Student Statement of Rights

Before you enroll at a certified private training institution, you should be aware of your rights and responsibilities.
1. You have the right to be treated fairly and respectfully by the institution.
2. You have the right to a student enrollment contract that includes the following information:

• Amount of tuition and any additional fee for your program.
• Refund policy.
• If your program includes a work experience, the requirements to participate in the work experience and the geographic area where it will be provided.
• Whether the program was approved by PTIB or does not require approval.

Make sure you read the contract before signing. The institution must provide you with a signed copy.

3. You have the right to access the institution’s dispute resolution process and to be protected against retaliation for making a complaint.

4. You have the right to make a claim to PTIB for a tuition refund if:

• Your institution ceased to hold a certificate before you completed an approved program.
• You were misled about a significant aspect of your approved program.

You must file the claim within one year of completing, being dismissed or withdrawing from your program.

For more information about PTIB and how to be an informed student, go to:

http://www.privatetraininginstitutions.gov.bc.ca/students/be-an-informed-student.

 

Tuition Refund Policy

Circumstances When Refund is Payable.	Amount of Refund
Before the program start date, RPI College receives a notice of withdrawal. (This applies to all students.)
No later than seven days after student signed the enrollment contract and before the program start date.	100% tuition and all related fees, other than application fee. Related fees include: administrative fees, application fees, assessment fees, and fees charged for textbooks or other course materials.
At least 30 days before the later of:     a) The program start date in the most recent Letter of Acceptance (international students)     b) The program start date in the enrollment contract.	RPI College may retain up to 10% of tuition, to a maximum of $1,000. RPI College must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
More than seven days after the student and institution signed the enrollment contract and less than 30 days before the later of:     a) The program start date in the most recent Letter of Acceptance (international students)     b) The program start date in the enrollment contract	RPI College may retain up to 20% of tuition, to a maximum of $1,300. Institution must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
After the program start date, RPI College provides a notice of dismissal or receives a notice of withdrawal. (This applies to all students, except those enrolled in a program delivered solely by distance education.)
After the program start date and up to and including 10% of instruction hours have been provided.	RPI College may retain up to 30% of tuition. Institution must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
After the program start date and after more than 10% but before 30% of instruction hours have been provided.	RPI College may retain up to 50% of tuition. RPI must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
Student does not attend program – “no-show.” (This applies to all students except those enrolled in a program delivered solely by distance education.)
Student does not attend the first 30% of the program.	RPI College may retain up to 50% of the tuition. RPI College must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
RPI College receives a refusal of study permit. (This applies to international students requiring a study permit.)
Before 30% of instruction hours would have been provided, had the student started the program on the later of the following:     a) The program start date in the most recent Letter of Acceptance. (international students)     b) The program start date in the enrollment contract. Student has not requested additional Letter(s) of Acceptance.	100% tuition and all related fees, other than application fee.
After the program start date, student withdraws or is dismissed (This applies to students enrolled in a program delivered solely by distance education.)
Student completed up to 30% of the program.	RPI College may retain up to 30% of the tuition. RPI must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
Student completed more than 30% but less than 50% of the program (based on evaluation provided to student).	RPI College may retain up to 50% of the tuition. RPI College must refund fees paid for course materials if not provided to the student.
Student enrolled in a program without having met the admission requirements for the program.
If the student did not misrepresent the student’s knowledge or skills when applying for admission and the registrar orders the institution to refund tuition and fees.	100% tuition and all related fees, including application fees
RPI College does not provide a work experience.
RPI College fails to provide the work experience within 30 days of the contract end date, unless the registrar determines RPI College was prevented from doing so by circumstances beyond its control.	100% tuition and all related fees, including application fees

RPI College must pay the tuition or fee refund within 30 days after receiving notice of withdrawal or refusal of study permit; providing a notice of dismissal, or the date on which the first 30% of the hours of instruction are provided (no-show).

 

Attendance Policy

1. The minimum attendance requirements for students are as follows:

• Students are expected to attend all classes from the beginning to the end.
• Students need to attend at least 80% of all the sessions if they want to receive the certificate or a report card.
• If a student is late for more than 15 minutes of the class time, he/she is not allowed to attend that session.
• If a student is late for less than 15 minutes of the class time, he/she is permitted to attend the class, but three times late will be counted as one absence.
• If a student is absent due to unforeseen circumstances, they need to notify the school immediately (no later than 24 hours).
• If a student leaves the class more than 15 minutes earlier, he/she will be marked absent for that session unless the school is convinced that the early departure was inevitable.

2. The consequences for students who do not meet the minimum attendance requirements listed above are as follows:

• No report card or certificate will be issued for that particular class.
• Students are not permitted to go to the next/higher level; they have to repeat the course or meet the requirements before they are qualified to go to the next/higher level.

3. The process by which students must report an absence is as follows:

• If a student has to be absent for any reason, they should notify the school at least 24 hours or the day before the day they are absent. They can call or email the front desk or the academic director. In case there are situations which make being absent inevitable (e.g., family emergencies, job interviews, health problems, doctor/dental appointments, or other similar situations), the student’s class attendance score will not be negatively affected.
• In case of emergencies, students need to notify the school at the earliest possible time. They can call or email the front desk or the academic director.

 

Dismissal Policy

RPI College may dismiss a student from a program on any of the following grounds:

Under certain serious circumstances if a student’s enrollment at RPI College is detrimental or damaging to the other students or staff members, or to the atmosphere or safety of the school, the student may be dismissed from the school.

The following circumstances will result in immediate dismissal of a student without any prior warning.

• Sexual misconduct
• Physical assault or violent acts against any other student or staff member (whether inside or outside the school).
• Vandalism of school property
• Vandalism of other students and staff members’ property
• Verbal abuse or threats
• Theft
• Damage to the building in which the school is located
• Racial or ethnic harassment

Under certain circumstances, the student may be given a letter of warning for the inappropriate behaviors or actions they commit inside the school.

In these situations, the student will be called into the School Director’s office and be informed about his/her action and behavior. The student also has the opportunity to explain and clarify the situation. If there is no misunderstanding (there are CCTV footage and/or reliable witnesses, or the student accepts the inappropriate behavior or action), the student will receive a letter of warning. However, if the student shows the same or other inappropriate behavior or commits inappropriate actions for the second time, he/she may be dismissed after receiving the second letter of warning. Similar steps as in the first letter of warning will be taken to make sure that there is no misunderstanding of the situation.

Students may be dismissed after receiving the second letter of warning for the following actions:

• Smoking in any parts of the school and inside the building in which the school is located
• Using alcohol and/or narcotics in the school and the building in which the school is located
• Offensive classroom behavior (disturbing the class and using inappropriate language)
• Using inappropriate language about another person’s (students and staff) ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual orientation

The process by which a student may be dismissed from a program is as follows:

In case a student commits any of the above-mentioned situations, the student will be called in the school director’s office, and he/she will be informed about the school decision about his/her dismissal. The student will be given a formal letter of dismissal along with the details of the incident in question.

Important Note:

Any tuition refunds resulting from a dismissal will be paid out according to the refund policy.

 

Grade Appeal Policy

The process by which a student may appeal a grade received in a course at RPI College is as follows:

Students who may want to object to any of their grades at RPI College must present their complaint in writing to the Director of the Studies, who is responsible for handling the complaint. The student is required to submit the complaint within 24 hours after he/she receives the score.

Upon receiving the written complaint, the Director of Studies will take the following steps and timeline:

• The Director of the Studies will talk to the student to review the complaint and make sure about the problem. This should be followed within 24 hours after receiving the student’s complaint.
• The teacher who scored the paper/exam will be asked to review the paper/exam again to make sure all the parts have been scored. This should be completed immediately after the Director of Studies manages to review the complaint with the student
• If the teacher is sure about the score and does not make any changes, the Director of Studies will ask another teacher to score the paper without telling him/her about the complaint. This step needs to be completed within 24 hours.
• If the second correction is the same as that of the first teacher, the student will be informed. This needs to be followed up immediately after the Director of Studies receives the teacher’s comments.
• If the student insists on the complaint, the Director of Studies will invite the student and the two teachers to review the paper/exam. The teachers will explain the score to the students and will give him/her the correct answers. This step should be completed within 48 hours.
• If at any stage, the student’s score needs to be corrected as a result of teachers’ mistakes, in addition to the correction, the student will receive a formal apology from the institute.
• Finally, the student will be informed about the decision in a formal letter.
• The above-mentioned process should be completed in five business days. In case the student needs the grade to move up to the next level, and this falls within the five-day limit, the Director of Studies needs to make sure that the student will receive the result of his or her grade appeal no later than 48 hours before the beginning of the next course.
• In case, the process requires more time, the student should be permitted to register for the next level until the final decision has been made. If the score does not change and the student would not like to go back to the previous level, all the tuition will be refunded.
• In case the student is not satisfied with the outcome of the grade appeal, he or she can follow the steps suggested in “Dispute Resolution” policy.

Contact information:

Director of Studies, info@rpicollege.ca

Dispute Resolution Policy

1. This policy governs complaints from students respecting RPI College and any aspect of its operations.

2. A student who makes or is otherwise involved in a complaint will not be subject to any form of retaliation by the institution at any time.

3. The process to make a complaint is as follows:

Student complaint must be made in writing. The student must provide the written complaint to Student Support who is responsible for making determinations in respect of complaints. If the person responsible at Student Support is absent or is named in a complaint, the student must provide the complaint to the Director of Studies. If the Director of Studies is absent or is named in the complaint, the student must provide the complaint to the School Director.

4. The process by which the student complaint will be handled is as follows:

The Student Support, Director of Studies, or School Director reviews the complaint. If the complaint is service related, he/she should be able to deal with the issue and provide a solution. If the problem is academic related, the complaint will be forwarded to the Director of Studies who will provide the student with a solution as soon as possible. Written reasons for the determination will be provided to the student within 30 days after the date on which the student made the complaint. The process will be available for at least one year after the student completed, was dismissed, or withdrew from the program.

Making a complaint poses no costs for the students.

5. A student dissatisfied with the institution’s final decision may file a claim with the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) (www.privatetraininginstitutions.gov.bc.ca) on the grounds that the institution misled the student regarding a significant aspect of the program.

The time limit for filing the claim is one year after the student completes, is dismissed from, or withdraws from the program.

6. A student making a complaint may be represented by an agent or a lawyer.

 

Contact information:

Student Support, support@rpicollege.ca

Director of Studies, info@rpicollege.ca

School Director, Mohammadali Abouali (ma.abouali@rpicollege.ca)

 

Respectful and Fair Treatment of Students Policy

RPI College is committed to ensuring that its learning environment promotes the respectful and fair treatment of all students.

While on RPI College premises or in the course of activities or events hosted by RPI College the following activities are prohibited:

• Sexual misconduct
• Physical assault or violent acts against any other student or staff member (whether inside or outside the school).
• Vandalism of school property
• Vandalism of other students and staff members’ property
• Verbal abuse and/or threats
• Theft
• Damage to the building in which the school is located
• Racial and/or ethnic harassment
• Smoking in any parts of the school and inside the building in which the school is located
• Using alcohol and/or narcotics in the school and the building in which the school is located
• Offensive classroom behavior (disturbing the class and using inappropriate language)
• Using inappropriate language about another person’s (students, staff, or visitor) ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual orientation

If under any circumstances, a prohibited activity occurs, the following outlines the process for addressing the activity:

• RPI College Dismissal Policy will be followed.
• Based on the Dismissal Policy, some of these actions, behaviors, and activities will result in immediate dismissal from the program or course while other actions, behaviors, and activities will result in dismissal provided that they occur after the warning letters mentioned in the Dismissal Policy (see RPI College Dismissal Policy for more information).
• In case the student should be dismissed immediately, the School Director will give him/her or the student’s agent or lawyer an official letter with the details of the incident and reason for dismissal.
• If warning letters are to be issued, this will be done either by email or in person by the Director of the Studies.
• Any tuition refunds resulting from a dismissal will be paid out according to the refund policy.

 

Sexual Misconduct Policy

1. RPI College is committed to the prevention of and appropriate response to sexual misconduct.

2. Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act (Chapter 3; 2016) considers the following actions and behaviors as sexual misconduct.

“Sexual Misconduct” includes sexualized violence and refers to any sexual act or act targeting an individual’s sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression, whether the act is physical or psychological in nature, that is committed, threatened, or attempted against an individual without that individual’s consent. The following list sets out examples of Sexual Misconduct. The list is intended to help RPI College students, staff members, and any other person directly or indirectly involved in activities directed by the school to understand the kinds of acts that will be considered Sexual Misconduct. The list is not exhaustive and other acts may constitute Sexual Misconduct under this Policy even if they do not appear in the list below. Sexual Misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Sexual assault, which is any form of sexual touching or the threat, express or implied, of sexual touching without the individual’s consent
• Sexual exploitation; Every person commits an offence who is in a position of trust or authority towards a young person, who is a person with whom the young person is in a relationship of dependency or who is in a relationship with a young person that is exploitative of the young person, and who - for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of the young person; or - for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or incites a young person to touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, the body of any person, including the body of the person who so invites, counsels or incites and the body of the young person.
• Sexual harassment, which is unwelcome conduct, by comment or gesture, of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects the working, learning, or living environment, or leads to adverse consequences for the individual directly subjected to the harassment
• Stalking and Cyberstalking (stalking through the use of the internet or other electronic means), which is engaging in unwelcome conduct expressed or implied, that causes an individual to fear for their physical or psychological safety, and includes repeatedly following the individual, repeatedly communicating with the individual through any means, engaging in threatening conduct, or keeping watch over the place where the individual happens to be.
• Indecent exposure, which is exposing one’s body to another individual either physically or electronically, or through any other means, for a sexual purpose without the individual’s consent, or coercing another individual to remove their clothing in order to expose their body.
• Voyeurism, which is non-consensual viewing, photographing, or otherwise recording another individual in a location where there is an expectation of privacy and where the viewing, photographing, or recording is done for a sexual purpose.
• The distribution of a sexually explicit photograph or video of a person to one or more persons other than the person in the photograph or video without the consent of the person in the photograph or video and with the intent to distress the person in the photograph or video.
• The attempt to commit an act of sexual misconduct; and
• The threat to commit an act of sexual misconduct.

3. A Complaint of sexual misconduct is different than a Report of sexual misconduct.

A Complaint is when the person discloses or chooses to tell someone at the institution of an incident of sexual misconduct in order to seek support but may not want to make a formal report to police or the institution. A Report is a formal notification of an incident of sexual misconduct to someone at the institution accompanied by a request for action. A Report can be made by the individual affected by the sexual misconduct or other members of the school who think the institution or police should be informed of the sexual misconduct.

4. A student making a Complaint will be provided with resolution options and, if appropriate, accommodation, and will not be required or pressured to make a Report.

5. The process for making a Complaint about sexual misconduct involving a student is as follows:

5.1. The student who is subject to any form of sexual misconduct (whether listed above or not) discloses the act to a staff member he/she trusts (e.g., teacher, counselor, manager).

5.2. The staff member will immediately direct this complaint to the Director of Studies. If this person is absent or named in the complaint, the complaint will be directed to the School Director.

5.3. The Director of Studies or School Director will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 24 hours and will decide if they need to make a formal report. This should be done after a thorough evaluation of the incident and considering the consequences of making a formal report.

5.4. If they do not wish to make a formal report, the complaint will be recorded.

6. The process for responding to a Complaint of sexual misconduct involving a student is as follows:

6.1. The institution will acknowledge the receipt of the Complaint in less than 24 hours.

6.2. Depending on the severity of the misconduct, different protective measures will be taken (e.g., changing class, ensuring there is no contact between the student and the alleged perpetrator).

6.3. The school will do its best to provide necessary and immediate confidential support and counselling by one of the staff members.

6.4. In more serious cases and if the student requires professional support and counselling, referral to a professional will be given.

7. The process for making a Report of sexual misconduct involving a student is as follows. This process explains the steps that need to be taken from the moment the student affected by sexual misconduct makes a complaint to making a formal Report:

7.1. The student who is subject to any form of sexual misconduct (whether listed above or not) discloses the act to a staff member he/she trusts (e.g., teacher, counselor, manager).

7.2. The staff member will immediately direct this complaint to the Director of Studies. If this person is absent or named in the complaint, the complaint will be directed to the School Director.

7.3. The Director of Studies or School Director will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 24 hours.

7.4. If the student chooses to make a Report, either a written or recorded statement will be taken by either the Director of Studies or School Director (unless the person is named in the complaint). Private translation can be provided if necessary.

7.5. The member of staff who prepares the Report will provide a written response within 72 hours with confirmation of follow-up steps.

8. The process for responding to a Report of sexual misconduct involving a student is as follows:

8.1. The institution will acknowledge the receipt of the Report in less than 24 hours.

8.2. Depending on the severity of the sexual misconduct, different protective measures will be taken (e.g., changing class, ensuring there is no contact between the student who is affected by sexual misconduct and the alleged perpetrator).

8.3. The institution will do its best to provide necessary and immediate confidential support and counselling by one of the staff members or professional counsellors outside the school.

8.4. The student who is affected by sexual misconduct will be given assistance in contacting law enforcement and help in reporting the matter to authorities.

8.5. Immediate protective measures will be taken to make sure that the student who is affected by sexual misconduct is not in contact with the alleged perpetrator before, during, and after the process of preparing and submitting the Report.

8.6. Guidance of law authorities will be followed by the institution and the institution will assist the student with professional support and counselling.

9. In all instances the institution will:

• Ensure the safety of the student affected by sexual misconduct.
• As appropriate, provide emergency numbers for on and off campus security (if applicable), law enforcement, medical assistance, mental health services, and other services.
• Respect the right of the individual to choose the services they consider most appropriate.

10. It is contrary to this policy for an institution to retaliate, engage in reprisals or threaten to retaliate in relation to a Complaint or a Report.

11. Any processes undertaken pursuant to this policy will be based on the principles of administrative fairness. All parties involved will be treated with dignity and respect.

12. All information related to a Complaint or Report is confidential and will not be shared without the written consent of the parties, subject to the following exceptions:

• If an individual is at imminent risk of severe or life-threatening self-harm.
• If an individual is at imminent risk of harming others.
• There are reasonable grounds to believe that others in the institutional community may be at significant risk of harm based on the information provided.
• Where reporting is required by law.
• Where it is necessary to ensure procedural fairness in an investigation or other response to a Complaint or Report.  

Contact information:

Director of Studies, info@rpicollege.ca

School Director, Mohammadali Abouali (ma.abouali@rpicollege.ca)

 

This institution is certified by the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB). Certified institutions must comply with regulatory requirements, including the requirement to have a Sexual Misconduct policy. For more information about PTIB, go to www.privatetraininginstitutions.gov.bc.ca.