CERTIFICATE & DIPLOMA IN COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT COURSE GUIDE.pdf · Course Guide Certificate &...
Transcript of CERTIFICATE & DIPLOMA IN COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT COURSE GUIDE.pdf · Course Guide Certificate &...
Course No C500X.2
COURSE GUIDE
CERTIFICATE & DIPLOMA IN COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT
The Distance Learning Partnership PO Box 52 East Horsley KT24 6YQ
Tel 01483 28 5626 [email protected] www.distancelearningpartnership.co.uk
HOME STUDY DISTANCE LEARNING TUITION
Studying in your free time – how to make the most of it
Course Guide Certificate & Diploma in Commercial Management
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COURSE NO C500X Course Guide C. Eng. Quantity Surveying Amended 2010 500X.2
WRITTEN FOR THE DISTANCE LEARNING PARTNERSHIP by:
Ian Campbell BA ACIS Dip Distance Ed
Director of Studies
THE DISTANCE LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
is a consortium formed by:
DB Consultancy
Greenfields Educational Agency
and other providers
to provide a range of cost-effective home study courses that you can
follow with or without tutor support.
Copyright The Distance Learning Partnership © 2005, 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
electrostatic, mechanical, photocopied or otherwise, without express
permission in writing from The Distance Learning Partnership.
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CONTENTS
In this Guide:
* Study Note 4
* Checklist 5
* Making a Start 6
* Study Planning 10
* Useful Study Skills 14
* Writing Assignments 16
* Getting Help When You Need it 19
* Completion 21
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STUDY NOTE
Please read this Guide before you start your course of study and keep it
handy as you study. It tells you how to make the most of your distance
learning course.
If you are taking a tutored course, your Tutor’s name and address and contact
details are sent to you ahead of your study material with your Enrolment
Confirmation and Despatch Advice. Keep this document on file so that
you have the information to hand when you are ready to send your work to
your Tutor.
Note that your course has a ‘Use By’ date - see Checklist (over).
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CHECKLIST
Check that you have received all of the following:
Study Guide comprising instructional material and Assignments for
marking.
Text Books – as set out on your Enrolment Confirmation & Despatch
Advice.
Assignment Pack containing:
Weekly Study Chart – for you to fill in your daily study times each
week
Information for your Tutor – a form you can send to your Tutor with your first Assignment (optional)
Assignment Return Forms – complete and send one with each
Assignment. Ask for more if you need them.
Exam Result and Evaluation Form – send this to us to advise us of
your exam result and tell us what you think of the course.
Conditions of Enrolment – note the period of service offered with
your course, normally 12 months, or 24 months for longer courses,
and the cancellation terms. If you have not finished by then you can
renew for a further 12 months at 25% of the course price plus VAT.
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MAKING A START 1
________________________________________________________________
Purpose This Guide serves two purposes:
It suggests how you can organise your studies to ensure that you can
complete your chosen course within a selected time.
It explains the various procedures you need to follow - the paperwork for example when you send work to your Tutor.
Make the most of your investment You have enrolled for a home study course, correspondence or distance
learning programme (the names are taken to mean the same thing) which will
take you through to successful completion of your objective which is to qualify
as a Commercial Manager (Quantity Surveying). Our aim is to help you to
succeed.
Use your Tutor Your home study course contains all the practice material that you need but
you may need to read from further recommended textbooks to support your
learning. You are welcome to use internet research, particularly for your Final
Assignments. The course also provides access to a Tutor who will mark your
assignments and answer any questions you may have arising from your studies.
Your Tutor is an experienced subject expert who understands the course
requirements – he or she will be only too pleased to help you. Tutors are
almost always freelance professionals, writing and marking papers in their free
time, and so you will usually find them available by phone in the evenings.
Work on your study skills If you have not studied at home before, don’t worry. Studying is a skill that you
can acquire, or rather it is a set of skills – reading, note-taking, writing
assignments, even stress management! – some or most of which you probably
already have acquired in one way or another. The particular skill you need
now is to draw them together and make use of them in pursuit of your goal.
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Self-discipline You will need self-discipline in order to study at home – we all have many
other demands on our time and opportunities to spend it differently. Remember - your Tutor has already heard all the ‘excuses’! If you wish to
succeed, you will find your way round the various obstacles that occasionally
hold you up – these include working late, getting married, having babies. Yes,
I’m afraid it’s one thing after another. If you do not acquire the self-discipline
there will always be more of the same to prevent you from completing the
course. We will explain how to master the timetabling without destroying your
social life.
Check out your course
If you refer to the Contents page of one of your Study Guides, you will see
that the course material comprises a series of ‘Sessions’ or units, usually
finishing with a short practice test. The length of each Session may vary
according to the topics for study, but you should assume that each Session will
take you two or three hours to complete if you carry out all the practice
suggested.
You will also note that you have a Tutor-Assessed Assignment to complete at
intervals. You can take as long as you like but you should aim to speed up with
the later assignments once you get into your stride.
Getting going Start as soon as possible You may have spent some time thinking about taking a course. You send off for
information and think about it some more. Some day you get around to
enrolling.
Once you have enrolled, it is time to change gear. Do not put the material on a
shelf and think you might get around to it next week. Or next month, when
you have finished decorating the spare room. Or when you get back from
holiday. That day may be postponed…and postponed again, until one day you
come across your study material in a cupboard, time expired, and you are faced with renewing the course or abandoning your plans.
You are investing in your own learning. To make the most of your investment
in (and even if your employer is paying your course fee, you still have to invest
your own time), start as soon as possible, get into the habit of doing the
work and send in the assignments for marking. There is no better time to start
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than right away, when you have just enrolled and are enthusiastic about your
new project.
You probably want to complete your course as soon as possible. That means
starting as soon as you possibly can.
Draw up a plan for regular study At school or college, you follow a set timetable. Some distance learning
organisations, e.g. the OU, also require you to keep up with a regular
programme of work. These are called ‘paced’ courses, and you have to enrol
by a particular date along with all the other students and submit your
assignments by fixed dates.
Our courses are ‘open’. You can enrol whenever you like. Once enrolled, you
are free to decide your own timetable. Everyone has different needs and
preferences and in our kind of distance learning you study when and where
you wish. The only constraint is usually the exam dates, since these are fixed
by the examining boards. In your case, your exam is by Assignment – the Exam
Assignment for the Corporate Entry Assessment will be sent you towards the
end of the course or when you have completed the in-course assignments. You
can determine for yourself when you will take the exam.
Whether you aim to complete the course by a certain date or prefer to work
in an open-ended way, you will still benefit from drawing up a plan for study.
Instead of giving you a fixed timetable, we invite you to analyse your free time
and draw up your own personal study plan based on the time that you can afford
to spend on the course each week. Some suggestions on how to do this are
given here, while you might also like to refer to one of the well-known
paperback books, such as Learn How to Study, which we can supply. Making
your own study plan is the start of a learning contract that you make with
yourself when you embark on the course.
Evidence shows that people who use home study successfully have usually worked to a regular weekly plan of work – hardly surprising, really!
Work at your own pace We suggest below some average times for guidance only. We provide a
contract of service lasting for one year if required for single modules, or two
years if you enrol for several modules. This is to allow for possible
interruptions but you will be able to complete the course in far less time if you
work steadily. Within that time, you are free to work exactly as you please, in
accordance with your own timetable. If you haven’t finished by the end of the
contract period, you can apply for an extension but you should also look
seriously at your own commitment.
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You are now ready to start (1) Read this Guide first and, if you wish, a suitable handbook such as Learn
How to Study.
(2) Make sure that you have received the Lesson material and textbooks. If
you have extra reading to do start thinking about where you will get the
books from – a bookshop (or internet supplier), library or perhaps from a
colleague.
(3) Make sure you have somewhere quiet to study, plus paper and writing
materials, and that your PC is working ok.
(4) Spend a little time on study planning – this should cover how many hours a
week you will study, when you will study, the dates when you think you
will be ready to send your work to your Tutor.
(5) Start working through the course material with paper and pencil to hand
so that you can answer any questions, make notes, etc.
(6) If you meet with any difficulty that you cannot resolve for yourself, ring or
write to your Tutor. If it’s an administrative problem, contact the
Director of Studies at our West Horsley enrolment office.
In the next chapter, we will cover study planning in more detail. You may need
to revise your plans once you have made some progress in the course.
Suggested Reading
Chapters 1 – 3 of Learn How to Study
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STUDY PLANNING 2
Here we explain how you can organise yourself if you are new to studying
at home. If you are used to studying in your free time you will already have
devised your own pattern for studying and you can just skim through this
chapter quickly in case you can pick up some new ideas.
A lot of research into how students succeed shows that it’s regular study,
linked to a reasonably firm weekly timetable, that leads to success. So the first
thing is to work out a programme that you can follow.
Get an idea of how much work there is Before you start reading the course material, look through the Study Guide.
Foundation Course modules are fairly short. Corporate Entry Assessment
modules comprise more than one subject and are much longer. You will be
aiming to complete say two Sessions a week. It is up to you.
We usually find that about three to five hours a week is about the minimum
and 15 hours a week is probably about the maximum for the average person
studying in his or her free time.
Little (but not too little) and often is the key to learning successfully at home.
You should study often enough to keep in touch with your subject, and each
time you sit down to the work you should know that you are going to study
for a set period and will then be free to get on with other things.
Use the weekly study chart How many hours a week are you going to study? You should now have a rough
idea already forming in your mind. When are you going to study – what days
and at what time? You will find in your Assignment Pack a weekly chart on
which you can write down the times during the week that you intend to study
the course. You could use a diary or calendar if you prefer. Fill it in with a
pencil at first, and modify it later if you need to.
To start with, think about the times each week when you could fit in some
studying. Look at your existing commitments. What evenings do you have a
couple of hours spare? Is there any time during the day, e.g. a lunch break,
when you could study? Review carefully any ‘unproductive’ or ‘waiting’ time –
most of us have some time each day when we aren’t doing anything particularly
- long distance commuting, for example, can often be used for reading your
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textbooks and course notes. But even a short spell of 15 or 20 minutes can be
worthwhile if it’s part of a regular programme.
Unfortunately, you must be prepared to sacrifice some of your free time and
this may mean giving up something else that you enjoy – for the time being.
Think over the things that you are going to give up or postpone until you have
completed the course. It’s not for ever! Don’t try to be too ambitious – if
you displace too much of your social life you will only make studying a painful
business. People who can study part-time for 20 hours a week are unusually
dedicated – they probably love the subject for its own sake or have a goal that
is so important to them that they are prepared to make big sacrifices. Such
people are exceptional. For most of us, we are more likely to succeed if we
ensure that we can absorb our study periods into our normal life. Don’t forget
your partner if you have one. When you have an idea of how much time you
are going to need to spend on your studies, get his or her agreement as well.
There will be times when you don’t want to be interrupted, or when you can’t go out and do something else.
You will soon find that there are particular times that suit your personal
circumstances. Are you a night owl or a morning person? Some of us are not
up to tackling anything too intellectual late at night. One of our Accountancy
Tutors however used to get up at 5 am while he was preparing for his
professional qualifications as he found everything was quiet and he could get
two or three hours in before going to the office. A headmaster who combined
reading externally for a University of London Degree with a passion for
Scottish country dancing used to settle down to work when he came home
from dancing at 10.30 p.m. and was then hard at it till 1 or 2 a.m. For others, a
less strenuous but regular pattern of studying, say on Tuesday and Thursday
nights for a couple of hours and then again on Saturday and Sunday mornings,
may be more comfortable. The point is that it is up to you – you are in charge!
Study Sessions We have suggested that the minimum time you should allocate for each
Session is about two to three hours. You may need to add on half an hour for
its practice questions. We estimate about 50 hours for Foundation modules.
This includes working through each Session, reading and understanding the
material, answering any practice questions and making any notes. The time
required will also of course depend on your own aptitude and any previous
experience. Estimated study time can only be an approximate figure. Use the
estimated time as a guide when you plan your studies. If you aim to spend 3–4 hours a week, you will probably manage to complete a Session a week. This is
the simplest study plan.
How long will the course take? There are two ways of looking at this. If you are not committed to any
particular deadline for finishing the course, you can simply aim to do one
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Session a week, or occasionally two Sessions if you find that some topics are
easier than others. Add on time for the assignments and an extra week at the
end for revision. You will then be spreading a Foundation module over say 10
-12 weeks. This would be a fairly relaxed programme that will fit in with your
other interests.
Alternatively, if you wish to complete as soon as you can and have worked out
that you can study, say, five or six hours a week you could expect to complete
a Certificate module in about 5-6 weeks. You may have to modify this if you
find that you need more time for certain topics and so you will be making a
provisional timetable at this stage.
The Diploma course modules are much longer, each comprising two or three
subjects, but the same principle applies. You will be tackling 25 or more
Sessions and you may want to build in a break or revision point at the end of
each subject. You will need to allow 100-150 hours.
Start to work out your programme, writing down the date at which you intend
to finish the course, and inserting the dates at which you expect to send your
Assignments to your Tutor. If you find, when you’ve worked out and adjusted
your programme, that it doesn’t allow you to complete the course by your
target exam date then you have to decide whether you will increase your study
time each week or aim for a later exam date. Remember to let us know if you
change your exam date.
Below is a sample 14-week plan for a single Certificate subject, assuming that
you can manage about five hours’ study a week.
________________________________________________________________
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Outline 14-week study plan for Principles of Estimating: (approx. 3-5 hours a week)
Week Study Assignments
Week 1 Induction Study planning
Week 2 Session 1
Week 3 Session 2 TAA1
Week 4 Session 3
Week 5 Session 4 TAA2
Week 6 Session 5
Week 7 Session 6 TAA3
Week 8 Session 7
Week 9 Session 8
Week 10 Session 9 TAA4
Week 11 Session 10
Week 12 Session 11
Week 13 Session 12 TAA5
Week 14 Revision Finalise notes
________________________________________________________________
For Diploma courses allow another 2 weeks for single modules for the Final
Assignment or 4 weeks if you opt for a Final Assignment covering three
modules.
Your Diploma course timetable will follow a similar pattern to that above but you will be aiming to spread the three modules over about 18 months. We
suggest you allow 100-150 hours for each Diploma module, including time for
your Assignments.
Prepare your own version, modifying your plan as you are able to judge your
progress in the light of experience.
Suggested Reading: Chapter 4 of Learn How to Study
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USEFUL STUDY SKILLS 3
Reading efficiently Our course materials are designed to facilitate open learning. The content
is subdivided so that you can tackle topics in small steps, with interactive
features to assist your learning.
Like all course manuals or texts we select, the Sessions are intended to be
accessible to the average person with a reasonable level of education. While
Certificate modules are introductory, however, the Diploma is in effect a
postgraduate qualification and so you should expect the work to be demanding.
Reading efficiently It is essential that you learn to read efficiently. All course manuals or texts
we select are intended to be fairly accessible to the average reasonably well-
educated reader, but they are not of course light reading. You will also need to
refer from time to time to more specialist academic works, which are less easy
to read and understand. The advice given on reading techniques in Ch 5 of
Learn How to Study is very useful – note particularly the SQ3R technique, of
which a summary appears below.
‘SQ3R’ is nothing to do with the Roman Empire (SPQR). It stands for:
Survey
Question
Read
Recall
Review
This strategy enables you to decide whether you want to read a book and, if
you do, how much of it you need to read. You do not necessarily have to read
the whole book, as you would a novel. What you should avoid doing is starting
with the first book on a recommended reading list, opening it on Page 1,
reading all through it, and then going on to the next one. The SQ3R strategy
will help you to find your way round the material you have to study, identifying
and concentrating on the information that you need to learn.
Survey If you pick up a book you will see that it is constructed in a particular way – it
has a title, a print date, a contents page, probably an index. Look quickly at all
these constructs. If you see a chapter that seems particularly relevant, turn to
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it and glance through it. Decide if this book contains anything that may be
relevant to you.
Question If it seems that the book might be useful, start questioning the various
constructs – how recently was it printed, is there any blurb to suggest that the
author knows his stuff, how much of it is going to be relevant to the purpose
of your study? Check that your text is reasonably up to date for your exam – if
you postpone your exam date too far ahead you may need a new edition to
cover changes in the syllabus or in events and legislation.
Read Now you read those parts of the book that you have selected as relevant to
your work, assuming that you have decided to read it. This is a read through of
those parts, to get the ‘big picture’, and you do not need to go back over the
detail or make notes at this stage.
Recall The more you use your mind, the quicker and more effective it becomes.
Whenever you take a break from reading, close the book with your finger in it,
and try to recall the gist of what you have just read. Think over the points;
turn back to certain pages if you need to. When you have finished, jot down the
main points that you have learned from your reading. This is important not
only to help you learn and remember but also to put what you have learnt into
your own words.
Review At the end of your study session, quickly re-do the Survey, review your notes,
check and re-write to correct where necessary. This consolidates your reading
and learning.
Making notes (See Ch 8 of Learn How to Study.) It is not absolutely essential to make notes
as you go along – some people prefer to mark or highlight their texts. We
recommend that you should make notes as we view this as part of the learning
process. It also an opportunity to add to your reading by including references
to related practical experience and possibly topics researched in the library or
via the internet.
If you do make notes, it’s better not to copy information direct from the text.
Shut your textbook or study guide, write down what you can remember, and
then correct your notes by referring back to the text.
The next step is to correct and reduce your notes to a concise and
manageable form. Finally, when you reach the end of the course, make ‘notes
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of notes’, i.e. condense your notes again right down to the bare essentials so
that a key word or phrase triggers off the required information in your mind.
These can be in the form of an ‘ideas map’, or ‘brain pattern’ linking each topic
as pioneered by the educationist Tony Buzan or simply by having a small index
card for each main topic- these are handily portable and you can look at them
whenever you like.
Memorising Some things you just have to learn but you are not required to memorise formulae and equations. You will learn the methods of measurement as you
proceed and you should check with your Tutor if there is anything you do not
understand.
If you do wish to commit some things to memory, there are many ways of
utilising mnemonics to help you remember those things. There is a good
treatment of these in How to Study. If you don’t have Learn How to Study, there
are many practical books available. Contact our West Horsley office or your
Tutor for advice.
Suggested Reading: Chapters 5, 6 and 8 of Learn How to Study
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WRITING ASSIGNMENTS 4 We advise you of your Tutor’s name and address on enrolment – you’ll
find these details on the Enrolment Confirmation and Despatch Advice
sent to you with your Welcome letter before you receive your course
material. File the Advice with your material when it comes so that you have
your Tutor’s contact details available for reference. If you lose it, we can of
course always let you know your Tutor’s details.
When you write your first Assignment, we suggest that you enclose some brief
information about your background so that your Tutor can take this into
account when marking your work. You will find a form enclosed for this in
your Assignment Pack.
The assignments are important! The Assignments are a key part of your learning programme. While the
information you have to learn is contained in the course text and reference
works, the Tutor to whom you send your Assignments will act as a facilitator,
helping to assure you that you can apply what you have learned. Your Tutor
is an expert in the subject and will usually be experienced in tutoring students
by distance learning. Remember – your Tutor is there to help you. Tutors
like receiving Assignments to mark!
It’s very clear to us from the exam results reported to us by our students that
those who have sent in most or all of the assignments can usually expect to
pass their exams. If you are not taking an exam, completing the assignments is
the only way to check that you have mastered your subject. Writing the
assignments enables you to benefit from your Tutor’s advice and guidance.
Don’t just assume that you ‘know it’ when you have read the unit.
Writing the assignments means that:
You get practice in answering questions and this improves your knowledge
and understanding
You have to think hard about what you have learned and you realise very
quickly if you haven’t really mastered the work and you can go back and
revise
You receive back your Tutor’s comments and marks giving you an impartial indication of the progress you are making.
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It is best to write your Assignment under simulated ‘exam conditions’, i.e.
without referring back to the study material, and within the suggested time. If
you do need to refer back to the text, make a note of the point of reference in
case your Tutor can help you.
Sending your assignments for marking You send your work direct to your Tutor for marking. Our Tutors
undertake to mark papers within a week of receipt. It is advisable to make a
copy of your work – it is rare for assignments to be lost in the post but if you
are unlucky then at least you do not have to repeat the work. If your work
doesn’t come back within a reasonable time – allowing for the post both ways
– by all means contact your Tutor to check that he or she has received it. If
there is any difficulty, e.g. because the Tutor is away on holiday, please contact our W Horsley office.
Something to avoid, please, is sending all or most of your assignments in at one
time, especially at the end of the course! You will avoid this by good planning
as suggested in this Guide. It is best to wait for one paper to be marked before
you attempt the next, so that you can benefit from your Tutor’s comments.
And if you send all the papers at the same time your Tutor will be hard-
pressed to get them back to you promptly – Tutors need to be able to plan
their time too.
Any paper is acceptable but use A4 paper for your work if you can. Fill in and
attach an Assignment Return form. Then send it to your Tutor, enclosing
a stamped, addressed envelope of a suitable size for its prompt return to you.
Your Tutor will advise us of the grade awarded to you and we will keep a
record of both the dates and the marks so that we can confirm your
completion of the course if required. If you are not clear about why the
marks have been awarded, or if you need more explanation, please do feel free
to ask you Tutor or you can return the paper to the Director with a request
for further guidance. Your grades will NOT be divulged to a third party
without your written consent.
The following is a quick summary of how to send your work to us:
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Overseas students: Follow the procedure above but (Point 4) you need not
pre-stamp your envelope. The airmail charge on your course makes an
allowance for the return of your work by airmail.
E-mail: You are welcome to e-mail word-processed assignments but please
check with your Tutor before you do so to check compatibility. Please do not
send scanned assignments or pdfs as your Tutor may need to annotate your
work. If you are using e-mail in agreement with your Tutor, follow points 1 &
2 in the procedure above.
When you send your work in for marking, please observe the following routine
to ensure your work is marked promptly:
1. Write your name, client reference, subject and assignment code at the top of
your Assignment.
2. Leave a good margin on either side of your writing to allow space for any
comments by your Tutor
3. Fill in and attach an Assignment Return Form
4. Enclose a stamped addressed envelope for quick return
5. Use a suitable size envelope and address your work to your Tutor
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GETTING HELP 5
WHEN YOU NEED IT
Contacting your Tutor If you are attending class, you can put up your hand if you don’t understand
anything – similarly, if you need help with your home study course you can
contact your Tutor by letter, phone or e-mail. Many of our Tutors have gained
some of their own qualifications by home study and they appreciate that
students learning at home may sometimes need explanations of what they are
reading.
Please telephone only at the contact times when your Tutor has said he or she
can normally be available to take your calls. Be prepared to leave a message if
your Tutor has an answering machine. If your Tutor has provided an e-mail address, please do feel free to use it. This is often the easiest and quickest
way to get the answer to your query or the advice that you need but allow
time for your Tutor reply as he or she does not work 24/7.
When you contact your Tutor, please quote your reference to identify you as
a client of The Distance Learning Partnership. You’ll find the number on the
letter you received on enrolment and on your Despatch Advice.
If your Tutor is not able to deal with your enquiry on the spot, he or she will
undertake to call you back as soon as possible.
Note that as part of your course Tutors cannot provide you with suggested
answers to past assignment or papers or answers to personal or professional
queries.
Other queries Please contact the Director of Studies at our West Horsley enrolment office if
you have any questions about the running of the course or if you wish to
advise a change of plan, change of address, etc. You can phone the West
Horsley office at any time. If the office is temporarily unattended, or if it’s out
of hours, you can leave a message on the answering machine and we will call
you back as soon as possible. The contact details are:
Tel: 01483 28 56 26
e-mail: [email protected]
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Making a complaint
What happens if you are unhappy about some aspect of your course? First,
please notify us promptly – don’t sit on the problem, getting crosser.
If you are not happy with the way in which your Assignment has been marked,
please do feel free to return it to your Tutor asking for various points to be
clarified. If your Tutor has given you a low mark, this is simply because he or
she feels that your work has not reached that standard required for a good
pass in your exam. It is not a criticism of you.
For other complaints, please first of all contact the Director of Studies to
explain what is wrong. We will do everything we can to rectify any mistakes. If
you are not able to come to an agreeable solution with the Director of Studies,
we will refer your complaint to the full Board of the company. This includes
directors who are experts in their subjects but who not closely involved with
the day to day operation of the company and they will take an objective view
of the matter.
In the event of a complete failure to agree, which is probably most unlikely, we
are willing to submit to and abide by an arbitration by the Institution of Civil
Engineers or by the Association of British Correspondence Colleges to which
we belong and to whose Code of Ethics we subscribe. The address is as
follows.
ABCC
PO Box 17926
LONDON
SW19 3WB
Tel 020 8544 9559 [email protected]
.
Finishing your course Your aim must be to finish your course and move on to your next objective,
which may be the next stage of the course or to your Membership Review.
We have given you some suggestions here to help you achieve that. If you
feel that you are not making progress, please contact your Tutor for guidance.
Please do contact us when you have finished the course. You will find a
Course Evaluation form in your Assignment Pack. Any comments you
make will be considered carefully. This form also provides a way of advising us
that you are ready for any courses required.
Course Guide Certificate & Diploma in Commercial Management
22
COMPLETION 6
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Certificate Modules There is no exam for the Certificate Modules. When you have completed
the number of modules that you are required to take and your Assignments
have all been marked to your Tutor’s satisfaction you can apply for a
Certificate of Completion from us. The pass mark for each Assignment is 50%.
You are welcome to repeat any Assignment for which you are awarded a
lower mark. You can also apply for single module Certificates if you wish.
Diploma Modules The Diploma is assessed by coursework, that is the assignments you send to
your Tutor for marking, plus the Final (Exam) Assignment that is sent you at
the end of the course for completion and return within one month. The pass
mark for each in-course Assignment is 50% and the pass mark for the Final
Assignment is 60%. You are welcome to repeat any in-course Assignments. If
you need to repeat the Final Assignment we charge an extra assessment fee.
The in-course and Final Assignments are marked by your Tutor but the Final
Assignment may be moderated by the Chartered ICES.
We will notify the Chartered ICES when you have completed your Final
Assignments. If you have the necessary experience, you can then apply to the
Chartered ICES for the Membership Review as explained in the Guide to
Membership.
Membership of a professional body is valuable not only for the letters after
your name but also to ensure your clients that you are keeping yourself up to
date with any changes in your professional knowledge.
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