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Disclaimer: degree availability and course information

We make every effort to ensure that our website is as accurate as possible regarding degree availability and information.

The most up-to-date summary of course information can be found in the relevant programme specification, accessible via the corresponding course page. St Mary’s does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising which may be suffered as a result unforeseen circumstances relating to the degree availability nor does it guarantee any particular outcome in respect of the availability of elective modules chosen to study. Any information that you supply to us will be treated as confidential and will not, unless required by law, be passed on or made available to any third party without your express consent.

 Unforeseen circumstances include (the list is not exhaustive):

  • industrial action taken by the University staff or third parties
  • the unexpected departure of specialist staff members
  • acts of terrorism
  • damage or interruption to building facilities or equipment
  • severe weather conditions
  • the acts of any local government or authority
  • when the numbers recruited for a course are so low that it is not operationally possible to deliver an appropriate quality of education for students enrolled on it.

In these circumstances, the University will provide as much notice as possible and will take all reasonable steps to minimise the loss and disruption for example by providing an alternative course, or offering the affected students the opportunity to move to another institution.

St Mary’s will use all reasonable efforts to provide the course in accordance with the description in the prospectus and on the website for the relevant academic year. However, changes to course content, delivery and assessment procedures may be necessary to comply with the requirements of external accrediting or reviewing body. This will enable St Mary’s to deliver a better quality of educational experience to students enrolled on the course.

Optional modules may change in order to keep up with the demand and developing issues in the relevant discipline or to reflect the research interests of teaching staff in current affairs.

St Mary’s will try to keep the changes to a minimum necessary to achieve the required value of experience and will communicate with those students who are affected in advance about any changes that are required. If St Mary’s changes your course or it is unavailable and you are not satisfied with the changes, you will be given the opportunity to withdraw from the programme and, if required, given reasonable support to transfer to another provider.

Important matters to consider before making an application

Programme and module changes

In some situations, it might be necessary for changes to be made to your programme of study, after you join us. Students are part of any consultation around module or programme changes, and when operational changes are made to published information, any student or applicant of the affected programme(s) will be notified.

Programme and module changes could be triggered by a number of reasons; such as developments in the subject area, responsive changes in light of student feedback, changes to the academic staff, external requirements from regulators or accrediting bodies or updates in teaching and assessment methods.

It is suggested that all students and applicants check their relevant programme specification regularly for updated programme information.

Module availability

It is possible that a module listed on the website will not be able to run due to reasons beyond our control, such as availability of specialist academics or low interest from the student cohort. It is also possible the module availability will be limited by maximum class sizes.

Rest assured that you will be contacted in advance if your module choices are affected by any of these issues, and you will be offered an alternative relevant module.

Programme closure

It is possible that the decision is taken to close a programme part way through the application cycle. This could be for one of many reasons, such as staff changes, low recruitment or regulatory changes. In the event of a programme closing, applicants will be contacted and assistance will be provided to find a suitable alternative programme. When possible, applicants will be offered a place of study on another relevant programme at the University.

in these circumstances, St Mary’s with provide notice as soon as possible and will take all reasonable steps to minimise any disruption to you for example either moving you to another course or institution.

Validation and revalidation

We have robust internal approval procedures to ensure that our programmes of study offer a high-quality student academic experience.

There are two approval procedures:

  • Validation: for programmes that are new to the University
  • Revalidation: for existing programmes that are reviewed every five years

Any programme that is awaiting the outcome of these approval processes will be marked as either 'subject to validation' or 'subject to revalidation' on the website.

The majority of programmes with either ‘subject to validation’ or ‘subject to revalidation’ status are approved; however, approval is not guaranteed and should the programme not go ahead you will be informed by the University and assistance will be provided to those who have been offered a place to find a suitable alternative course.

Terms and conditions

All offers of study are subject to our terms and conditions of acceptance.