Learner Terms & Conditions

This document sets out the terms and conditions (“Terms”) that govern your registration with MasterStart, and your use of MasterStart’s Products and services.

Before registering and becoming a learner with MasterStart, you are required to become familiar with these Terms and all documents referred to in it.

Once registered as a learner with MasterStart, you agree to be bound by, and to abide by, these Terms, including our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use of the Website, Course Pack Material, and any other policies referred to on our website and Online Campus.

If you do not agree with these terms, you must immediately refrain from accessing MasterStart’s website and Online Campus, and from using MasterStart products and/or services.

If you are under the age of 18 (eighteen) years, you must obtain prior written permission and consent from your parents’ or legal guardians’ before purchasing any products or services.

If there is anything in these Terms that you do not understand, then please contact MasterStart at [email protected] or on +27 21 201 1167. Please note that calls to us are charged at national rates and may be monitored for training, security, quality purposes, and other verbal agreements.

MasterStart reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend and/or replace any of, or the whole of, the Terms. Such amendments shall supersede and replace any previous terms and shall be made available on the Online Campus. Each time a user accesses the Online campus and/or uses the services, the user shall be deemed to have consented to the Terms, as amended and/or replaced by MasterStart from time to time. If you are not satisfied with the amended terms, you must refrain from using the Website and Online Campus

Registration

In order to register with MasterStart, you are required to create an account and provide all information in relation thereto. It is your sole responsibility to ensure that the information you provide MasterStart with, is accurate and up to date. All your personal information will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

In order to complete your registration with MasterStart, you will be required to “tick the box” marked “I agree to the Learner Terms and Conditions”, by ticking the “I agree to the Learner Terms and Conditions” box, you agree to be bound by, and to abide by, these Terms, including our privacy policy and Terms of Use of the Website, and any other policies referred to on our website and Online Campus.

By registering with MasterStart, you agree and consent to the receipt of marketing communication from MasterStart. Should you wish to ‘opt-out’ of any generic marketing communication, this may be done by clicking on the link “unsubscribe” at the bottom of the email.

What do you need to register with?

A current email account;
Access to a computer;
Internet access;
A copy of identification documentation; and
Additional documentation if required as per the course requirements.

Accessing MasterStart’s Online Campus

After successfully registering with MasterStart, and paying the applicable fees, you will be granted a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use MasterStart’s services and products, including services associated therewith.

At all times, MasterStart reserves its right to suspend your access to the Online Campus until such time as all outstanding payments due to MasterStart have been paid by you.

Unauthorised Use of Online Campus

You hereby agree to take full responsibility of your access and usage on the Online Campus, you agree to contact MasterStart immediately if you experience any unauthorised use of your profile details on the Online Campus. While MasterStart takes all reasonable security precautions, no liability will lie with MasterStart for damage caused by the malicious use of this Online Campus or by destructive data or code that is passed on to you through the use of the website and Online Campus.

In order to ensure the security and reliable operation of the services to all MasterStart’s learners, MasterStart hereby reserves the right to take whatever action it may deem necessary to preserve the security, integrity and reliability of its network and back-office applications.

You may not utilise the Online Campus in any manner which may compromise the security of MasterStart’s networks or tamper with the Online Campus in any manner whatsoever, which shall include, gaining or attempting to gain unauthorised access to the Online Campus, or delivering or attempting to deliver any unauthorised, damaging or malicious code to the Online Campus, all of which is expressly prohibited. Any person or entity which does so, or attempts to do so, shall be held criminally liable. Furthermore, should MasterStart suffer any damage or loss due to unauthorised use, MasterStart shall be entitled to claim civil damages against you, the learner.

Any user who commits any of the offences detailed in Chapter 13 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (“ETCA”) (specifically sections 85 to 88 (inclusive)) shall, notwithstanding criminal prosecution, be liable for all resulting liability, loss or damages suffered and/or incurred by MasterStart and its affiliates, agents and/or partners.

You, the user of the Online Campus, are responsible for any misuse of MasterStart’s online services that occurs through your account. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure that unauthorised persons do not gain access to or misuse MasterStart’s service.

Online Course: Content and Relevance

It is your duty as the learner to make sure the course you register for meets your requirements. You are required to go through the course pack thoroughly before registering.

Course material

All course materials, administration and instructions are in English.

All coursework that is required for assessment purposes must be written in English. This includes posts made on the Community Chat.

What will you need to access and view course material?

In order to get the best experience when utilising your systems and consuming content, we recommend that you take note of the following system requirements and guidelines:

Any current browser: Masterstart recommends the use of Google Chrome (latest version) OR Microsoft Edge* (Chromium-based, latest version) OR Firefox (latest version) for PCs and Mobile devices.
Javascript – Your browser must support JavaScript and be enabled to do course work (enabled by default for most browsers)
Font Downloads – Your browser should allow fonts to be used automatically (enabled by default for most browsers). When this is disabled, course content may display sub-optimally.
Adobe PDF – Though not necessary, it is recommended that you use a browser that is capable of reading a PDF document; alternatively, you can download Adobe PDF Reader from their website.
VPN – For best use, Masterstart recommends that you turn the VPN off and/or add the Online Campus to the list of “safe websites” on your current Internet browser. Should you encounter issues accessing our platform, try adding the Online Campus to your list of accessible websites if you have Anti-Virus software installed.
Language and Regional – Masterstart uses a default language of English (South African Standard). Where date, time, and regional settings apply, timezone utilised should be noted as Central African Time (CAT) or GMT +2.

* Additional resources: Should Certain Courses require additional software and resources, you will be informed of this upon registration for that course.
** Disclaimer: Please note that all software and resources required for Course completion are at your own cost.

Course delivery

Only learners who are registered for a Course may participate in that Course.

You may not disclose your username or password to any other person, nor may you permit any other person to participate in the Course on your behalf.

You may not impersonate any other person in dealing with MasterStart or access the Online Campus using another user’s username and password.

Accreditation

MasterStart Partners: Our Courses are approved by, and provided in collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand Business School (WBS), Coventry University, Richfield Graduate School of Business, Cambridge Sparks, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), and UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB).

WBS is accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) under the auspices of the University of Witwatersrand.

GIBS is accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) under the auspices of the University of Pretoria.

UCT GSB is accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) under the auspices of the University of Cape Town.

Coventry University is accredited by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in the United Kingdom.

Richfield Graduate School of Business is accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE).

Pricing and Payments

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COURSE FEE PLUS ALL APPLICABLE AMOUNTS BECOME DUE AND PAYABLE FROM DATE OF INVOICE, IRRESPECTIVE OF COMPLETION OF THE COURSE.

Course fees: When you register for a course, you agree to pay the applicable course fee as per the website or course pack material.
Tax Invoices in Electronic Format: You hereby consent to the receipt of an invoice, which shall be sent to you in electronic format to the email address that you provided upon registering for a Course. All invoices shall reflect the acceptable methods of payment. The Course fee becomes due and payable from the date of invoice, irrespective of Completion of the Course.
Payment of Value Added Tax (“VAT”): The advertised Course fee includes VAT;, your invoice will clearly indicate the prevailing VAT rate applicable.
Payment: When you register for a course, you have will be required to settle the invoice in full before final registration.
Payment Methods: You can pay using the online URL link via our secure payment gateway, or make payment via electronic fund transfer (EFT) or direct deposit. For EFTs, our banking details can be found on your invoice once you’ve completed your registration.
Suspension for non-payment: If you fail to make payment for a Course by the relevant due date, MasterStart reserves its rights to suspend your participation in the Course for non-payment. Should you fail to make payment within the prescribed time, MasterStart reserves its rights to deregister you from the course and you will forfeit all fees paid. The effect of being deregistered will also be noted on your academic transcript. Should payment be made within the prescribed time and your access to the course be resumed, you take full responsibility for all time lost during your suspension.
Reminders: You hereby acknowledge and consent to MasterStart contacting you in relation to payments due by you for a Course or in terms of these Terms, by way of telephone calls, Automated Voice Messages (AVM), text messages, emails, email, or other means as determined by us
Dispute: If a dispute between MasterStart and you, relating to the payment of any Course fee, or the way in which you use the Online Campus or the Website, we reserve the right to at our sole discretion to suspend your participation in the Course until the dispute is resolved.

Cancellations, Deferrals and Suspensions

Course run cancellation: The service provider reserves the right to cancel a course run, in the event of but not limited to the minimum enrollment numbers being fulfilled. MasterStart will notify such cancellations in writing via email prior to the scheduled course date.
Deferral: A deferral refers to the process of a learner postponing the start of their course after being registered and accepted on a course.
Cancellation: When a learner withdraws from a course prior to course start date and a refund is issued.
Initiation of Deferral: Learners intending to defer their studies must initiate the deferral process through their designated company representative. The company representative is responsible for submitting a written deferral application to MasterStart.
- Application Deadline: All deferral applications must be submitted within seven (7) working days prior to the scheduled start date of the course.
- Flexible Study Options: Upon receiving a deferral application, MasterStart will review and consider flexible study options at its sole discretion.
- One-Time Deferral Rule: Learners are permitted to postpone their enrollment in a course only once and must be communicated to MasterStart via their company representative.
- Deferral Course Start Date Selection: The new course start date selected must be within the range of the next three scheduled course commencements from their original enrollment date.
- Post-Course Start Date Deferrals: Deferrals requested after the course start date will be considered only in cases of extenuating circumstances. Learners are urged to communicate their situation to their company representative and the MasterStart representative at their earliest opportunity for approval.
- Deferral to a different course: Deferral to an alternative course is permitted solely under exceptional circumstances, contingent upon MasterStart’s approval. Any such deferrals will adhere to the cancellation procedure.
- Withdrawal: Learners who have commenced a course but are unable to continue may opt to withdraw from the course and all communications from Masterstart relating to that specific course run.
- No Refund for Withdrawals: No credit notes or refunds will be issued for withdrawals since all withdrawn learners will still be liable for the invoiced amount.
- Cancellations and Refunds: Clients are entitled to a cooling-off period of 7 (seven) calendar days from the course registration closing date to the course start date. During this period, learner registrations may be cancelled and are eligible for a full refund of any fees paid, and must be communicated via the client representative.
- Refund Process: To initiate a cancellation and refund request, the client must submit a written notice to MasterStart within the cooling-off period. MasterStart will process and approve valid refund requests within 30 (thirty) days of receipt.
- Refund Eligibility: Refunds are only eligible for requests made officially and within the specified cooling-off period. Any requests made after the cooling-off period will not be eligible for a refund.
- Deferral/Cancellation Post-Course Start Date: All learners deferring or withdrawing post the course start date will need to be escalated to MasterStart for approval.
- Suspensions: If a learner is found to have violated the Learner Code of Conduct by engaging in Academic Misconduct, they will be temporarily suspended from the course pending a final decision.

Risk, Limitation of Liability and Indemnity

No liability: MasterStart will not, under any circumstances 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 that relates to or arises from these Terms, or termination of a Course for any reason, whether or not anyone anticipated or should have anticipated that damages would occur. In no event shall MasterStart’s aggregate liability to you for any and all claims exceed the total amount of fees received from you in the six months preceding any cause of action. No Guarantee: MasterStart will not, under any circumstances, guarantee the relevance of the course material to you, nor your ability to get employment or a promotion as a result of completing any course. Indemnity: To the extent permissible by law, you agree to indemnify MasterStart, its affiliates, shareholders, agents, consultants or employees harmless in respect of any claim that a third party might bring against MasterStart that relates to or arises from these Terms. This indemnity also includes all liability or loss that we might suffer as a result of a claim, including legal costs on attorney and own client scale and any additional legal and collection costs. Interruption of MasterStart Website or Online Campus

Interruption of service: You acknowledge and agree that from time to time, the MasterStart Website and/or Online Campus may be inaccessible or inoperable, by reason of one or more of the following:
- 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.
No breach: Such interruption to the accessibility of the MasterStart Website or Online Campus will not be deemed a breach of this Agreement under any circumstances whatsoever and we will not, under any circumstances, be liable to you for any costs, claims or damages that you may sustain or suffer as a result of any interruption, inoperability or inaccessibility of the MasterStart Website and/or Online Campus.

Intellectual Property

For the purpose of this clause, the following words shall have the following meanings ascribed to them:

“Intellectual property rights” means all and any of the rights in and to intellectual property of any nature whatsoever owned and/or controlled directly or under licence by MasterStart, now or in the future, including without limitation, MasterStart’s rights, title and interest in and to all technology, source code/s, trade secrets, logos, systems, methods, trademarks, trade names, styles, insignia, designs, patents and copyright, and all similar proprietary rights which may subsist in any part of the world, whether registered or not.

All copyright and other intellectual property rights in all content, trademarks, software, data, material, including logos, databases, text, graphics, icons, hyperlinks, confidential information, designs, agreements, and multimedia works, published on or via the Website or/and‌ Online Campus (“proprietary material”), are the property of, or are licensed to, and as such are protected from infringement by local and international legislation and treaties. The contents of this Website and Online Campus may not be transmitted, transcribed, reproduced, stored or translated into any other form without our prior written permission. You are permitted to display the content of this Website and Online Campus on your computer as part of your viewing of the Website and Online Campus only. All copyright infringements must be reported to MasterStart at [email protected]

By submitting reviews, comments and/or any other content (other than your personal information) to MasterStart for posting on the Website or Online Campus, you automatically grant and its affiliates a nonexclusive, Royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable right and licence to use, reproduce, publish, translate, sublicense, copy and distribute such content in whole or in part worldwide, and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or hereinafter developed, for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such content.

All rights not expressly granted are reserved, and no right, title or interest in any proprietary material or information contained in this Website and Online Campus is granted to you.

Except with MasterStart’s express written permission, no proprietary material from this Website or Online Campus may be copied or retransmitted.

Irrespective of the existence of copyright, the user acknowledges that MasterStart is the proprietor of all material on the Website and Online Campus (except where a third party is indicated as the proprietor), whether it constitutes confidential information or not, and that the user has no right, title or interest in any such material.

MasterStart authorises you only to view, copy, temporarily download to a local drive, and to print the content of this Website and Online Campus, or any part thereof, provided that such content is used for personal purposes and for information purposes only, and such content is used for non-commercial purposes.

Warrants and Disclaimers

MasterStart makes no warranty or representation as to the availability, accuracy or completeness of the content of the website and Online Campus. You expressly waive and renounce all your rights of whatever nature that you may have against MasterStart for ANY loss suffered by you, as a result of information supplied by MasterStart being incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate.

MasterStart may use the service of third parties to provide information on the Website and Online Campus. MasterStart has no control over this information and makes no representations or warranties of any nature as to its accuracy, appropriateness or correctness. The user agrees that such information is provided ‘as is’ and that MasterStart and its online partners shall not be liable for any losses that may arise from the user’s reliance on it, however these may arise.

MasterStart makes no representations or warranties, whether implied or expressly, as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any information, data and/or content on the Website and Online Campus, except to the extent otherwise stated in relation to your enrolment for a course or as specifically imposed by law. All information on this Website and Online Campus is for personal use only. All use and reliance on content and information provided through this Website and Online Campus will be at your own risk.

MasterStart does not warrant that the Website and Online Campus or information or downloads shall be error free or that they shall meet any criteria of performance or quality. expressly disclaims all implied warranties, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security or accuracy.

Whilst MasterStart has taken all reasonable measures to ensure the integrity of the Website and Online Campus, and the contents thereof, no warranty, whether express or implied, is given that any files, downloads or application available via the website and Online Campus are free of viruses, or any other data or code which has the ability to corrupt, damage or affect the operation of the user’s system. You will be exclusively responsible for any damage caused to your software or computer systems and/or any resulting loss of data caused as a result of any use of this Website or/and Online Campus.

Information published on this Website and on the Online Campus may be done so in the format in which MasterStart receives it and statements from external parties are accepted as fact.

Linked Third-Party Websites and Third Party Content

MasterStart may provide links to third party websites on the Website or/and Online Campus. These links are provided to the user for convenience purpose only and MasterStart does not endorse, nor does the inclusion of any link imply MasterStart’s endorsement of, such websites, their owners, licensees or administrators or such websites’ content or security practices or operations.

While MasterStart tries to provide links only to reputable websites or online providers. MasterStart cannot accept responsibility or liability for the information provided on other websites. Linked websites or pages are not under, nor subject to, the control of . MasterStart is not responsible for and gives no warranties or makes any representations in respect of the privacy policies or practices of linked or any third party or advertised websites on the Website.

You agree that MasterStart shall not be held liable, directly or indirectly, in any way for the content, the use or inability to use or access any linked website or any link(s) contained in a linked website, nor for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as a result of any dealings with, or as the result of the presence of such third party linked websites on the Website. Any dealings that you may have with linked websites, including advertisers, found on the Website, are solely between you and the third party website.

Complaints and Dispute

Any dispute between a learner and MasterStart shall be submitted to the academic department at [email protected] who shall endeavour to review and investigate the complaint, within five (5) Business Days after it having been referred to them.

You may be required to provide supporting documentation or other evidence that may be relevant, in order for MasterStart to fully investigate the complaint. Once the matter has been investigated, and due process followed, you will receive a written response informing you of the feedback, outcomes or suggested course of action related to the complaint.

Should the dispute not be resolved in the aforesaid manner, then it shall be resolved by way of arbitration, whereby the dispute will be referred to the decision of a single arbitrator to be agreed upon between the parties, or, in default of agreement for 14 (fourteen) days, to be appointed at the request of either party by the President of the Western Cape Bar to be decided on as informal a basis as the Arbitrator deems necessary.

Breach

In the event you commit any material breach of these Terms and fail to remedy the breach within 7 days after receiving a written notice to do so, MasterStart may terminate your participation in the Course for which you are registered, and you will not be entitled to a refund of any portion of the Course fee.

General Clauses

MasterStart’s details: By registering for a Course with MasterStart then these Terms are a contract between you and MasterStart Proprietary Limited, a company registered in South Africa with its address at the Icon Building, 24 Hans Strijdom Ave, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town, 8000 and MasterStart International Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with Company number 12594566, with its address at 79 New Cavendish Street, London, England, W1W 6XB.

Governing law and Jurisdiction: This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with laws of the Republic of South Africa and where applicable, the laws of England and Wales. The Parties agree that any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement which cannot be resolved by negotiations between the Parties shall be submitted to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Cape Town courts for the purpose of enforcing any claim arising hereunder.

Your continued use of the Online Campus will constitute your consent and submission to the jurisdiction of the South African courts regarding all proceedings, transactions, applications or the like instituted by either party against the other, arising from any of these Terms.

Nothing in this above-mentioned paragraph or the Learner’s Terms and Conditions limits your right to approach any court, tribunal or forum of competent jurisdiction in terms of the CPA.

Whole agreement: These Terms, together with the policies, constitute the whole of the agreement between yourself and MasterStart in relation to your registration for a course. Only a written variation agreed to by both parties will be of any effect.

Severability: In the event that any part of these Terms is found to be partially or fully unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be struck out from these Terms and the remaining provisions shall be enforced to the full extent of the law.

Assignment: These Terms, and any rights and licences granted in these Terms, may not be transferred or assigned by you without the prior written consent of MasterStart, but any rights and licences granted in these Terms may be assigned by MasterStart without restriction.

No Waiver of s rights: MasterStart’s failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not constitute a waiver of our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.

Last update made 10/17/2023