News story

Cylix launches new Protecting Students’ Consumer Rights e-learning course for universities

Learning NewsCylix e-learning

Developed with De Montfort University, Cylix's new e-learning course provides university staff with a practical guide to complying with consumer protection law and meeting the standards defined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Ranya, the central case study character used to illustrate key principles and learning points during the course.
Ranya, the central case study character used to illustrate key principles and learning points during the course. 

While protecting consumer rights is hardly a new idea, it’s not something that has historically been seen as relevant to higher education. But that’s now changed: the shift to students paying tuition fees has seen the introduction of new consumer protection legislation, along with increased scrutiny of the HE sector from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

In order to enable universities to deliver essential consumer protection training flexibly and cost-effectively, Cylix has partnered with De Montfort University to develop an innovative new e-learning course: Protecting Students’ Consumer Rights. This explores what consumer protection means in a HE context, why it’s so important, and key dos and don’ts for staying on the right side of the law.

Incorporating extensive HE-based case studies to explore how the law applies in practice, the course has a total run-time of 50 minutes and comprises the following four main sections:

Students as Consumers
Introduces:

  • What we mean by consumer rights.
  • The reasons why consumers need protection – both in general, and in higher education.
  • The safeguards that have been put in place to protect consumers.

What the law says
Explores the main consumer protection provisions and rights relevant to HE, as defined in:

  • The Consumer Rights Act, 2015
  • The Consumer Contracts (information, cancellation and additional charges) Regulations, 2013
  • The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, 2008

How this applies to you
Looks at how staff can comply with consumer protection law in the three core areas of:

  • Providing information.
  • Defining terms and conditions.
  • Handling complaints.

Test your knowledge
Comprehensive mastery test to check retention and understanding of key points. On successfully passing the test, users can download a personal course completion certificate.

The course is developed in Cylix’s groundbreaking new HTML 5 framework, so will run on a broad range of computer systems and devices, including iPads and Android tablets. The course can be deployed through any SCORM-compliant learning management system – such as Moodle or Blackboard – enabling administrators to track and report on usage for audit purposes. Cylix can also provide a hosting service when a suitable learning management system isn’t available.

Cylix is now offering free evaluation access to the Protecting Students’ Consumer Rights course. Any university wishing to review the course should contact Cylix:

t: 0800 634 1770
e: [email protected]
w: http://www.cylix.co.uk/

About Cylix
Founded in 2002, Cylix (www.cylix.co.uk) is one of the UK’s leading e-learning providers and specialises in developing highly interactive and engaging e-learning courses on equality & diversity and compliance-related subjects. Its courses are being deployed by hundreds of organisations across all industry sectors, and it offers a comprehensive range of courses specifically adapted for universities.