time or PhD studies at the University of Essex in the 2017-18 academic year, your fees will increase for each academic year of study. This annual increase will be 3% or the RPI-X index, whichever is higher. For full-time postgraduate students with a Home/EU* fee status, any fee increases during your programme of study will be limited to the RPI-X index, even if this is lower than 3%. Increases in fees for full-time postgraduate students with a Home/EU* fee status remain subject to UK Government approval. * The fee status of EU students may be subject to review should the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union change the legal status of EU students.

We will give students no less than three months’ notice of such increases, which would take effect at the start of the academic year.

You may terminate your contract if you do not wish to pay the increased fee and will not be liable for the new fee provided that you do not register for your next period of study. If you do wish to terminate your contract, you are advised to commence the withdrawal process in order to notify the University of your intention. Advice will be provided as part of this process. The effect of terminating your contract is that you will not incur fees for the next or subsequent academic years, and your studies with the University will terminate. You will remain liable for any fees within the year of study for which you are registered in accordance with the University’s published policy on fee liability. ww ww.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/documents/payment-liabilitypolicy.pdf

You should consider your options carefully before terminating your contract in such circumstances. You may for example want to contact other institutions about whether you might be able to complete your studies with them, and to check what fee increases they might be contemplating. You may also want to consider other matters such as accommodation costs.

19.2 Tuition fee increases if you defer entry, or if you have a break in your studies Please also note that if you defer entry, or your studies are suspended for any reason, the fees when you commence or resume studies may have increased in later academic years to take account of increased costs, as explained above.

20. Fee status Please note that your fee status has been determined from the information provided in your application. The University may review your fee status during the admissions process and reserves the right to amend your fee status in accordance with UK Fees and Awards legislation in force at the relevant time. Current legislation provides that fee status is assessed on the first day of an academic year of the course. Further information about fee status is available on the University’s website. w www.essex.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/current/fee-status 21. Your compliance with University Regulations It is a term of your contract with the University that you will comply with the University’s regulations, policies and procedures. A full set of the University Regulations is available online. w www.essex.ac.uk/about/governance/regulations/students.aspx The Regulations cover a range of important matters, including: n The circumstances in which students can have their registration terminated or they may be required to withdraw from the University, without receiving an award, for example for:

- breach of the required standards of academic integrity and honesty; - failing to register within 28 days of the start of Autumn term in each year; - lack of academic progress; - breach of the University’s Code of Student Conduct which sets out the conduct expected of students and their guests. Penalties for breach of the Code can also include warnings and fines, for example; - failing to notify the Head of Admissions of any criminal convictions or police cautions after you are accepted for admission; - in the case of students enrolled on courses which may lead to a professional qualification or involve a professional placement (eg health, social work and education courses), where there is a breach of the University’s Fitness to Practise Procedure; - in the case of students that are subject to immigration control, failing to comply with any conditions applicable to their visa/ immigration control; - non-payment of tuition fees when they are due. n Withdrawal

of university facilities (which includes teaching, supervision, library, computing and accommodation services) for non-payment of tuition fees.

Your contract is also governed by the requirements of the University’s Charter, Statutes and Ordinances. The Ordinances include the power to revoke awards where the Senate deems there to be good cause.

The University may amend its regulations, policies, procedures, charter, statutes and ordinances periodically to ensure that it operates efficiently for students and meets relevant legal and regulatory obligations.

Important changes will be appropriately notified to students.

22. Limitation of the University’s liability to you and others Nothing in these terms and conditions will limit or exclude the University’s liability for death or personal injury arising from our own negligence, or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Otherwise, the University’s liability to you with respect to the provision of your course, the cancellation, postponement, or amendment of the course, any negligence, any breach of these terms and conditions, or arising in any other way out of the subject matter of these terms and conditions, is limited to the total amount of tuition fees due from you in respect of your course.

In the above context “the University” also includes the University’s officers, employees and agents, and those provisions may be relied on by those officers, employees and agents. Otherwise, none of these terms will be enforceable by any third party.

We shall not be liable to you arising from matters outside our control. This includes but is not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, or failure of public utilities or transport systems.

23. Personal data and data protection 23.1 How we use your personal data The University’s Privacy Policy explains what data we might hold about you, how we use it, who we might share it with and the reasons for doing so. w www.essex.ac.uk/records_management/policies/students.aspx The University’s Data Protection Policy explains how the University complies with its obligations under the relevant legislation, including the procedures for subject access requests and complaints in respect of personal data.

ww ww.essex.ac.uk/records_management/policies/data_protection_

policy.aspx 23.2 Your obligations when dealing with other peoples’ personal data during your course Students may be involved in dealing with other peoples’ personal data, for example in research projects or work placements. Students must ensure that they comply with the requirements of data protection law (which for example contains requirements about the security of personal data and restrictions on how such data is used and shared).

Further guidance on data protection and research is available online. ww ww.essex.ac.uk/records_management/policies/data_protection_ and_research.aspx 24. The law governing your contract and who can deal with claims and complaints Your contract with the University is governed by English law. The English courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction in respect of disputes arising out of and in connection with your contract.

24.1 Complaints The University is committed to equality of opportunity for all applicants, and the University’s admissions policies, procedures and processes are designed to ensure that all applicants are considered fairly, consistently and in accordance with professional standards. In the event that an applicant is dissatisfied with any aspect of the University’s admissions process, the Complaint policy for applicants can be found via the Graduate Admissions Policy online. w www.essex.ac.uk/quality/university_policies/Admissions/default.asp Registered students are able to use the University’s Student Concerns and Complaints procedure, which sets out the University’s internal procedure and how complaints may be referred to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. The procedure can be found online. w www.essex.ac.uk/about/governance/policies/complaints.aspx

24.2 14-day right to cancel Accepting your offer of a place means a contract will be made between you and the University. If you change your mind, you have the right to cancel your contract within 14 days. The cancellation period ends 14 days after the day on which you accepted our offer.

To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to inform us of your decision cancelling the contract by a clear statement (eg by email or letter) before the cancellation period has expired. If you send a letter by post you should retain proof of posting. We ask that you notify your decision to the relevant Senior Admissions Adviser. You can also let us know you wish to cancel the contract by completing the cancellation form available on your myEssex applicant portal.

Before the start of your course you will still be able to cancel after the 14-day period, but you will need to contact us to ensure this is possible and to arrange this.

If you cancel the contract, other than in respect of any non-refundable deposits, we will return any payments you have made to us for the course. We will return such payments without undue delay and not later than 14 days after the day on which we were informed of your decision to cancel this contract. We will return the payment using the same means of payment as you used in the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise. You will not incur any fees as a result of this reimbursement.

25. The University of Essex Statement on Equality and Diversity The University of Essex recognises the value of diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity within the University. We expect students and staff to be treated with dignity and respect and solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation,

socio-economic background, political beliefs and affiliations, family circumstances, or other irrelevant distinction.

The University is committed to a programme of action to ensure that this policy is fully effective.

For more information about living and learning at Essex, please visit our website.