Booking information including terms & conditions
Our annual programme of short courses is based on the academic year, with courses running from November through to July. All short course bookings are managed through our online system. Via your online booking account, you can search available courses, make bookings, join waiting lists, cancel bookings and review payment due dates. Our full terms and conditions are listed below, in addition to a walk-through of the booking process.
The booking process
Below we outline the various steps involved in booking and attending a short course.
For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions or alternatively you can contact us directly.
Registration and booking
Our annual programme of short courses is confirmed in September each year.
- all registrations and bookings must be made by the person attending the course and cannot be transferred to another named individual;
- bookings are subject to availability and checks of your fee eligibility;
- courses are extremely popular, so we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment;
- we operate a strict first come first served basis.
Course format and access
We offer a number of different types of courses, including those open to all and others with restricted access, including pilot courses, internal (UoB) only courses and Materials Only courses. You will only be able to search and view courses within the booking system that you are eligible to attend.
Courses are predominantly delivered online. Occassionally we run in-person courses for internal (UoB) only courses. Please pay special attention to this when looking through our programme.
Free & paid course bookings
To facilitate effective waiting lists we separate course bookings into free and paid. Courses will display in our booking system with 'free' or 'paid' in the course title. Please pay special attention to selecting the correct version before adding to your basket.
- If you are paying full price select the ‘paid’ course.
- To use a 50% discount voucher (if applicable) select a 'paid' course and use your voucher when prompted.
- To use a 100% discount voucher (if applicable) choose a 'free' course and your voucher will be automatically selected at checkout. (You can choose to remove or add an available voucher.)
You can use the 'show' option above the search bar in the booking system to filter results for 'Free (with voucher)', 'Paid' or 'All' courses, as per the image below:
If there are no free places remaining on a course you can opt to join a free place waiting list. Additionally, you may also choose to book a paid place if one is available, though this will be subject to payment in the usual timescales and subject to our cancellation policy.
Prerequisites
To ensure courses are suitable for you, and that you can fully benefit from participation, we identify a number of course prerequisites. We kindly request that you check you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites prior to booking.
Voucher packs
We offer voucher packs to eligible individuals. Subject to availability these can be applied during booking to secure a free or discounted place on a course. To find out if you qualify for a voucher pack please review our short course fee policy. All affiliations are checked to confirm eligibility and the best discount will be selected based on the information you provide.
If applicants are not eligible for free or discounted places, have used up their allowance or the free space limit on courses has been reached full price places may still be booked, subject to availablilty.
Waiting lists
If a course is full, applicants are invited to join a waiting list. If a place becomes available on a course, applicants will be contacted in the order they joined the list. Applicants are given a time limited offer (usually 72 hours) to accept or decline the offer before their waiting list place is cancelled and the next applicant is approached.
We regret that we are unable to advise on the likelihood that places will become available, but recommend that applicants hold the time in their diary if they are keen to attend.
Payments
All bookings remain provisional until payment is received. We require prompt payment, in line with the booking terms and conditions below. Our short courses are popular and often have a waiting list. Therefore, if we have not received payment in line with the timescales specified in our terms and conditions, provisional places are automatically cancelled.
To find out more about payment options please review our how to pay your Short Course fees page.
Joining instructions
Approximately one week before the course start date all successful applicants with confirmed bookings will receive joining instructions via email, including details of any pre-course work that may be required.
Feedback and course certificates
We encourage all delegates to complete course feedback to help us to continually improve our courses. Subject to full attendance delegates will be provided with an electronic course certificate. We are unable to provide any further CPD accreditation.
Full terms & conditions
Terms and conditions are reviewed and updated each academic year. We advise a thorough review in advance of booking a course.
T&Cs for all applicants
- All bookings are subject to availability.
- All bookings operate on a strict first come first served basis.
- Registrations and bookings must be made by the person attending the course.
- It is the responsibility of each participant to check they have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the course pre-requisites.
- Bookings cannot be transferred from one named individual to another.
- Course materials are for the sole use of the booked individual and must not be shared or otherwise distributed.
- Bookings cannot be transferred from one academic year to the next.
- Payments cannot be transferred from one academic year to the next.
- Online lectures will be recorded and made available, with the presentation, to other audiences for educational purposes. By agreeing to our terms and conditions you give permission for the recordings to be used for these purposes.
- Courses may be cancelled at any time at the discretion of the University of Bristol and the Short Course Team. This includes at any time before or during the course.
- Courses advertised as taking place on site and in person at the University of Bristol may become online only courses should circumstances change and it is no longer possible to host them on campus.
- The Short Course Fees Policy is updated at the start of each academic year.
- The Short Course Director has final say on the application of the policy.
- Assignment of a voucher pack is determined by the information provided at registration. We do not proactively apply voucher packs to a user account.
- We reserve the right to check eligibility for voucher packs.
- The use of a voucher is subject to availability of a course place.
- Vouchers are not automatically applied to bookings. It is the responsibility of the person booking to apply the voucher at checkout.
- Eligible applicants may only use ONE voucher pack per academic year. Any additional bookings will be subject to full fees.
- Unused vouchers cannot be transferred from one academic year to the next.
T&Cs for applicants for FULL FEE or 50% discount places
- Applicants must be sure they have funding available to pay their course fees before they book.
- Applicants must pay their course fees:
- within one month of the booking date where the booking is more than two months in advance of the course, or
- at least one month in advance of the course start date where the booking is two months or less in advance of the course, or
- immediately where the booking is one month or less in advance of the course
- In each individual order, the course earliest in the academic year will be used to calculate the course fee payment deadline.
- If payment is not received within the times given above provisional places will automatically be cancelled.
- Our preferred method of payment is via the University Online shop.
- For University of Bristol staff and students only: Journal payments for short course fees must be arranged by the Assistant Accountant for the payee’s grant code.
- In cases where the online shop cannot be used we may accept payment by sales invoice, provided a purchase order is emailed to short-course@bristol.ac.uk no more than 7 days after the booking date.
- Payment via sales invoice will not be accepted if the course is 1 month or less away, when payment is due immediately.
- Payment by sales invoice will incur an administration fee of £40, non-refundable in the event of cancellation.
- If applicants need to cancel a booking, we ask for as much notice as possible to allow others to take advantage of the available course place.
- Applicants cancelling more than 4 weeks before the start of a course will receive a full refund.
- We will not normally refund fees if a cancellation is made 4 weeks or less before the start of a course.
- In the event that we are obliged to cancel or curtail a short course, our liability is limited to refunding course fees for the days affected. We recommend that applicants have adequate insurance cover to reclaim any travel or accommodation expenses.
T&Cs for applicants for FREE voucher packs
- University of Bristol applicants must obtain approval from their line manager/supervisor before booking.
- Applicants are expected to attend sessions in full.
- If you need to cancel your course, please do so with as much notice as possible.
- If you repeatedly cancel courses at short notice, we reserve the right to restrict access to further courses.
- Bookings for new applicants take priority. Applicants who have already completed a course and wish to repeat it may contact the short course team 2 weeks in advance of the course start date to see if there are places available or to join the waiting list.
These policies are enforced to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit from our very popular courses.
T&Cs for internal-only, materials-only & pilot short courses
- Internal-only, materials-only and pilot short courses are available only to specified internal University of Bristol applicants.
- Course fees do not apply to materials-only and pilot courses and do not use up any voucher allocations.
- Course fees apply to internal-only courses and will use up voucher allocations. Full fees are payable if voucher allocations have been exceeded.
Book a short course
Payment is required to secure a confirmed course place
Please be aware that once payment due dates have passed, unpaid provisional bookings are automatically cancelled.
Payment due dates are calculated according to the timescales outlined in our booking terms and conditions.
In each individual order, the course earliest in the academic year is used to calculate the payment deadline.
'Materials Only' courses
For internal UoB staff and research students only: Information & FAQs about self-paced 'Materials Only' courses.