Course costs

Does the cost for the course include everything I need? Or are there any extra fees?

There are no other costs or fees.

How could I get my money back if I don't like the course?

Just return the course in good condition within 60 days of receiving it, and we'll send you a full refund.

Course duration

How long does it usually take to complete the course?

Many students complete the course in five months. But you can do it as quickly or slowly as you want. That's one advantage of distance learning.

Do I need to finish the course within a certain time?

You can take as long as you want. Unlike other organisations, we don't set any time limits.

What does the course cost?

You can find the cost of the course by clicking here.

How can I contact my tutor or the Blackford Centre?

There have two types of people you can contact - your tutor and a course advisor.
The tutor marks your work, and helps you with any problems. You can fax, e-mail or post assignments to your tutor, whenever you want.

We don't give out the tutor's phone number, because a few people would spend all day talking to their tutors, who would never get any work done.

But sometimes students get stuck, or have an urgent query. If so, you can phone a course advisor at the Blackford Centre at any time during work hours. If you leave a message out of work hours we'll ring you back the next day.

"I'm thinking of doing an ANA (Animal Nursing Assistant) NVQ course."

That's good. But like all NVQ courses, you have to be already employed in an establishment. With our course, you can get our qualification, demonstrate your knowledge and commitment to an employer, get a job, and then get on an ANA course.

Is the course accredited or endorsed?

Yes. Our course has been endorsed under the Quality Licence Scheme.

This means we have undergone an external quality check to ensure that our organisation and the courses we offer meet certain quality criteria.

Endorsement involves a robust and rigorous quality audit by external inspectors to ensure quality is consistently met. A regular review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

To this end, the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at QLS Level 3 Award against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of difficulty involved in successful completion by the learner.

When you successfully complete this course you will receive a Certificate of Achievement and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the details of all the units you have completed as part of your course).

When can I do the course?

Can I start the course at any time?

Yes.

Where can I study the course?

Is the course all from home, or do I have to go to a test centre?

It's all from home.

How are we different to other providers?

When you start comparing us with other course providers you might notice that:

• Some organisations limit the amount of time you have to complete the course. Many course providers only allow you 12 months to complete the course. And after those 12 months are up they may require you to pay a fee to continue. With our course you can take as long as you need, without paying additional fees.

• Some organisations will only give you 7 days to return your course if it’s not right for you. If our course is not what you expected and you want a full refund we allow you 60 days to return it and claim your money back.

• Some organisations will charge you an administration fee to return the course. We refund all of your fees.

How can I be sure that you're legitimate, and that you won't disappear with my money?

Here are some answers we hope will reassure you.

• We've been in operation since 1995; so we're very established.

• We publish our physical address at the bottom of each page - and you are welcome to visit us.

• We're audited by the Quality Licence Scheme once a year (you can phone them to verify they do that).
  

• You can read the Reviews of our students on the web site.
  

• You can ask us for the contact details of former students who will talk to you about their experiences.
  

• We publish an Ethical Statement here: www.inst.org/ethics.htm
  

• We're registered at Companies House: registration number 352 4886
  

• Our VAT number is 729 1528 23
  

• Our bank is NatWest, 7 High Street, Wells, Somerset (we have money in the bank and no loans or overdraft).
  

• We're registered with the UK government's Register of Learning Providers (www.ukrlp.co.uk); Number 10009490.
  

And finally, we love what we do; and we wouldn't do anything to jeopardise it.