ICEF Academy Terms and Conditions

A. Definitions

Agent: refers to education agents and counsellors working for education agencies to recruit international students to educational institutions.

Educators: refers to educational institutions and their staff.

ICEF Academy: refers to ICEF’s training platform for professionals in international education and all its associated products and services. 

Subscription plan: a contract for a specified time period for any ICEF product or service with a recurring fee.

User: any individual or entity accessing or using ICEF Academy’s products and services, including but not limited to agents, counsellors, freelance consultants, education providers, administrators and service providers. 

Products and Services: refers to all products and services provided by ICEF Academy, including but not limited to the following:  

• Courses: specialised online training programmes offered by ICEF Academy, which may include written content, multimedia content, and assessments. These include: 

• • • Paid-access course: refers to any course which is paid for at the point of course registration, inclusive of the final exam. 

• • • Free-to-study course: refers to any course for which content is free to access and study, and where the exam and certification may need to be paid for separately.
    • Certification Exams: paid examinations, separate from the Course that assess the user’s knowledge and skills, leading to certification upon successful completion.

• Downloadable Resources: educational materials and resources that can be downloaded for offline use, such as eBooks, guides, and templates.
  
• Train Your Agents: an online training platform which provides educators with a dedicated space for delivering learning resources to their agent network.

B. General Terms and Conditions

B1. Registration, Account Creation, and Account Management

1. To access ICEF Academy Products and Services, you will be required to register for an account on the ICEF Academy platform. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you provide – including but not limited to your name, email ID, and organisation name – during registration is accurate and to update such information as necessary. Accounts created with fraudulent information will be deactivated and blocked without prior notice. 
2. All information provided to ICEF Academy must be complete and accurate upon registration.
3. The User registering the ICEF Academy Account must be the individual accessing and using ICEF Academy Products or Services and should hold a formal, government-issued ID which must be uploaded to the ICEF Academy Account when required.
4. You may not use or access an Account that does not belong to you for any reason.
5. You must not share your username and password with anyone, or permit them to use your Account under any circumstances.  This includes another member or employee within your agency, organisation, educational institution or company.
6. You must use your official name when registering for an ICEF Academy user account. It must match the name shown on your formal ID, with the exception that additional given names may be omitted. Unofficial nicknames may not be used.
7. You must upload a recognised form of identification to confirm your identity and gain access to the relevant Products and Services, where required.  Acceptable forms of government ID include your current passport, driver’s licence, national identity card, or any other government-issued ID where your full name and photo are clearly visible. Please note that we cannot accept expired identification documents.  
8. You must carefully review our Privacy Policy to understand how we collect, use and store your personal data, before creating an account on ICEF Academy.
9. As a User, you must only create, access, and/or use one Account to access all ICEF Academy Products and Services. If you have created more than one Account, you must inform ICEF Academy of the usernames of these accounts immediately before you make any purchase. These accounts will be disabled.
10. You must not create more than one ICEF Academy Account without our permission, under any circumstances – including if your account has been suspended or disabled by ICEF. If you experience any technical difficulties with your existing account or need to change your details, please contact us at academy@icef.com for support.
11.  You are only permitted to access, use and/or purchase ICEF Academy Products and Services from one User Account. It is prohibited to perform any of these activities from multiple accounts.
12. Users who have more than one ICEF certification, or plan to earn more than one certification, which they wish to advertise separately on our online course graduate directories, but under different organisation information, may be permitted to create an additional user account. You must contact ICEF Academy at academy@icef.com, in advance, to request this.  If ICEF Academy approves your additional Account/s, please note that you must not enrol in the same training course and/or sit the same certification exam in more than one of the Accounts. Retention of more than one user Account is permitted for the time that you are required to list separate certifications under different organisation information. 

B2. Payment and Promotional Offers

1. All fees must be paid according to the payment terms specified by ICEF Academy at the time of purchase. Payment should be completed before the commencement of the Certification Exam, Paid-to-access Course or Train Your Agents Subscription Plan and/or before accessing any Downloadable Resource.
2. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all fees are quoted in Euros (€). Please note that the decimal point may be represented by a comma (ABC,DE €).
3. All fees quoted on the website and other forms of communication are exclusive of any applicable taxes, levies, duties, or similar governmental assessments of any nature. You will be responsible for paying any such taxes as mentioned in your order.
4. It is your responsibility to provide us with valid and updated credit card and billing information during the purchase process. By providing this information, you authorise us and any third party we may use to process payments to charge your credit card for the amount specified in your order.
5. The fees associated with ICEF Academy’s Products and Services are accurate at the time of publication and are subject to change without prior notice. For subscription-based products, ICEF will notify clients of any planned changes 30 days in advance of their renewal and the increased fees will apply at the start of the next subscription term. 
6. ICEF Academy may periodically offer promotional offers on its Products and Services. These offers are subject to specific terms and conditions outlined during the promotional period. The discounted price or offer will apply only to the specified Products and Services during the designated promotional period.
7. Promotional offers cannot be combined with any other offers. Each promotional offer is limited to one per individual unless stated otherwise.
8. ICEF Academy and its promotional offer partner(s) reserve the right to modify, decline, or terminate any promotional offer at any time without prior notice.
9. Before sitting a Certification Exam, enrolling in a Paid-for-access Course or purchasing a Downloadable Resource and/or Train Your Agents Subscription Plan, you must review our Refund Policy. By undertaking the Exam and/or Course or purchasing a Resource or Subscription Plan you acknowledge and accept these terms. 

B3. Feedback 

1. We encourage you to provide ICEF Academy with feedback related to your use of the platform and ICEF Academy Products and Services, including suggestions for new content, products, or features.  By submitting feedback you agree to let us use this feedback without restriction and without the need for compensation to you.

B4. Amendments

1. ICEF Academy reserves the right to add, amend or remove any terms and conditions to which you have agreed at any time. Your continued use of our services after any such changes are introduced constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms and conditions. You are responsible for keeping yourself updated on any changes. Changes will be communicated through normal business channels.

C. Products and Services Terms and Conditions

C1. Train Your Agents

For Educators

Payment & Subscriptions

1. To use ICEF Academy’s Train Your Agents, Educators require an active paid subscription. 
2. Pricing is based on a single institution basis. If you require a more complex, multi-campus or multi-institution bespoke subscription this will be priced separately. 
3. Prices will be quoted when a contract is signed and are subject to change at any time at the end of your billing period. 
4. Subscriptions must be paid in full at the start of your plan term in order to trigger your subscription. 
5. Pro plan clients can upgrade to Enterprise mid-subscription. To do so speak to your Client Success Manager who will advise of changes to pricing where applicable. 
6. Our services may be subject to VAT.  For German companies, this service is subject to German VAT.  For EU companies, excluding Germany, please provide us with your VAT/Sales Tax registration number.  Once this is provided, German VAT / Sales Tax will not be applied, and the sales tax is to be declared and paid by you in the EU market where you are tax-resident under Article 196 Directive 2006/112/CE.  Should no valid EU VAT number be provided, then German VAT is applicable.

Subscription Management and Data:

1. You have the freedom to cancel your subscription at any time during the subscription year. All subscriptions are non-refundable, as outlined in our Refund Policy. Your access to all platform features and your training data, including courses, agent information, and progress reports, will remain active until the end of the term for which you have already paid.
2. Your plan will be automatically renewed at the end of each 12-month subscription term unless you provide us with notice of cancellation. We will provide reminder notifications 30 days prior to the new subscription term and issue an invoice for the new subscription term. 
3. At the end of your first subscription year, you may choose whether to renew your plan on a monthly or annual subscription basis. Paying a monthly subscription may be subject to higher fees due to additional processing costs. 
4. To ensure uninterrupted service and progress tracking, we recommend renewing your subscription before the end of your current billing cycle. We’ll provide reminder notifications to assist you with this process.
5. Your training data includes courses, agent information, and progress reports. These are securely stored for 6 years after your subscription ends, in accordance with the German Civil Code. 
6. Clients who leave and return at a later point will have historic data available within this 6-year period. This will allow you to easily reactivate your account and resume your partners’ training journey if needed. Please note that access to the platform and data retrieval will require a renewed subscription and you may be charged onboarding fees.

Quality Assurance:

1. Cultivating a respectful and inclusive learning environment is a core value at ICEF Academy. We believe everyone benefits from a platform that facilitates open exchange and diverse perspectives. To achieve this, we ask that you upload materials that are accurate representations of your programmes and propositions while remaining respectful and sensitive to all individuals and groups.
2. Our dedicated team reviews all uploaded content to ensure it aligns with these guidelines. This helps maintain a high standard of information for everyone using the platform.
3. We reserve the right to remove or block content that we determine is inaccurate, misleading, or offensive. In most cases, we’ll reach out to you directly to discuss any concerns and explore potential revisions. Our goal is to work collaboratively with you to ensure your materials are accurate and appropriately presented. This might involve suggesting minor edits, offering guidance on alternative wording, or discussing more substantial changes. However, in rare cases where content is found to be severely misleading or offensive, we may need to remove or block it immediately to uphold the integrity of the platform.

Intellectual Property: 

1. We understand that the training materials you create for your agents are valuable assets. By uploading content to the ICEF Academy platform, you confirm that you hold all necessary rights, ownership and sharing permissions of the materials you share. 
2. ICEF will treat all information added to Train Your Agents in the strictest confidence and educators will retain full intellectual property rights of your training content and materials.

For Agents

Keeping Your Account Unique:

1. To ensure a clear and organised learning experience, we ask all counsellors to maintain only one ICEF Academy account. This account will grant you access to all the Train Your Agents materials from education institutions assigned to you by your agency’s administrator. Having a single account also keeps your learning history and record of certifications organised in one place.
2. As a counsellor, if, in a rare circumstance, you need to represent more than one agency for Train Your Agents, please contact ICEF Academy directly. Our support team will be happy to discuss your situation and find a solution that meets your specific needs.

C2. Courses and Downloadable Resources

1. ICEF Academy reserves the right to modify the content in a Course, Downloadable Resource, or its Website, without prior notice.
2. Content within Downloadable Resources and Courses is the intellectual and confidential property of ICEF Academy. Under no circumstance may you copy, replicate, modify, translate, distribute, publish, or share any of the content within a Course or Downloadable Resource with third parties, including other current or prospective Users, or make them publicly available online or offline on any platform.
3. To the maximum extent permitted by law, ICEF Academy, its course partners, supporters and sponsors will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, or incidental damages due to any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions in content. It is your responsibility to exercise due diligence in evaluating the accuracy and usefulness of any content on the Website, in the Course(s), or Downloadable Resource(s).

C3. Certification Exams 

1. The legitimation process to validate your details may take approximately 2-7 business days, or longer if the User fails to provide accurate details as required to complete the process.  During this time, we may reach out to you for any necessary updates or clarification regarding your information or identification.  Once verification is completed, you will receive a link via your registered email given at the time of Account creation to access and undertake the exam.
2. ICEF Academy Certification Exams are proctored to ensure a secure and fair testing environment. By participating in a proctored exam, you consent to the monitoring of your computer’s webcam by our proctoring software and/or examination platform during the entire duration of the exam.
3. When taking a Certification Exam you must confirm your identity by correctly activating your web camera to take footage of you for the entire duration of the exam. The web camera must capture your entire face with clarity and under good lighting from the top of the shoulders up. You must be directly facing the camera.
4. You are responsible for making sure that your web camera is functional and compatible with our proctoring platform. Before you attempt the Exam you must read all of the information on our website for detailed instructions on web camera activation. If your web camera is not activated and taking footage as described, your exam attempt will be counted invalid.
5. You must remain in the same position in front of the web camera from the moment that the exam is activated.  If you are using a portable device such as a laptop or iPad, you must not move around with your device.
6. You must be alone for the duration of the exam. No other person is allowed to enter the room while you are taking the exam.
7. All exams must be completed in privacy, and no communication with any external party, in any form, is permitted for the duration of the exam. Communication includes but is not limited to, direct in-person communication with another person, telephone, SMS, Skype or a similar video calling program, an instant messaging program, social media or any online forum.  Any incoming phone calls, text messages, social media notifications, emails, and other similar forms of communication must be ignored until the exam is completed and submitted.  We strongly recommend that such devices be switched off for the duration of the exam. Failure to observe these conditions, regardless of whether or not the content of the communication is deemed to be exam-related, will result in your exam attempt being invalidated, and you will waive the right to take any further attempts at the exam.
8. The wearing of headphones, headsets, earbuds, earphones and similar listening equipment is strictly forbidden.  It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in a quiet location where you will not be disturbed or interrupted for the course of the exam.  Sounds such as music or audio from videos are also not permitted.
9. You must only activate the exam when you are ready to proceed.  This is done by clicking on the link you receive via email.  Once your exam is activated, you must proceed with it immediately.  Failure to do so will result in your exam attempt being counted as invalid, regardless of whether it is taken or not.
10. You must sit the exam in a continuous period of time. If you activate your exam attempt and do not complete the exam in the same session, your exam attempt will be invalid.
11. You must submit your exam attempt within a maximum of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Please note that a timer will display in the top right-hand corner of your screen at all times for the duration of the exam. It will be your responsibility to keep track of the time displayed and to ensure that you have a steady internet connection and a reliable device on which you can take the exam.
12. You must ensure that you click on the ‘complete’ button at the bottom of the screen to submit your exam within 1 hour and 20 minutes. If you do not click on ‘complete’ within the time limit, your attempt will be invalid.  It is your responsibility to correctly submit your exam at completion.  Please do not simply close out of the browser window, as your exam will be invalidated and not submitted.
13. Assuming you have adhered to all terms and conditions, you may take up to three attempts at each exam if you are not successful on an attempt. After each valid failed attempt you will receive a new test link via email.  Should you fail your third attempt, you must pay the Certification Exam fee in full for another three attempts.
14. You have up to 12 months to attempt and successfully pass your exam from the date you receive access. This period also includes any additional attempts you may require (up to 3 with each fee paid).
15. ICEF Academy may suspend or disable your user account if you do not comply with our terms and conditions, or in the event we are investigating any suspected misconduct.
16. ICEF Academy reserves the right to reject any request for Certification Exam access or any Certification Exam attempt for any reason and is under no obligation to provide an explanation.
17. In case of technical difficulties or issues with the proctoring software/platform during the exam, you must promptly contact our support team at academy@icef.com for assistance.  You may be asked to provide documentation, such as screenshots, to verify the issue you are experiencing.  Please note that the final decision to provide any dispensation or resolve the issue rests with ICEF Academy alone.

D. Badges and Certifications

1. On successfully passing a Certification Exam, completing a Paid-access Course, completing a Course through the Train Your Agents product, or completing the British Council’s UK Agent and Counsellor Training Course, you will receive a printable digital certificate and course badge (with the exception of the British Council’s UK Agent and Counsellor Training Course). 
2. Certificates and badges are a recognition of your knowledge and skills in the respective topic of the Certification Exam, Paid-Access Course or Course delivered through the Train Your Agents product and do not count as academic credit.
3. ICEF Academy does not issue a certificate of completion for Free-to-access Courses.
4. A certificate or badge will not be issued unless all the requirements of the Certification Exam or Paid-access Course have been completed, including a minimum score that must be achieved in the exam or quizzes.
5. You are permitted to share your certificate and badge on social media platforms such as LinkedIn or display them in your office.
6. You are permitted to include your badge in your business email signature, post it on your business website, and/or print it on your business cards.  You must adhere to the guidelines for correct badge usage.
7. Badges and certificates issued by ICEF Academy are non-transferable and can only be used by the individual who has earned them. They cannot be assigned, sold, or transferred to any other person or entity within the same organisation or otherwise.
8. Any misuse, misrepresentation, or fraudulent use of badges and certifications may result in revocation or termination of the respective qualifications.
9. ICEF Academy reserves the right to update or modify the criteria, requirements, validity, or conditions for obtaining and maintaining badges and certifications. Any such changes will be communicated through official channels and will apply to both existing and future, badge and certification holders unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.  It is the responsibility of the badge or certification holder to comply with these requirements when notified.

E. Graduate Listings

1.  ICEF Academy provides graduate listings to showcase individuals who have completed a Certification Exam, Paid-to-Access Course or the British Council’s UK Agent and Counsellor Training Course. 
2. The inclusion of a User on the ICEF Academy website does not imply endorsement or guarantee of the individual’s services or qualifications.  The listing also does not guarantee, or imply, any business relationship, partnership, or cooperation with ICEF.
3. Education Agents and Counsellors listed on graduate directories on ICEF Academy must comply with ICEF guidelines and the ICEF Agent Code of Conduct, and continue to meet all necessary requirements, to maintain their listing.
4. ICEF Academy reserves the right to review, modify, or remove Users from graduate listings at its discretion without prior notice or consultation.
5. ICEF Academy is not liable for any interactions or agreements made with listed Users by other individuals or organisations. Individuals and organisations are responsible for conducting their own due diligence before engaging the services of any listed graduate.
6. ICEF Academy is not liable for the actions, omissions, opinions, or representations of listed graduates and their organisations.
7. Listed graduates are responsible for providing updated information and for maintaining the accuracy and relevance of their listing.