information for students and applicants

Details of the course fees and any other costs relating to individual courses will be advertised pre-application online via our university's online prospectus and within the offer letter provided to applicants. Assuming there are no breaks in your period of study, the course fees notified to you in your offer letter will remain unchanged for the duration of your course unless there are increases to the capped fee set by the government, or in line with inflation.

Each year, the Board of Governors reviews the course fees for courses commencing in the following academic year. Where the course fees may or will rise in future years, this will be communicated at the earliest possible opportunity to applicants and students returning to courses after a period of suspension and will only commence from the beginning of an academic year. Our university will only increase annual course fees in line with inflation, as calculated in line with the Retail Price Index and as approved by the Board of Governors. These will be no more than the relevant government cap or limitation on such tuition fee increases. In the event you are a student returning to study after a period of suspension and are adversely affected by any increase in course fees, you have the option to terminate your contract with our university.

• Clauses 12-15 of the Student Contract
• Fee Schedule and Liability Policy

You are entitled to cancel the Student Contract within 14 days of the date of accepting a place to study at our university. To do so you must, within the relevant 14-day period, inform our university of your intention to cancel the Student Contract. A cancellation form is available for this purpose. Where you have cancelled the Student Contract within this period you will be entitled to a full refund of fees paid to that point. You should seek advice from Student Services or the Student Union Advice Service as to the implications for any funding via the Student Loans Company or other bodies.

In each year of your course you are also entitled to withdraw within 14 days from the date that teaching begins on your course. To do so you must, within the relevant 14-day period, inform our university of your intention to withdraw. Undergraduate and postgraduate taught students should contact their School office. Research students should contact The Graduate School. A cancellation form is available for this purpose. Completed forms should be submitted before the relevant 14-day period expires. Where you have withdrawn within this period you will be entitled to a full refund of fees paid to that point. You should seek advice from Student Support or the Student Union Advice Service as to the implications for any funding via the Student Loans Company or other bodies.

If you wish to withdraw after this period, you must do so in writing to the university, by completing the withdrawal process outlined in the Withdrawal Policy and Procedures. Whether any refund is due to you, and the amount of any refund, will be dependent on the nature of your course and the date of your withdrawal. Please refer to the Withdrawal Policy and Procedures for further information on this.

• Student Support
• Students' Union Advice Service
• Withdrawal Policy and Procedures
• Contract cancellation form

All registered universities are required to have in place and publish a student protection plan approved by the Office for Students (OfS) to address how it will respond to the occurrence of certain events which may have an impact on your continuation and completion of study.

Leeds Beckett University’s Student Protection Plan sets out potential risks required to be assessed under the Office for Students regulatory framework which, if they were to arise during your studies, may have an impact on your continuation of study. These risks have been assessed as low risk in our current plan (V1. 1. 3 July 2019).

Examples of events which may trigger the Student Protection Plan include discontinuance of a course or material components of a course, one or more locations at which our university delivers courses are no longer available, or if our university is no longer able to recruit or teach a particular type of student. The Student Protection Plan will only be triggered by our university if such events may have an impact on your continuation of study. If it is triggered, students likely to be affected will be contacted to consider the measures planned to mitigate the impact on the continuation and quality of study. Discontinuance of courses or modes of study is usually dealt with by teaching out the course or mode of study.

Our Student Protection Plan has been developed in consultation with the Students’ Union and has been approved by the Office for Students.

The Student Protection Plan: A Guide for Students, provides you with information about the Student Protection Plan. Detailed guidance on the plan is also provided below.

• Student Protection Plan: A Guide for Students (pdf)
• Student Protection Plan Guidance (pdf)

A copy of Leeds Beckett University’s Student Protection Plan, approved by the Office for Students and updated V1.1. 1 August 2019 is available below:

• Leeds Beckett University's Student Protection Plan (pdf)

All registered providers of higher education in England are required to publish student transfer arrangements for incoming and outgoing transfers in accordance with the Higher Education Research Act 2017 and the Office for Students’ Regulatory Framework 2018.

The purpose of Leeds Beckett University’s Student Transfer Plan is to facilitate:

• For Leeds Beckett students, transfer to a different course (transfer within our university) or to another provider (outgoing transfer);
• For students from other registered providers, transfer into Leeds Beckett University (incoming transfer); and
• Student transfer arising from a need to implement a Student Protection Plan to facilitate the continuation and quality of study for students.

Leeds Beckett University’s Student Transfer Plan below sets out our arrangements for students to transfer and provides links to further relevant information and support available.

• Student Transfer Plan

Our university's Legal Services Team are responsible for managing student complaints and provide advice to staff and students on the complaints procedure.

• Applicant complaints

If you are an applicant and have a complaint about the admissions process, you should use the Admissions Complaints Procedure.

• Student complaints

If you have a complaint about our university not related to the admissions process, then you should use the Student Complaints Procedure.

Both procedures are designed to resolve complaints as promptly and fairly as possible. If, having followed the relevant procedure to completion, you are still unsatisfied, in many circumstances you have the right to refer your complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

We are committed to supporting our students to enable them to achieve. We provide this support through a number of strategies, all of which aim to provide our students with a supportive learning environment. Our Student Academic Engagement Policy sets out our requirements in relation to attendance, whilst recognising our responsibilities, and the responsibilities of our students in the implementation of this policy.

• Student Academic Engagement Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality learning and teaching experience for all students. This can only be achieved if members of the community live and work beside each other in an environment which promotes respect. We expect our students to conduct themselves at all times in a manner which demonstrates respect for our university, its students and staff, and members of the wider community and in ways that are responsible and considerate as we work to sustain a supportive, safe, inclusive community for active learning and the building of skills for life.

Our Student Charter sets out how we can all work together to understand and fulfil our commitments and reciprocal expectations of one another. The Student Code of Conduct provides a framework in which we can work with students to maintain satisfactory standards of conduct and to encourage improvement where necessary.

• Student Charter
• Student Code of Conduct (pdf)

The university is committed to supporting students to succeed and achieve outcomes that reflect their ability. There is a strong correlation between a student’s academic attendance and engagement, and better outcomes. High levels of attendance and engagement also contribute to the enhancement of the quality of the learning experience and the development of core skills such as technical skills, teamwork and professional communication and behaviour. Entitlement to student loans and international student visa requirements also require students to attend and engage with their studies.

Student responsibilities

Students are responsible for their learning and are required to attend relevant teaching, attend and/or submit all scheduled Assessment activities (for example, coursework, presentations, formative and summative assessments and examinations) and actively engage with all aspects of their course. The university will provide support and advice for students who for any reason are struggling to attend or engage. For this reason we monitor students’ academic attendance and engagement and require students to meet with School staff where academic attendance and engagement is a cause for concern. The process is a supportive one, but it is important you do not ignore relevant communications as non-engaging students may be withdrawn if they do not respond to support offered.

University support

The university is committed to providing a positive learning environment for all students and support to enable your success. Wherever possible, the university will provide support mechanisms for those students with difficulties in attendance and/or academic engagement, including through appropriate and timely referrals to relevant support services. We recognise that students may be balancing their studies with the demands of difficult and complex life circumstances and that it is not always possible to engage with their course. This may be due to illness, caring responsibilities, or other exceptional circumstances. Students must make the university aware of any circumstances that are impacting their ability to engage as soon as possible. We can then offer support in a timely way. Students can discuss any concerns with their Academic Adviser, Course Administrator or the following Services.

• Student Services
• Disability
• Student Money
• Student Wellbeing / Counselling
• Student Immigration Advice and Compliance (SIAC)
• Library
• SU Advice Team

Monitoring attendance

The university uses the SEAtS mobile app to capture student attendance for centrally timetabled teaching events. Students must ensure they record their attendance through the SEAtS mobile app. Students can view and monitor their own attendance statistics in a dashboard via the SEAtS app. Staff can also view student attendance data in the SEAtS app and use this to monitor activity and make interventions.

Students are reminded that:

• They must inform their School if they will be absent from timetabled learning activities, in-person sessions, supervision meetings and synchronous online activities tutorials or have an unplanned absence or other circumstances that are affecting attendance or academic engagement.
• Fraudulent use of SEAtS (e.g. sharing of QR codes, logging into session but then leaving before the end of the session) will be regarded as suspected student misconduct and will be investigated pursuant to the Student Code of Conduct and may result in disciplinary action taken where allegations are upheld.
• They must regularly check student email accounts and respond to emails in a timely way and address issues that may impact their attendance and academic engagement.

Disabled students

The university has a legal duty under the Equality Act (2010) to anticipate the needs of disabled students and make reasonable adjustments to ensure they are not at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to other students who are not disabled. Any students who require support in addition to the Standards of Inclusive Practice provided or their current reasonable adjustments should contact Disability Advice so that an individual Reasonable Adjustment Plan (RAP) can be reviewed or put in place. RAPs developed by the Disability Advice Team will be shared with the relevant Course Team and all recommendations that can be reasonably adopted will be implemented. The need for individual reasonable adjustments is considered on a case-by-case basis, and what is reasonable in each case will vary depending on a variety of factors such as the disability, the substantial disadvantage that is faced and the extent to which it is practicable to make reasonable adjustments to teaching, learning and assessment. Reasonable adjustments cannot be made if they relate to the assessment of a competence standard.

International students

For students who hold a Student visa, poor attendance and academic engagement can have serious implications because the UK Government attach conditions to the visa which must be fulfilled. These conditions include the requirement for regular attendance and engagement in all aspects of learning and study. The university has a legal obligation to monitor attendance and academic engagement for students who hold a Student Route visa. The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) (part of the Home Office) requirements mean that failure to academically engage in the course for which the visa was issued may put a student’s visa status at risk.

Academic attendance and engagement policy

Find a copy of the university’s updated and refreshed Academic Attendance and Engagement Policy.

Induction Summary Slides

Academic Attendance and Engagement – Supporting Your Success

The university has a new Academic Attendance and Engagement Policy.

Why it matters

• The Academic Attendance and Engagement Policy and process is here to support your success by identifying concerns early and connecting you with the right support when you need it.
• Attending and engaging with your course helps you achieve your best outcomes, succeed academically, and develop key skills for your future.
• Attendance is also important for meeting student finance, and for international students, visa requirements.

Your responsibilities

You should:

• Attend your scheduled teaching, assessments and learning activities and submit work by deadlines. Let your school know if you are unable to attend.
• Engage with your course, check and respond to university communications, and let the university know if you need support.
• Record your attendance using the SEAtS app. Never share SEAtS codes or check in for someone else as this is treated as student misconduct.
• Attend meetings with your Academic Advisor when invited.

Support is available

We understand that challenges can affect your studies. If you need help, support is available through:

• Your Academic Adviser or Course Team
• Student Services (Wellbeing, Disability and Money Advice)
• Student Immigration Advice and Compliance (for international students)
• Library and Students’ Union support