Terms and Conditions for Studying at MAPS College

Version 1.1, 18 May 2015

The following terms and conditions of studying at MAPS College applies to applications submitted to the College as well as any placement offers made to prospective students. When a student accepts the offer made by the College, the student must have read and understood the following terms and conditions. By accepting the offer made from the College, the student is also agreeing to abide by the following terms and conditions:

Submission of Application and Enrolment
1. Before submitting an application to study at MAPS College, the applicant must have read and understood these terms and conditions contained in this document for studying at MAPS College. By submitting an application to the College, the applicant is also agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions contained in this document for their studies at MAPS College.

2. Applicant must ensure that they provide accurate and up to date information in the application to the College. Applicants are also required to submit with their College application their National Identity Card or Passport copy, relevant educational documents, work experience letters and/or sponsorship letters, if applicable. Originals or attested scans of these documents would be required by the College at the time of submitting the application or before an offer letter is issued, in order to verify the authenticity of the documents submitted. Originals of these documents will be given back once authenticity is verified and College will not keep any originals of the documents in its custody. An applicant is deemed to be complete only when all the required supporting documents are received by the College together with the application form.

3. Applicants below the age of 18 years must be sponsored by their parents or guardian as they would be liable to pay course fees to the College on behalf of the applicant.

4. Applicants are required to pay a fee for enrolling into the College. This fee is not refundable.

5. Submitting an application to College does not mean a placement is guaranteed. Once the College completes processing of the application, the applicant will be issued an offer letter with the invoice for course fees for the first year. The offer letter will also state the deadline for payment of the first instalment which needs to be settled to secure the placement. The College will confirm and issue acceptance of the offer only upon settlement of the first instalment of the course fee.

6. Applicant is required to sign the Acceptance of Offer and return to the College to complete the enrollment process.

College Fees
7. Course fees for all programmes offered by the College and other fees are published on the MAPS College website and contained in other documentations available from the College. The College website will always have the most recent and up-to-date information including course fees. If there are any discrepancies between the College website and other publications or documents issued from the College the information on the website will prevail.

8. Usually course fees and other fees are revised twice annually by the College to reflect necessary changes as a result of changes to fees of the examination bodies and other economic considerations within the Country and aboard. Revisions usually take place in December and May of the year.

9. Revisions are usually advertised on the website and informed to the students prior to the effective date. However, the College reserves the right to bring any change to the College Fees (including course fees, exam fees, resit fees and any other payments collected by the College from students) at any time with or without any notice.

10. The College course fees are the amounts that students are required to pay to the College to follow a programme of study. It may or may not directly reflect the fees published by the external examination bodies on their publications or websites, as there are certain administrative and other expenses that the College has to bear in order to enable students at the College to follow a particular study programme.

11. For most of the courses offered at the College, a payment plan has been devised to enable students to pay the course fees in monthly instalments. Full details of the payment plan is published on the College website and other documents. The College reserve the right to bring any change to the payment plan with or without any notice.

12. It is the objective of the College to maintain the College fees always competitive and the best in the Maldives.

13. The College will issue, as part of the enrolment, an invoice to each student at the beginning of each year which includes the total course fee for the year, monthly instalment plan and due dates for the instalments. It is the responsibility of the students to collect the invoice and pay the payments regularly as per the invoice.

Payment and Refund of Fees
14. All payments to College must be settled prior to the deadline, which would be clearly stated on the invoice or other documentations. Failure to settle any fees on or before the stated deadline will incur maximum fines at the rate of 1% of the instalment amount per day late. The College will not accept delayed payments without the fines unless otherwise accompanied by written document issued by the College to the contrary.

15. The Accounts Department of the College will usually send an MAPS SMS as a reminder when the course fee instalment is due. Payment due date will remain valid even if the MAPS SMS reminder from the Accounts Department not received by the Student. Furthermore, the Accounts Department of the College also may choose to contact the student via telephone, email or other means it determines fit. The College reserves the right to dismiss the student without further notice if two consecutive instalments of the course fees are not paid. The College also reserves the right to exclude students from the College examinations; withhold the examination documents and course completion documents until the College fees are paid in full.

16. Students are liable to pay all the fees to the College on or before the stipulated deadlines and failure to do so may result in the student being expelled from the College.

17. The enrollment fee must be paid to the College when submitting the application, or before online enrollment takes place for online students. This is a non-refundable payment.

18. Course fees are not refundable after a placement has been confirmed or once the student is enrolled.

19. For sponsored students, the liability for payment will be on the their sponsor (which can be a government office, private organisation or an individual).

20. For students below 18 years of age, the liability for payment will be upon the parent/guardian sponsoring the student.

21. If a student wishes to withdraw from the course after the enrolment/placement is confirmed or after accepting the offer, then the student can only do so after paying the course fee apportioned for the semester in full. Student will also be required to fulfil other procedures described elsewhere to complete the withdrawal process.

22. If a student is expelled or terminated from the College for cause then the College is not liable to refund any fees (including course fee, exam fee, resit fee or any other fees) the student has paid to the College. Student will also be required to fulfil other procedures stated elsewhere in this document to complete this process.

Withdrawal or Expulsion from the College
23. The College reserves the right to expel any student for cause at any time after following the necessary procedures established. Any student expelled from the College for any reason would not receive a refund of any fees (including course fee, exam fee, resit fee, books or any other fees) paid to the College. A student will be expelled only as a last resort and even then based on a decision made by the relevant Committee of the College.

24. Usually a student would be expelled from the College or course for (a) having submitted false or incorrect or misleading information or falsified documentation to the College to obtain placement, (b) poor attendance, (c) gross misconduct, (d) as a result of a disciplinary action, (e) not paying the College fees, (f) academic misconduct and (g) any other reason which the appropriate Committee of the College deems fit.

25. A Student wishing to withdraw from the course after placement/enrolment or acceptance of offer, for any reason, may do so only after paying the course fees for that semester in full and submitting the Course Withdrawal Form to the College, where the reason for withdrawal needs to be cleared stated. In such an instance, the College will not be obliged to refund any amount from the course fee to the student.

Deferment of Subjects, Exams or Course
26. Applicants who has submitted an application for a course can defer their application by submitting Application/Course Deferment Form before enrolment is completed. Enrolment will be deemed completed when the applicant signs the Acceptance of Offer and the first instalment of the course fee is settled. Applicants who defer their applications in this manner can enrol next semester without paying the application processing fee, if it has already been paid.

27. A student may defer the course to the next semester or intake after the enrolment process is completed by submitting Application/Course Deferment Form to the College before the teaching starts for the semester. In such case, the College would not refund any fees paid towards the course fee but apply these fees when the student re-joins in the next semester or intake. However, when the student joins back if there is any change in the course fees, the student would be required to pay the difference to the College in order to continue his/her studies. The Application/Course Deferment Form will not be accepted by the College after the teaching has started.

28. Students are not allowed to defer a single or multiple subjects/units in their enrolled course to the next semester or intake.

29. For valid reasons, provided the Academic Board of the College approves, students requesting to defer examinations may be accommodated provided the student pays the difference in fees at the time the student undertakes the examination. The College will not issue any refund for deferred examinations under any circumstances.

Commencement of Scheduled Courses
30. The College reserves the right to cancel, postpone or bring forward a course announced to commence in an intake without prior notice, if there are insufficient numbers of students, or for any other reason. If this happens, any fees paid by the student will be fully refunded or transferred to another course if the student wishes.

Changes to Address, Contact Details, Confidentiality, and Data Protection
31. Students shall take the responsibility to keep the College informed in writing of any change to their residential address, contact details, especially mobile numbers and email addresses. The College will rely heavily on SMS, calls to mobiles and email to communicate with the students.

32. The College will not be responsible for any issue arising from student’s failure to update their address and contact records with the College.

33. Any information the College collects from the students would be stored and regarded as confidential information. Students must agree that College may process, analyse and use such information for College own use as and when necessary. The College from time to time may be required to share such information with its regulators and other parties. Thus, the College reserves the right to release personal details of the applicants/students to concerned parties, government offices, public or private.

34. The College also reserves the right to release details of the student’s performance, examination results and attendance records to parent(s), guardian(s) and/or sponsor(s).

Student Registration with External Examination Bodies
35. Students who are enrolled in courses in which the College requires them to be registered with external examination bodies such as the ACCA, ABE, Edexcel and University of Bedfordshire, the College will proceed to register the students, enter them into exams, and perform other necessary transactions including payment of fees on behalf of the students to the external examination bodies.

36. Some external examination bodies such as the ACCA, ABE and CTH allows the above mentioned actions to be performed via a student portal accessible to each student registered with them. In such instances, the College will maintain access details to these portal with the College until end of the course or until all payments have been cleared to the examination body. This is important because when access details are shared with the students, in some instances, the College is not informed when the student changes the password, and as result the College would have to face delays in making payments to the examination body or the College would not be able to access the portal in time to make exam entries.

37. If the College decides to share the access details with the students, then from that time onwards the College would not be held responsible for late payments, failure to enter to exams and other such issues which are arising as a direct result of the student not sharing new/changed access details with the College.

38. The exemption a student can obtain for their prior learning or after completing a particular study/module/unit/subject or course is usually stated in the course information pages in the college website. Exemption details provided in the course information pages in the MAPS College website and other official documents are based on prior agreements with the respective affiliate and are subjected to a number of conditions and may also change at any time without prior notice. MAPS College will not take responsibility for such changes for which it does not have any control. Furthermore, MAPS College is unable to offer any compensation for any loss or damage the students may incur as a result of exemptions being not awarded.

MAPS College Policies and Procedures
39. It is the responsibility of students to ensure that they are familiar with the MAPS College Policies and adhere to them while studying at MAPS College. The College will make available to students its policies and procedures via its Intranet as and when needed.

40. MAPS College reserves the right to enact or dissolve policies at any time giving reasonable notice to students.

Responsibilities of Students
41. As a student of the MAPS College, students have the following responsibilities:

a) To attend the classes on time and in accordance with the timetable provided. If a student is not on time, then the Lecturer may mark the student absent. For graduation, students are required to meet at least 80% of the course attendance for each of the subjects/units in the course. This requirement may vary from course to course. This is also one of the requirements of Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) for accreditation of students’ certificates. Full details of this will be included in the Course Guide given to students during their induction.

b) To attend any tutorial, practical, seminar, revision session, practice examination, mock examination conducted in any module of the course enrolled in and to participate any required event or activity.

c) To apply yourself to your studies to the best of your abilities.

d) To become familiar with course structure, payment plan, examination and assessment structure of the enrolled course.

e) To meet the deadlines for work to be submitted.

f) To take the initiative and consult appropriately when a problem arises.

g) To accept joint responsibility for your own learning.

h) To respect all the lecturers of the College and deal professionally with them.

i) To respect all the members of the College community including the administrative and support staff.

j) To check Student Notice Board for any notice regarding your classes and activities.

Attendance to Classes
42. Students are required to achieve minimum 80% of attendance in all the subjects/units or modules of the enrolled course.

43. Students who do not achieve 80% of attendance may not be allowed to sit the final examination of the module or the enrolled course.

44. In the examinations of external bodies, students are required to register for the examination before the end of the semester. Hence students without 80% of attendance could be allowed to do the examination as examination entry is done before the semester ends. However, their certificate may not be accredited from the Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) as one of the graduation requirements (achieving 80% of attendance) is not attained.

45. Students must inform the College in writing if they are unable to attend to the classes for any reason. Absence can be excused for valid reasons if it is requested in writing with relevant documents. Absence due to medical reasons should be supported with a medical certificate. For other valid reasons letters from parents, guardians, sponsors and employer can be accepted. Cases of long absence will not be granted excuse for whatsoever reason.

46. The medical certificates or letter shall be submitted to the Course Co-ordinator within a reasonable duration of such absenteeism. Delayed submission to obtain excuse will not be accepted.

47. The College will not be responsible for any issues arising due to poor attendance record including accrediting their award.

Class Timetable and Conducting the Classes
48. Regular classes of the College will be conducted between 3.00pm to 11:00pm on Saturdays through to Thursdays. During the month of Ramazan the class timing will be changed; usually between 8:00pm to 11:30pm. However depending on the availability of classrooms, the College may to require holding classes on different timings.

49. The College will issue class timetables of the first semester to the students at the orientation session or will be put up on the College notice board. If timetable could not be issued on the orientation day, the College will ensure to issue the final timetable on the first day of the class. In an unlikely circumstance, if the College is unable to finalize the timetable, the College may issue a daily timetable on the day of class until all issues regarding the timetable are sorted out.

50. Due to changes in the subject tutors during the semester or due to classroom maintenance issues, class timings and allocated classroom may change throughout the semester. These changes will be informed to the students via telephone, MAPS SMS or by students’ notice, which is put up on the College notice board or through Student Support Service staff of the College. The College will chose the method of informing based on resources available to them at the time.

51. While the College will make every effort to provide the programme as mentioned, the College may change programme subjects, tutors, dates and locations. Similarly, due to unavoidable circumstances like, absence of tutors due to personal and health issues, sometimes regular scheduled classes may have to be postponed. Any such information will be forwarded to the students mainly through MAPS SMS as soon as possible.

52. While the College will make every effort to inform the students on time of any changes to class timing, there might be cases that the notices regarding the class postponement could not be passed to students on time due to short notice from the tutors or College receiving the information after students comes to the class.

53. The College will always put every effort to cover the prescribed syllabus for the semester and to complete the required contact hours for each module by conducting replacement classes and extra classes. While the College will make every effort to complete the syllabus as per the course lesson plans provided in the course guide, in unavoidable circumstances the College will ensure to complete the syllabus latest before the examination date.

Lecturers and Other Academic Staff
54. It is the aim of the College to appoint the best available tutors to teach different courses and modules of the College courses before the beginning of the semester. However, the College may decide to change a tutor during the semester with the advice from the Academic Board, based on the students evaluation of tutors performance and supervision by the course coordinators. The College may also have to change a tutor during the semester due to the tutor’s resignation.

55. If a tutor resigns from the College without giving enough time to replace a new tutor, until a new tutor is recruited classes may be suspended. However, in such situations the College will pay attention to make arrangements, for replacement as soon as possible.

56. Students’ complain about any of the tutors will be dealt very seriously. In any such case, students’ feedback will be collected, and based on the feedback analysis and other relevant documents; the College Academic Board will make a decision regarding such cases. College will make all such decisions for the benefit of the students in accordance with the College policies.

Graduation Requirements
57. All the students enrolled at MAPS College should meet the following for their graduation:

a) Must achieve at least 80% attendance in all units/subjects or modules. Attendance will not be compensated by any other means other than attending regular classes.

b) Clearance of all indebtedness to the College including the return of all materials borrowed from the College and its Library.

c) Completion of all units/subjects with a grade of “Pass” or above.

58. The College with the advice from Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) and the external examination board, reserve the right to deviate from the above requirements under special circumstances on a case by case basis, provided that all concerned parties are in concurrence with the proposal put forward.

Assessments and Examination
59. Coursework assignments would be conducted throughout the semester. Students are required to submit the assignment before the deadline.

60. According to the MAPS College Assessment Policy, deadlines of assessments can be extended as follows:

a) Students who require an extension of time to complete an assessment must seek approval from the Course Coordinator and Subject Lecturer. The Course Co-ordinator and Subject Lecturer must sign in a document indicating the extension date. Extension can only be granted due to compassionate or compelling circumstances that are generally those beyond the control of the student and which have an impact upon the student’s course progress or wellbeing. These could include, but are not limited to:

I. serious illness or injury, where a medical certificate states that the student was unable to attend classes;

II. bereavement of close family members such as parents or grandparents.

III. natural disaster in the home town/island requiring emergency travel and this has impacted on the student’s studies; or

IV. a traumatic experience which could include:

 involvement in, or witnessing of a serious accident; or

 witnessing or being the victim of a serious crime.

61. Time constrained written exams will be usually conducted towards the end of each semester and students will receive results as soon as they are ready, ideally before the beginning of the next semester. The College cannot take responsibilities for delays in issuing results from the respective examination body.

62. The College will follow the Assessment and Examination Policy in dealing with Plagiarism, Collusion and Misconduct in the Assessments and Examinations of the College.

63. At the end of each semester, after the Academic Board approves the results, the College will issue a transcript to each student showing his/her current academic progress.

Students Conduct in the Classrooms and the College
64. MAPS College campus is a smoke free environment and student should not smoke or consume or abuse illegal substances while in the premises, Café or the compound.

65. While in the College premises, students must refrain from using abusive or defamatory language and shall not engage in any act that is regarded as disrespectful and in violation of the laws of the Maldives.

66. Students strictly are not allowed to use their mobile phones while in the classrooms and are not allowed to leave the classrooms to answer calls.

67. While the College encourages constructive feedback and discussions from the students within the established mechanisms, the students must at all times refrain from discussing amongst themselves or with lecturer/staff or engaging in any of the following activities in a destructive manner with the intent to create harm:

a) any matters that may offend the Islamic faith, national security or that may infringe the social and religious integrity of the people of the Maldives

b) any matters that may tarnish the good image of the College or the Lecturers or the students of the College

c) any matter that may jeopardize the smooth functioning of the College

Misconduct
68. Disciplinary action will be taken against any student found guilty of misconduct. The College may give written warning or expel immediately without any prior warning of such students. The action to be taken against any such offenders will be taken by the College Disciplinary Committee.

69. Misconduct includes:

a) Behaviour which disrupt to teaching, learning and other activities of the College

b) Failure to follow reasonable instructions given by College staff

c) Smoking or use of illegal substances within the College premises

d) Failure to follow Health and Safety Regulations of the College

e) Disorderly behaviour or the use of abusive language

f) Vandalising College buildings, equipment or furniture

g) Misusing College resources and facilities such as the library, software and computers

h) Violence or threat of violence

i) Any illegal act which violate the laws of Maldivian constitution, students rules and regulations that may be set by the Higher Education Department of the Government or any of the illegal behaviour on or off the College’s premises, which may harm the reputation of the College

Students Dress Code
70. Students are required to maintain decency in their dress code while attending to the College lectures or any activity of the College. In any activity or event where College is represented, students are expected to show professional standards in all their behaviour including the dress code.

71. If a student attend with morally unexpected dress code or present a personal character (inappropriate to that environment of community) in the class, College activity, College function, or in any event to represent the College, staff of the College have the right to send such students out of the College, dismiss such students from any such event or activity immediately.

Books and Study Manuals
72. The College will provide access to the learning manuals and books for some of the courses offered at the College. The College website and course information sheets will indicate whether study manuals or books are provided for that particular course. For some courses, the College will provide the soft copy of the study manual or provide the reference materials in the library or online.

73. Usually any printed study manuals or books will be provided to the students at the beginning of the semester once the first instalment is settled. However there can be delays in delivering the books or study manuals depending on many factors which are beyond the control of the College. Some of these includes delays in printing the books (on some instances printing is outsourced), delays in processing the orders from foreign suppliers, issues in clearing the books from customs and so forth. In such instances, the College together with the lecturers will put in every effort to compensate for the delay by providing notes and required supporting materials during this time. The College will also provide soft copy of the available manuals on the request of the student.

Preferred Mode of Communication with the Students
74. The preferred mode of communication with the students is by using the College Student E-mail given to each student.

75. The College also will send the required messages via MAPS SMS regarding College activities, class rescheduling, extra classes, College fees and other required information about studies, to the mobile numbers given to the College by the students.

76. If a student becomes aware that MAPS SMS from the College are not passed to a given mobile number due the number not been included in the class list, database or not updating the current number, students need to inform the Students Support Service immediately by meeting the staff or sending an email. If this gets repeated, students need to notify this to course co-ordinator immediately.

Complains and Suggestions
77. Students can submit their concerns and suggestion to the College through the College Suggestions and Complains form which is available at College reception.

78. The College encourage students to solve any issue regarding studies and administration by speaking with the lecturers and Students Support Service. Students can meet the course co-ordinators if there is any concerned issue which was not addressed by talking to the Students Support Service or lecturer of the subject.

79. If students are not satisfied with the progress of the concerns raised regarding their studies and administrative issues, students can arrange meeting with the head of department or the Vice Rector through the Student Support Service. Students can also meet the College Rector if by any other means, their concerns are not addressed.

Student Co-operation and Participation
80. The College encourages students to participate in sports, games and other activities of the College organised by the Colleges and the Students Association of the College.

81. The College also encourage students initiated activities, which help to foster friendship among the College students.

Access and Use of the College IT Resources
82. Each student of the College shall be issued with network credentials (username and password) to access the College’s IT Resources and a College Email Address that can be used for communication with the College and Lectures.

83. It is the responsibility of a student to use these resources according the College policies and students agreement of using IT resources.

College Facilities
84. All the facilities at the College are established to provide enhanced and safe learning environment. As a student of the MAPS College it is an individual student’s responsibility to use these facilities and all the College properties with care and not to cause any harm or damage.

85. Students who purposefully cause any damage to any of the College property or damage cause due to carelessness of the students is required to compensate adequately to the Colleges. In addition to that, disciplinary actions will be taken based on the nature of the action if required.

Certificate Accreditation
86. The College conducts courses which are accredited by the Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA). Course accreditation approval is usually published in the College website for the students’ reference.

87. College may also enrol and start the classes of the courses after submitting for MQA approval though MQA has not issued the written approval. However, students will be informed in such cases in the student orientation session and students have every right to withdraw before the classes of those courses start.

88. The College will show the proof of MQA approval of applied course to the prospective student on their request if the approval letter is not published in the College official website.

89. Students can also enquire from Maldives Qualification Authority regarding the course approval before enrolling the course at MAP College.

90. College will give all their support in accrediting students certificates within its’ limits and rules and regulation of Colleges and Maldives Qualification Authority. Moreover, College will ensure all the MQA regulation and requirements are met in conducting the courses. However, it is the individual student’s responsibility to accredit their own certificate from Maldives Qualification Authority. In addition to that, College will not take the responsibility if the accreditation could not be done due to the false information given by the students, unauthentic and falsified documents submitted to the College during the entry to the course or during the course of study.

Issuing the Certificate
91. The College will issue the graduation certificates, transcripts and course completion certificates based on the relevant College policies.

92. If the course certificate is issued from a foreign external body, certificate will be issued to the students as soon as the College receives the certificates immediately after completing the College administrative work.

93. There might be delay in getting the certificates from the external bodies than usual period. In most of the times this delay is caused beyond the limitations of the College.

94. However, the College will ensure that these certificates are issued to the respective students. If the certificate issued by the external body is delivered directly to the address of the students due to the changes made to the delivery address by the students using their Portal Login details, the College will not take any responsibly in not receiving the certificates.

Notices
95. Any notice of changes to these Terms and Conditions shall be in writing and may be by electronic mail or posted on the College website. Notices shall also be deemed served if the notice is displayed on notice-board at the College.

Severability
96. The various terms and provisions of this Terms and Conditions are severable and if any term or provision in this Terms and Conditions is held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, under any rule of law or enactment, such term or provision or part shall to that extent be deemed not to form part of this Terms and Conditions, but the enforceability of the remainder of this Terms and Conditions shall not be affected.

End of the document