We encourage you to read these terms carefully and contact us if you have any questions.

Together with the student code of conduct and course-specific rules and policies, these terms and conditions shall constitute the entire agreement between you and Dougans International concerning your registration and participation in a course.

If a third party is paying for your participation in a course, then the third party is bound by all terms and conditions.

We reserve the right to revise these terms and conditions (including rules and policies) at our sole discretion from time to time. We will take reasonable steps to notify you of such changes if you are registered for a course when such changes come into effect.

Registration: Before registering for a course, you are responsible for establishing the relevance and suitability of the course for your requirements.

You can register for a course via an online student registration form.

All information provided must be true, accurate and complete. You are also responsible for updating us in the event of a change to your information. You may be required to verify your identity with an official identity document. Acceptable forms of identification include an identity document (national ID card), passport or driver’s license.

If you are under the age of 18, you must obtain written consent and assistance from your parent or legal guardian.

You will only receive confirmation of your registration once you (or your sponsor) have made the required payment.

Basic requirements: To participate and complete a course, you require a registered email account, access to a computer/laptop/tablet and a stable internet connection. You need to ensure that your internet browser is up to date.

Payment: You agree to pay the applicable course fee and any other amounts due when you register for a course. The course fee includes a non-refundable registration fee. If bank charges and/or fees are levied or added to a payment made by you to us, you shall be liable for all such bank charges and additional costs.

Assessments: All graded assessments must be submitted and passed as per the Assessment Policy.

Cancellation of registration: If you wish to cancel your registration for a course, you need to send a cancellation request by email.

Refund: Provided that we receive your cancellation request before the course start date, you will be entitled to a refund of the course fee, less the non-refundable registration fee.

No refunds will be considered after the course start date.

Insufficient demand: We reserve the right to cancel a course if there is insufficient demand, as determined at our sole and absolute discretion. In this case, you will receive a full refund.

Language: English is the language of instruction and administration. All submissions required for assessment purposes must be written in English. This also includes posts made on the chat and discussion forums.

Online Learning Management System: Each course is delivered through the online Learning Management System (LMS). All course material (including but not limited to notes, presentations, videos and activities) is provided in electronic format and accessed through the LMS. Upon finalising your registration, we will set up your LMS profile (if you already have a profile, you will use your existing profile for a new course). You will only be granted access to the course on the stipulated start date.

Prohibited use: You may not:

• Make copies of the course material for use by others
• Use, display or otherwise make available the course material (or any portion thereof) to third parties in an electronic or print format that enables it to be downloaded or distributed
• Sublicense, resell, rent, lend, assign, cede, donate or otherwise transfer or distribute the course material or your rights granted to you under these terms and conditions
• Reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any software that is contained within course material or on the LMS
• Remove any notice of copyright, trademark or any other proprietary right from any place where it is displayed on or embedded in the course material

Platform capability: The LMS may not be fully compatible with all mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. To access and participate effectively, you may require access to a desktop computer or a laptop.

External websites: Certain courses may require you to use external websites. Dougans International will not be liable for any costs, claims, or damages that you may suffer from using or misusing any external website.

Videos and live webinars: Videos and live webinars (when applicable) are provided in some courses. These videos and live webinars serve as tutorials and lectures for the topics covered and are compulsory unless otherwise stipulated. However, viewing these videos or live webinars may be difficult if you use a slower internet connection.

Communication with administrators and lecturers: You will receive communication via email or text message from our representatives for course administration, technical queries and general support. They will ensure that you can access the LMS and course material and inform you about course happenings.

Your lecturer will guide you on the course content and academic-related queries. Interactions with the lecturer may only occur on the LMS chat and discussion forums or during the live webinars (also via the chat feature). Your lecturer will not be available for queries by telephone or email.

Handbook: A course handbook detailing student honour codes and course-specific rules and academic policies will be available on the LMS.

Offensive and prohibited content and communications: All communications on our chat and discussion forums, including any content published by you, must remain appropriate. We retain the right to monitor and investigate any alleged offensive or expressly prohibited communication. In addition, Dougans International retains the right to take any action that we deem appropriate to ensure that the online learning environment remains constructive.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism can be defined as the intentional or unintentional use of another’s work without providing reasonable and appropriate credit to the author or source of the work. We provide support and information on how to avoid plagiarism. However, you are responsible for your academic work.

General: Courses may include graded assessments, e.g. written assignments, practical skills assessments, online quizzes and discussions. All assessment rules and policies will be detailed in the course handbook.

Assignment submission: Assignments are due on the submission deadlines as indicated in the course calendar or as otherwise indicated by your lecturer or course administrator.

Late submissions: If you cannot meet an assignment deadline, you must request an extension as per the procedure outlined in the course handbook. The number of extensions granted during a course may be limited and subject to approval based on the motivation and supporting documents. No extensions can be granted beyond the deadline of the course end date unless under extenuating circumstances.

Certification: Upon completing the course requirements, we will award you a Dougans International Certificate of Completion.

Certificate delivery: We issue an electronic (PDF) certificate in your legal name provided to us during the registration process. No changes can be made to the standard form or wording of a certificate.

You may request a hard copy of your certificate within seven (7) days of completing a course. We will courier your physical certificate to your delivery address provided to us during the registration process or such other address you nominate. An additional administration fee will be applicable for printing, postage and handling, which will be invoiced upon request and must be paid before proceeding. Dougans International cannot be held liable if you provide an incorrect address and cannot guarantee the delivery date and time. If you opt-out of receiving a physical certificate, you will not be able to request one at a later stage.

No liability for course outcomes: We will not, under any circumstances, be liable for any costs, claims, damages, or loss that you may sustain or suffer as a result of registering for and/or participating in any course which is not relevant, suitable or does not meet your requirements, and/or the requirements of any relevant industry or commercial body. Under no circumstances do we guarantee your suitability for a particular course based on the levels of difficulty. We cannot, under any circumstances, be held liable to you for any costs, claims, damages or loss, if after the completion of a course, you are not able to attain any outcome that you thought was attainable by completing a course.

Limitation of liability: With the exception of our willful misconduct, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree that we will not be liable for any cost, claims, damages, including, without limitation, indirect, extrinsic, special, penal, punitive, exemplary or consequential loss (such as loss of profits, business, goodwill, revenue or anticipated savings) or other damages of any kind, penalties, actions, judgments, suits, expenses, disbursements, fines or other amounts that you or any third party might suffer relating to or arising from these terms and conditions, your participation in a course, or the termination of a course, for any reason, whether or not anyone anticipated or should have anticipated that damages would occur. In no event will Dougans International’s aggregate liability to you for any and all claims exceed the total fees received by Dougans International from you in the six months preceding any cause of action.

Interruption of service: You acknowledge and agree that from time to time, the LMS may be inaccessible or inoperable due to:

• equipment malfunctions or faults
• periodic maintenance procedures, downtime, or repairs that we may undertake from time to time,
• causes beyond our control, including, without limitation, interruption or failure of telecommunication or digital transmission links, attacks on the network and network congestion or other failures

Such interruption to the accessibility of the LMS will not be deemed a breach of this agreement.

Security: We will use commercially reasonable measures to secure our system and your profile in the LMS and related information. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security measures. Therefore, you undertake to notify us immediately of any compromise or unauthorised use of your account.

Reservation of rights: Except where expressly stated to the contrary, copyright in the HTML, text, graphics, audio clips, video clips, source and/or object code and all other works (including trading marks and names) contained on the LMS or otherwise provided to students by Dougans International, is owned by us or licensed to us, and we assert and reserve all of our rights in this regard. Access to or use of our services and courses will not result in an assignment or license of any intellectual property owned by us or any other party.

Student content: The services and courses may enable you to share your content, including assignments, with our team and fellow students. You retain all intellectual property rights and are responsible for the content you share. However, you agree and consent that we shall be entitled to use (at our discretion) all content you share for internal research and development, course improvement, and non-commercial purposes. We cannot, and do not, guarantee that any intellectual property shared on the LMS will not be used by other students.

Modifying and terminating services: We constantly change and improve our services and courses. Therefore, we may add or remove functions, features or requirements.

Furthermore, we may suspend or stop our service altogether, giving enrolled students reasonable prior notice of any material changes. You may also discontinue your use of our services and courses.

Breach: If you breach these terms and conditions and fail to remedy the breach after receiving a written notice, we may terminate your participation in the course for which you are registered, and you will not be entitled to a refund.