Cancellation and deferral policy

This policy covers three different things that are often confused: withdrawing from a programme, deferring to a later intake, and what happens when we cancel. It forms part of our terms and conditions. What you get back in money is set out in the refund policy.

Deferring is usually the better option

If your circumstances have changed but you still intend to study, defer rather than withdraw. A deferral keeps the fees you have paid against your programme; a withdrawal converts them into a refund calculation, and after 25% of a programme has been delivered that calculation returns nothing.

How deferral works

• Ask in writing to [email protected], at least 7 days before your programme start date where possible.
• You may defer once, to a start date within 12 months of your original one.
• Your fees transfer in full. Where the fee for the new intake is higher, you pay the difference; where it is lower, the balance stays on your account against the same programme.
• A deferral requested after a programme has started is treated as a withdrawal and the refund table applies, unless we agree otherwise in writing.
• A second deferral, or a deferral beyond 12 months, is at our discretion and may be declined. If it is declined, you may withdraw under the refund policy.

Deferral is agreed in writing. Until you have our written confirmation, your original enrolment stands.

Withdrawing

Write to [email protected] with your name, your programme and the date the withdrawal should take effect. The date that counts is the day we receive your request in writing. Not attending, not logging in and not responding are none of them a withdrawal, and fees continue to fall due until you tell us.

What you are refunded depends on how much of the programme has been delivered by that date — the table is in the refund policy.

If you have been registered with an awarding body, tell us whether you want that registration kept. Some bodies allow a registration to be held against a later sitting; others do not, and the fee is not recoverable either way.

Transferring to a different programme

You may ask to move to a different programme instead of withdrawing. Where the request comes before teaching begins, we will normally agree and simply apply your fees to the new programme, with any difference payable or credited.

After teaching has begun, a transfer is treated as a withdrawal from the first programme and a new enrolment on the second: the refund table decides what carries over.

A transfer between awarding bodies — from a KHDA programme to a UK one, for example — may require a new registration fee, because the registration is made with the body rather than with us.

Transferring your place to someone else

Enrolment is personal to you and cannot be transferred to another person. An awarding body registration certainly cannot be: it carries your name and your assessment record.

When we cancel

We may cancel a cohort that does not reach its minimum enrolment, or that cannot run for reasons outside our control — including the loss of a host venue, a tutor’s unavailability, or a change imposed by an awarding body or regulator.

If we cancel, we will tell you in writing as early as we can, and you may choose either:

• to transfer to the next available intake of the same programme at no charge, with your fees carried across in full; or
• a full refund, including the registration fee and any awarding-body fee we have not yet paid onward.

We do not pay for travel, accommodation, visa costs or time taken off work in connection with a cancelled cohort.

Rescheduled sessions

Moving an individual session — a tutor’s illness, a venue clash, a public holiday — is not a cancellation. We reschedule it and tell you the new date. Where the total taught hours for your programme are reduced, that is a material change and section 5 of the terms and conditions applies.

Questions

[email protected], or +971 4 2888895. Office hours are on the contact page.