Terms & CONDITIONS

Terms of Enrolment & Submitting Assignments

Please note that units are not sent out to students all at once. In order to progress to the following unit, a minimum PASS grade must be attained for the unit currently being studied. Units are supplied one at a time for a number of reasons, not least of all to ensure a student does not pass a point in the course that they do not understand. No exceptions will be made and if upon expiry of the initial two years, a student chooses not to extend by an extra year, the student is not entitled to the units not received, regardless of payments made. You agree to this upon enrolment.

 

Time Limits For Completing The Online Dog Courses

Courses come with two years from date of enrolment. We will email you when that two years approaches its end, inviting you to extend by an extra year for a set fee, currently £50 per course. We will not email again about the extra year expiring and it is expected that you will complete the course within this time. It will be down to the Student to request another extension before this extra year expires. Where steady progress is being made, we may grant multiple one year extensions on relevant courses that are still available. Where time limits expire without an extension requested, we are required by law to remove personal details and delete expired students from our records.

 

Final Grading

Upon successful completion of your chosen programme of study, your Diploma / Certificate will be awarded as a PASS, MERIT or DISTINCTION. The grading will be awarded based upon the student’s commitment to study, quality of work submitted and extra research undertaken throughout the duration of the online course.

 

Plagiarism

Please note that the college has very strict policies on plagiarism and does not allow answers which have been copied word for word from the unit text, other literature, AI, ChatGPT or which have been copied and pasted from internet sites. Quotes and referencing are accepted and encouraged, and a vital part to achieving the higher grades, but we also expect the quotes to be explained in your own words to demonstrate your understanding. We do not allow any artificial intelligence (AI) generated content – this is considered an academic integrity violation. It is important that students answer ALL questions in their own words to illustrate that they understand the subject matter fully. Taking text written by AI, or others doesn’t allow the student to demonstrate that they grasp what is being taught in the unit and can relay this information in a clear and unambiguous manner. Every question is checked, and any answer found to contain non-unique content will be marked as UNGRADED (U) and the student will be asked to resubmit their paper. The resubmission will be marked as per the usual marking criteria and this will not affect the final grade.

 

The college operates a ‘three strikes’ rule on plagiarism with any student receiving a U grade on three papers automatically being flagged for assessment by the governing committee of the college as to their suitability to remain on the course.

 

If the committee deems that the student should not remain enrolled due to this behaviour, no refund will be issued. By submitting your first assignment, you agree to these terms.

 

Student Conduct

We accept and appreciate that all students have the right to express their opinion, and that sometimes there may be disagreements between students and their tutors regarding gradings. This is normal, and our tutors are trained to resolve this in a professional manner.

We ask that if students have an issue, they raise this via email with their tutor in the first instance. If they feel that the issue has not been resolved after this, the matter will be referred to the college principal. Communication should remain polite and in a manner appropriate to a student / tutor relationship. Informing tutors, for example, that they are wrong and don’t know their subject, will not be tolerated. Differences of opinion are fine, but try to remember that our staff are professionals in their field.

However, our staff will not tolerate abuse from students. Any communication containing abuse of any sort will be taken very seriously. Students who abuse any member of staff will immediately be referred to the principal. If this behaviour continues, they will be removed from the course without refund.

Similarly, given the popularity of social media nowadays, we understand that it has become popular to make comments on these sites which have the potential to damage the reputation of businesses. The college will not tolerate these kinds of actions, and any student found to be doing this will have their enrolment immediately terminated. Reviews of our courses are obviously absolutely fine, but deliberate and unfounded attempts to defame our business due to a personal issue will be taken extremely seriously and may even lead to legal action.

We offer discounts to members of the armed forces and their families, veterinary professionals and existing students / graduates. Discount codes for each of these will be provided to eligible customers. Please note: Eligibility for any code used will be checked before enrolment packs are sent out. Should unauthorised code use take place, course materials will not be sent out and the enrolment fee will be refunded minus a £20 admin fee.

 

Submitting Assignments

We ask students to read and digest the content of the unit, then answer the questions at the end of the unit. These should then be emailed back to your tutor for marking. These can be submitted as a word document, an email or a PDF. The level of detail required should be clear in the wording of the question. We are looking for clear, concise answers. Unless the question specifically asks for it, we are not looking for essays.

We suggest that you read through the unit information two or three times before answering so that you can fully absorb the detail. Remember that you may be tested in future units about what you have learned in previous chapters, so it is best to fully learn and digest what the unit is teaching before trying to progress.

In order to progress to the following unit, a PASS grade must be attained. Without exception, the next unit cannot be supplied until the current unit has been passed. We cannot send several units out at a time.

We endeavour to mark and return answer sheets within 4 working days. However, during busy periods this may take a short while longer.

When submitting assignments:

Please ensure that you state your full name within the ‘sender’ line or message body of your email so that we know who you are! If you use an email address in a name other than your own current name, please ensure you provide the name under which you are registered with us. Failing to state who the submission is from can lead to delays in your marking being returned, or papers going astray.

In the subject line, please state the course you are on, and the unit you are submitting. This will ensure that your marking is sent to the correct tutor and avoid delays. Please do not send emails with re: in the title – these will be sent directly to admin who will manually have to enter your submission into the marking queue. This can add a day or two onto your wait time.

If you are sending a resubmission, please state this in the email. Failing to do this can lead to your whole paper being remarked, which will naturally mean a longer wait for your revised grading sheet.

Upon receipt, an auto-responder will be sent to your email address confirming that your paper has reached us. Your paper will then be entered automatically into a queue. Please do not resubmit your paper unless you have made amendments. Any resubmissions will replace your earlier submission automatically and be placed to the back of the queue. If you haven’t received the auto-responder, or your paper has not been returned to you after four working days, please email your tutor. However, we ask that until four full working days has passed, you try to have patience!

 

Marking Criteria Explained

Each question is marked based upon three criteria:

Evidence that the student has thoroughly read and understood the unit content.
Evidence of the student’s ability to clearly and concisely explain what has been learned in a way that a third party would be able to understand – including, where appropriate, the use of key words and terminology.
Evidence of the student’s own interpretation of the unit content and any additional research undertaken in the form of answers written entirely in their own words (unless quotations are specifically asked for in the wording of the question).

Each question will either be marked as PASSED or CRITERIA NOT SATISFIED (CNS).
CNS means the student has not included sufficient information or detail to satisfy the marking criteria above. Additional information will need to be submitted in order to receive the PASS grade. All questions must receive a PASS grade in order to progress to the next unit.

 

 

RETURNS POLICY

 

By enrolling in a course with the British College of Canine Studies (BCCS), you enter into a legally binding agreement in which you agree to abide by our enrolment terms, including timely payment of fees, in exchange for the delivery of course content and support.

 We are committed to clarity and fairness. Please read the following carefully before enrolling. This returns policy will also be in your welcome letter for reference but you will have already agreed to it by the time you receive it.

 If you are purchasing as a consumer, you have the right to cancel your course within 14 calendar days of enrolment without giving a reason.

 However:

By enrolling, you consent for the course/our service to begin immediately, as it does, (your first unit and welcome letter are immediately provided as downloads, and you will be entered into the student database and a tutor assigned). We consider this immediate start, regardless of when you download your unit one and welcome letter, or when you submit your first submission. And, you acknowledge that this waives your right to cancel once the service begins.

 We are entitled by law to deduct a reasonable administration fee from any refund to reflect the work already carried out.

By ticking the agreement box during checkout, you are confirming:

“I request that the course begins immediately. I understand this means I lose my right to cancel after the course has started.”

 We will still process refunds within 14 days as a good will gesture, but the following applies:

1. A £50 administration fee will be deducted from your refund to cover enrolment processing, tutor allocation, and database entry.
2. If you have already submitted an assignment for marking, the administration fee increases to £100 to reflect the tutor’s time and work.

Example: If you enrolled via a £45 instalment and request cancellation within 14 days after the course has started, your entire payment will be retained as an administration fee. No additional fees will be charged, and no further instalments will be requested.

3. Within 30 days of enrolment and before submitting any assignments, you may request to swap your course for an alternative course offered by BCCS. Requests must be made in writing (not by phone) to the College Principal. Email enquiries@britishcollegeofcaninestudies.com. A £50 admin fee applies for processing course swaps.
4. Within 30 days of enrolment and before submitting any assignments, you may request to transfer your enrolment to a friend, family member, or colleague. Requests must be submitted in writing and include an explanation. The new student must agree to the course terms. A £50 admin fee applies for enrolment transfer.
5. We cannot accept liability for personal or professional changes in your circumstances after enrolment. Please consider your availability and suitability for the course before enrolling. 

 

All refund, swap, or transfer requests must be made in writing by email to the College Principal at enquiries@britishcollegeofcaninestudies.com. The responsibility to ensure the request has been received rests with the student.