terms.

Bookings + Payment

• Full payment is required at time of booking WSET Levels 1 + 2.
• Places will only be confirmed once payment is received in full.
• Course payments made from overseas accounts must be received into our bank account in the South African Rand course equivalent with all banking fees for the payee’s account.
• Your first exam attempt is included in your fee. If you cannot attend, another exam will have to be booked at extra cost.

winelab.Africa cancellation

• We reserve the right to cancel a course for any reason.
• If, due to unforeseen circumstances we need to postpone or reschedule a course and if an alternative date or a credit is not acceptable we will refund payment in full.

Student cancellation

• If you wish to cancel, a cancellation of a confirmed place on WSET Levels 1 + 2 are accepted up to ten (10) working days prior to the start of the course, in such cases any monies that have been paid to us in respect of cancelled goods and/or services will be refunded.
• With respect to cancellations, the cost of any study materials which may be applicable will be deducted in each case and the remainder of the course fee paid refunded to the payee.
• If a confirmed course booking for WSET Levels 1 + 2 is cancelled during the ten (10) working days prior to the start of the course, or if any course is cancelled at any time after the start of the course, no refund or transfer of the course fees will be made.
• In certain cases we may offer some or all of the retained funds against courses re-booked within one (1) calendar month, and to take place within six (6) calendar months of the scheduled date for the cancelled booking, subject to availability.
• In the event of ‘no-shows’, no refunds, credits, or transfers will be provided.

Refunds

• When issuing refunds we reserve the right to deduct unrecoverable payment processing fees incurred with the booking.
• Monies paid from overseas will be refunded at the current exchange rate or the exchange rate on the day payment was made, whichever is the lesser.
• We cannot be held liable for any interest that may have been payable on monies in the interim period nor can we be held liable for any loss or compensation resulting from the cancellation of goods and/or services.

As an APP winelab.Africa is required to identify to WSET and assist in managing or monitoring actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest (‘Conflicts of Interest’) involving both APP staff and students.

This policy complements WSET’s conflicts of interest policy and works to safeguard the integrity of WSET qualifications and promote confidence in WSET and winelab.Africa’s processes and procedures.

This policy applies to all winelab.Africa staff and students and to any individual acting on behalf of winelab.Africa.

A Conflict of Interest exists where an individual has interests or loyalties that could adversely influence their judgement, objectivity or loyalty to WSET or winelab.Africa when conducting activities associated with WSET qualifications.

Examples of Conflicts of Interest include:

• The undertaking of a WSET qualification by any individual employed by an APP;
• The invigilation of a WSET assessment by any individual involved in the delivery of training leading to the assessment;
• The coaching of candidates by any individual involved in the assessment of candidate scripts;
• The employment by an APP of individuals engaged in the delivery of taught programmes or in the role of Internal Assessor in another APP;
• The investigation of a non-compliance incident by someone who is unable to act impartially.

Some of these Conflicts of Interest are manageable and therefore acceptable. For example, if family member of one of winelab.Africa’s educators or APP staff takes a qualification and exam through winelab., or when an employee of winelab.Africa, or of the WSET, takes a WSET qualification through winelab.Africa, we can notify WSET in advance and work with them to put in place measures to maintain the integrity of the exam.

Some Conflicts of Interest are not manageable and are not acceptable. For example, no mitigation efforts overcome the conflict created when an individual when a single individual serves as the educator and exam officer of an exam for a family member where an external invigilator is not available.

Any staff member or student of winelab.Africa who becomes aware of a Conflict of Interest must inform Heloise Fourie via e-mail: h@winelab.africa as soon as possible. Heloise Fourie will inform the WSET of the possible conflict of interest and will work with WSET to put any protective or mitigating measures in place to manage the conflict on a case-by-case basis. If WSET and winelab.Africa determine the conflict is not manageable, Heloise Fourie will inform any impacted APP staff or students.

Please note that the failure to declare a conflict of interest may have consequences for the student or winelab.Africa because we are required to report conflicts to WSET.

winelab.Africa is committed to developing its inclusive and diverse culture where everyone feels valued and respected. We consider and uphold the principles of diversity and equality in all areas of our work, seeking to ensure that candidates, our people and other stakeholders are treated fairly and equally at all times.

winelab.Africa assures equality of opportunity for candidates by:
Ensuring that the format and content of any additional course content and communication do not discriminate unlawfully against anyone on the grounds of disability, age, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation (having regard to the legal minimum age for the retail purchase of alcohol and assessment competence standards).

Our diversity, equity and inclusion policy allows students with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access WSET assessments without changing the demands of the assessment in line with our Reasonable Adjustment and Special Consideration policies.

• To have a diversity and equality policy in place which promotes open access to WSET qualifications.
• Collating and monitoring data on candidate age, gender, ethnicity and access arrangements, which are reportable in a non-attributable format.
• Inviting feedback on diversity issues from students and other stakeholders.
• Working with relevant organisations as appropriate to develop measures to identify and prevent inequality of opportunity.
• Reviewing this policy regularly to ensure it continues to meet legislative and organisational requirements and is fit for purpose.

winelab.Africa assures equality of opportunity by considering applications from any organisation or individual who can demonstrate that they meet our approval criteria.

If you have any questions regarding the above DEI policy, contact us through our website or Heloise Fourie via mail h@winelab.africa

Both winelab.Africa and WSET have policies and procedures in place to protect WSET students and safeguard the integrity of WSET qualifications.

winelab.Africa ensures compliance with winelab.Africa’s and WSET’s policies through this Malpractice and Maladministration Policy, which gives a framework for both us and you to identify, report and manage potential malpractice or maladministration.

Non-compliance with winelab.Africa or WSET Policies and Procedures can fall into two distinct, but related, categories:

1. Maladministration, where the non-compliance is generally unintentional, or the result of mistakes, carelessness, inexperience or poor processes; and
2. Malpractice where the non-compliance is intentional or the result of a negligent or reckless action without consideration of the consequences of the action.

Context is important and the line between maladministration or malpractice is not always clear: for example, maladministration incidents may become malpractice (e.g. if you fail to implement corrective measures, repeat the same or similar incident, or attempt to misrepresent or hide information during an investigation); or there may be mitigating factors that turn potential malpractice into maladministration.

Though malpractice and maladministration are distinct concepts, they can shade into one another.

Malpractice and maladministration are always case, context and fact specific. Both APPs and students can commit malpractice and maladministration.

There are many ways that malpractice or maladministration could occur, including new ways we have not seen yet.

But some examples of malpractice or maladministration include:

For APPs:
Failure to adhere to WSET Policies and Procedures;
Failure to follow WSET requirements for course delivery or exam regulations;
Failure to follow WSET’s candidate registration and certification procedures;
Late student registrations;
Fraudulent claim for certificates/fraudulent use of certificates/reproduction or forgery of certificates;
Withholding critical information from WSET quality assurance;
Insecure storage of exam materials;
Revealing or sharing confidential exam materials with candidates ahead of an exam;
Intentional attempts to manipulate exam results so that they do not reflect the candidate’s actual exam performance;
Issue of incorrect exam results/failure to issue results to students in a timely manner;
Failure to timely respond to WSET;
Unauthorised reading/amendment/copying/distribution of exam papers;
Failure to report changes in APP ownership/personnel/location/facilities;
Denying WSET access to information, documentation, workforce, facilities;
Failure to return exam papers within the specified timeframe or to follow delivery and tracking regulations;
Infringements of WSET copyright, trademarks, intellectual property rights and brand identity;
Use of unqualified and/or unregistered educators or internal assessors;
Breach of confidentiality
Misleading advertising/publicity;
Any action likely to lead to an adverse effect.
Failure to disclose a Conflict of Interest;

For students:
Cheating, or facilitating cheating, including the use of unauthorised devices or materials;
Disruptive behaviour in an exam;
Plagiarism of any nature by students;
Impersonation (including forgery of signatures);
Unauthorised reading/amendment/copying/distribution of exam papers;
Any action likely to lead to an adverse effect;
Breach of confidentiality.

In general, we also expect that both winelab.Africa staff and our students should treat others and be treated professionally and respectfully at all times. We will treat inappropriate behaviour including verbal or physical abuse, persistent or unrealistic demands, or threats that cause stress to staff as misconduct and may report student misconduct to WSET as necessary.

Reporting and Investigation of Malpractice or Maladministration

As an APP, we aim to ensure compliance with WSET Policies and winelab.Africa policies and will keep records of potential or actual malpractice or maladministration by you, our students, or our staff.
We are required to notify WSET immediately of any non-compliance issues that could be malpractice or maladministration, so that WSET can investigate the non-compliance under their own Malpractice and Maladministration Policy.
We ask that you also raise any concerns or non-compliance issues that may be malpractice or maladministration with winelab.Africa as soon as possible by following the process outlined in our Complaints policy.
During WSET’s investigation, they may reach out to winelab.Africa or to you directly to request further information or conduct an interview. Please respond to any requests promptly and honestly.

If WSET identifies malpractice or maladministration, they will consider its impact and may apply sanctions. WSET will take all reasonable steps to ensure the sanctions do not disadvantage uninvolved students affected by malpractice or maladministration. However, in some cases, they may need to disallow or withhold results and/or certificates.

WSET will consider all relevant information on a case-by-case basis, balancing the facts with potential or actual effects, and against the seriousness of the sanctions against those effects.

WSET records all malpractice and maladministration incidents for both APPs and students. If WSET determines that a student has committed malpractice or maladministration, they may apply one or any of the following sanctions:

Sanctions Applicable to Students/Candidates

Appeals

If you wish to appeal penalties or sanctions WSET has imposed due to Malpractice or Maladministration, please follow the procedures laid out in WSET’s Complaints Policy.

Both WSET and winelab.Africa want to make WSET assessments accessible for all students, so none are at an advantage or disadvantage based on a disability or differing ability.

This policy and the reasonable adjustment process allows us winelab.Africa to work with you, our student, before an assessment to gather the information we need to submit a request to WSET and work with them to make arrangements that give students access to WSET qualifications.

A reasonable adjustment is any accommodation or arrangement that helps to reduce the effect of a known disability or difficulty that substantially disadvantages a student’s assessment.

Using a reasonable adjustment does not impact how WSET grades your exam, or your result, but WSET cannot agree to reasonable adjustments where your particular difficulty directly affects performance necessary to complete the assessment outcomes (e.g. inability to smell or taste for a Level 3 Exam).

The goal of a reasonable adjustment is to give you equal access to a WSET qualification, not to give unfair advantages over other students who take an assessment without the same adjustment, or to affect the overall reliability of the assessment outcomes that are explained in the course Specification.

Examples of reasonable adjustments may be:

• Changing standard assessment arrangements, for example allowing candidates extra time to complete the assessment activity;
• Adapting assessment materials, such as providing materials in large text format;
• Providing access facilitators during assessment, such as a sign language interpreter or reader;
• Re-organising the assessment room, such as removal of visual stimuli for an autistic candidate.

winelab.Africa will gather the information we need from you to submit a Reasonable Adjustment Application form to WSET. WSET must approve and arrange reasonable adjustments before the assessment activity takes place.

Before completing enrolment with winelab.Africa we will give all students access to this policy and the chance to identify any special needs that could require a reasonable adjustment. If a student identifies a special need, winelab.Africa will give the student the Reasonable Adjustment Application form as soon as possible and work with the student to gather the necessary information.

For any student seeking a reasonable adjustment, please contact Heloise Fourie via e-mail: h@winelab.africa with:

• Your full name;
• contact information;
• description of the special need, disability or differing ability that requires an adjustment; and
• supporting documentation.

You must submit this information at least twenty-one (21) working days before the exam date for Levels 1+2 qualifications.

The information you submit will be shared with WSET and will be handled under WSET’s Privacy and Data Protection Policy.

winelab.Africa will keep records of all reasonable adjustment applications.

Special consideration is any adjustment given to a student who has temporarily experienced an illness or injury, or other event outside of their control at the time of the exam that significantly affects their ability to take the exam or their ability to show their knowledge and understanding in the assessment.

Special consideration is only for things that happen immediately before or during an exam that have a material impact on your, the student’s, ability to take the exam or on your performance.

To be eligible for special consideration, you must have completed the whole course and would have been fully prepared if not for the temporary illness, injury or other uncontrollable event.

A special consideration may be for an individual (e.g. a student becomes ill the day of the exam) or a group of students (e.g. an exam is interrupted by a natural disaster).

You may be eligible for special consideration if:

• Your performance on the exam is adversely affected by an event outside of your control. This may include temporary illness, temporary injury, bereavement or exam room conditions;
• Reasonable adjustments which were agreed in advance of the exam proved inappropriate or inadequate;
• The application of special consideration would not make a passing result and certificate misleading about the student’s ability to satisfy the qualification’s assessment criteria.

Applying for special consideration

If you have taken an exam, or your exam is immediately approaching, and you feel that you have a temporary injury or illness, or other uncontrollable event that has interfered with your ability to complete your exam, please contact Heloise Fourie via e-mail: h@winelab.africa as soon as possible.

winelab.Africa will provide you with a Special Consideration Application Form, which must be completed and returned with supporting documentation within five (5) working days after the effected exam. The information you submit will be shared with WSET and will be handled under WSET’s Privacy and Data Protection Policy.

If there has been serious disruption during an exam affecting a group of students, winelab.Africa will submit a detailed report of the circumstances and candidates affected to WSET to request a special consideration.

winelab.Africa will keep records of all applications for special consideration.