So that we create a wide-ranging and balanced learning environment, we welcome applications from all kinds of candidates throughout the world. We do not have to accept an application. However, we will acknowledge your application and tell you if we do not think the course is suitable for you.
Please make sure you have chosen a course that will meet your needs. While we try to give you all the information you need to choose a course, we do not take responsibility if you apply for the wrong course.
We need to receive your application and confirmation of sponsorship, six weeks before the course is due to start (at the latest).
Once we have received confirmation of your sponsorship, we will confirm your place on the course by e-mail and send an invoice to your sponsor, along with your official acceptance letter and visa support letter.
Once you are enrolled on a course, we need full payment of the course fees at least four weeks before the course is due to start. If we do not receive your payment four weeks before the course, we may need to cancel your application.
You can pay fees securely by an international transfer to our account. Our account details are on the invoice. We need to receive the course fees in full, so please make sure your sponsor pays any bank charges.
We offer a 15% discount if you have been on one of our courses before, or if your organisation has sponsored people on our courses. Please enter promotion code ALUMNI on your application form or let us know by e-mail which course you were previously on.
If you decide to transfer to another of our scheduled courses, we will be happy to move your application if you tell us at least six weeks before the course is due to start.
You will need to pay any difference in price between your new course and the original course you applied for.
If you want to transfer within six weeks of the start of a course, charges will apply (see point 5).
If you cancel (or transfer) within six weeks of the start of the course or fail to go on it, we will charge you the following amounts:
If you cancel, we will keep 60% of your payment.
If you transfer to another course, we will keep 45% of your payment.
If you cancel, we will keep 100% of your payment.
If you transfer to another course, we will keep 80% of your payment.
If you are forced to cancel because of problems getting a visa, unfortunately you will still have to pay the fees above.
We aim to run all of our advertised courses. However, occasionally we do need to cancel courses. If we need to do this, we will tell you four weeks before the start of a course. Because of this, we recommend that you book flights and accommodation within four weeks of the start of the course, and not before.
In very rare circumstances (such as conflict or natural disasters), if we think it is not appropriate for a course to take place, we may need to cancel or reschedule a course suddenly.
If we need to cancel your course for any reason, we will refund your fees in full or transfer your application to another course without charging you any extra.
It is your responsibility to get any visa you need for the country the course is taking place in. For UK courses you must apply for a student visitor visa. You should apply early so you get the visa in plenty of time.
You need to arrange health and travel insurance before coming on an IMA scheduled course. We cannot help with insurance. You will need to pay any medical bills you may have during the course.
We carry out all our scheduled courses in English. You need to have good spoken English skills so that you can share learning with others on the course and so that our trainers can work effectively. Much of the content of our courses is technical and our approach is participatory (where we actively involve you as much as possible). This means you need to be able to communicate well in English.
Your English needs to be of an intermediate standard or higher (or an IELTS score of 6 or above, a paper TOEFL score of 550, or a computer TOEFL score of 210). We can cancel your application if your English skills are not good enough.
At the start of the course, we will give you your course folder, which contains all the course materials. After the course, we will give you a CD which contains the PowerPoint presentations used by the trainers and your course photo. While we encourage people to share knowledge and experience, if either you or an organisation uses these materials as a basis for training, please could you make it clear where they came from.
We can change the aims, timetable or format of our courses for your benefit without giving any notice.
We organise social events during each scheduled course. You can choose to join the group for informal events, which are all free.
At the end of the course, we will present you with your IMA certificate. We do this as long as:
We are committed to protecting your information. We treat all the information we collect on our website strictly in line with the law. We will not share your personal information with other organisations.
If you have applied for a course, we will share your details with the other people on the course. This information includes the name, organisation, e-mail and responsibilities you gave on your application form. These details will be in your course folder when you arrive at the training venue. If you do not want us to share this information, please let us know.
During our training courses, we often photograph classroom activities, such as group work. We sometimes use the photographs for publicity and they could appear on our website, our brochure, our Flickr page or in our advertisements. If you’d prefer not to appear in our publicity material, please tell your trainer or contact an administrator.
This webpage has been approved for clarity by the Campaign for Plain English.
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