Do any institutions have a policy statement on enrolment?  We are
thinking about a policy and this has already raised a number of
issues regarding what actually constitutes the contract of
enrolment.

Is it the initial acceptance of the place (not all applicants outside
UCAS respond and I tend to think that this is not enough)?

Is it the signature on the first enrolment form (this contains terms
and conditions which the student signs to signify acceptance)?

Do we really need a signed re-enrolment form every year or for
each stage of the course (surely one initial signature for a particular
course of study should cover us for the duration of study,
regardless of whether a student's mode of attendance changes
within that period)?

Where does the payment of tuition fees fit into the contract (e.g.
the student who never returns a re-enrolment form but pays all fees
to the Finance Department, sometimes in advance)?

What about the student who 'overlooks' re-enrolment (in spite of
validation procedures carried out in conjunction with the teaching
staff!) but appears on assessment marksheets at the end of the
year?  Surely the fact that s/he has enjoyed a year's worth of
tuition must mean that some kind of a contract has taken place?
(We do enrol and bill them as soon as we find out about them!!)

In these days of telephone purchases and credit card payment over
the internet etc etc, my own thinking tends to sway towards
obtaining one signature at the commencement of the course and
developing (and simplifying) further systems procedures to validate
the re-enrolment of students.  But would this constitute an
adequate audit trail?

If anyone has any thoughts on any of the above or a policy that
they wouldn't mind sharing, I'd be very pleased to hear from them.

Mary Hunt


Mary Hunt
Acting Head, Division of Student Information
Department of Student Administration
University of East London
(Email:[log in to unmask])
(Direct line: 0208 223 6257)