Hitek Computer School Policies and Procedures

ADMISSIONS POLICY FOR HITEK COMPUTER SCHOOL

Entrance Qualifications:

The school admits as regular students:

  • Applicants must have minimum knowledge of Windows Operating System, MS Word, MS Excel, and the Internet.
  • Applicant must successfully pass an admission test (Quiz #1 or Quiz #5 in CF101 Software Testing Course – FREE TRIAL (Sample Lessons)) with at least 60% score.
  • Applicants must pay $250.00 (for CF109 program), $200.00 (for CF102, CF103, CF104 courses), and $150.00 (for CF106, CF107 courses) non-refundable enrolment and registration fee upon acceptance into the course of study.
  • Applicants must read and certify that they have read a copy of the school’s policies and procedures, any updates and inserts, and the enrolment and registration agreement.

DISMISSAL POLICY FOR HITEK COMPUTER SCHOOL

The following are grounds for dismissal:

  1. Absenteeism for longer than two (2) consecutive days of classroom sessions without informing the school and providing doctor’s note;
  2. Students on student loans: any student who is not in attendance for a maximum time limit of 6 days in a 3 weeks period must be withdrawn from their course of study.
  3. Cheating or plagiarism of any sort on any assignment, quiz, or exam;
  4. Harm to the institution’s property, including: theft or non-accidental damage;
  5. Insubordination, including: refusal to cooperate with instructors and schedules;
  6. Rude, discriminatory, or hateful speech, both in-person and online;
  7. Using alcohol or non-prescription drugs on the premises of the institution;
  8. Redistribution and sharing of school materials, access to school’s web-based learning site, and training environment.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION POLICY & PROCEDURE

  1. This policy governs complaints from students respecting Hitek Computer School and any aspect of its operations. The student will not be subject to any form of retaliation as a result of filing a complaint.
  2. All student complaints must be made in writing.
  3. The student must provide the written complaint to the Hitek Computer School Director who is responsible for making determinations in respect of complaints. If the Director is absent or is named in a complaint, the student must provide a complaint to the Hitek Computer School Secretary.
  4. The process by which the student complaint will be handled is as follows:
    • Step One. First, try to resolve the issue directly with the other party. If this doesn’t work go to step two.
    • Step Two. Put your complaint in writing to Hitek School Director or Secretary. He/She will request submissions from all involved parties, including witnesses; conduct an investigation and set up a meeting within 24 hours. Hitek School Director or Secretary will provide a written decision to all parties within 48 hours. If this doesn’t work go to step three.
    • Step Three. The parties appoint an outside mediator/arbitrator within 48 hours. The institution will bear the cost of mediation/arbitration
    • Written reasons for the determination will be provided to the student within 45 days after the date on which the complaint was made.
  5. The student making the complaint may be represented by an agent or a lawyer.
  6. If the student is or was enrolled in an approved program, is dissatisfied with the determination, and has been misled by the institution regarding any significant aspect of that program, he or she may file a complaint with the PTIB.

ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR CLASSROOM SESSIONS IN HITEK COMPUTER SCHOOL

Classroom Sessions
Regular attendance is required by students in order to acquire all of the knowledge and skills necessary to complete the program successfully.
Students must:

  • Attend a minimum of 60% of the program in order to graduate
  • School hours are from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, each Monday and Friday and students are expected to be at the school and ready to start at that time
  • Absenteeism for more than 2 days due to illness must be accompanied by a Doctor’s note

Those attendance policy is for classroom sessions only. On-line QA course students study at their own pace.

Online Courses
Recommended duration of the on-line course is 6-7 months. As per student contract, the maximum duration of the on-line course should not exceed 1 year for CF109 program and 6 months for CF102, CF103, CF104, CF106, and CF107 courses. If a student needs more than the time frame defined in the contract to complete an on-line course, a new contract needs to be created (extension fee of $375.00 is applied for CF109 program, $249.00 for CF102, CF103, CF104 courses, $199.00 for CF106 and CF107 courses).

RESPECTFUL AND FAIR TREATMENT OF STUDENTS POLICY

The Hitek Computer School is committed to ensuring that its learning environment promotes the respectful and fair treatment of all students. While on Hitek Computer School premises or in the course of activities or events hosted by Hitek Computer School the following activities are prohibited:

  • Discrimination

Discrimination in student education occurs when a student is denied a benefit or the equal opportunity outlined above, or treated less favorably than another student, on the grounds of a personal characteristic or attributes (e.g. race, gender, religion, disability, etc.).
Discrimination can be either direct or indirect. Direct discrimination occurs when unlawful distinctions are made between individual students and student groups based on any of the discriminatory grounds. Indirect discrimination occurs when a seemingly harmless policy, rule or practice has a discriminatory effect on an individual student or student group.
The following discriminatory grounds: age; breastfeeding; career status; family responsibilities; impairment/disability (past, present or future); industrial activity; lawful political belief or activity; lawful religious belief or activity; lawful sexual activity; marital status; parental status; physical features; pregnancy or potential pregnancy; race, color, nationality, ethnic or national origin; sex; personal association with a person identified by reference to one of the above attributes.

  • Sexual Discrimination

Sexual discrimination is when a person is treated less favorable than that of a person of the opposite sex would be treated in the same or a similar circumstance. The following sexual discriminatory grounds apply under various legislative instruments: sexual orientation; gender identity; intersex status; lawful sexual activity; personal association with a person identified by reference to one of the above attributes.
The Institute does not tolerate any discrimination and higher education students who believe they may be subject to unlawful discrimination should initially discuss their concerns with the perpetrator if appropriate and safe to do so, or discuss their concerns with the School Staff or lodge a complaint to the director.
It must be highlighted that not all discrimination is unlawful, and in some instances, discrimination on certain educational grounds may be necessary and fair, such as entry age; language requirements; supplying special services or facilities for a person with an impairment that would impose an unjustifiable hardship on the Institute, etc. Unforeseen discrimination exemptions will be decided on a case by case basis by the School Director.

  • Harassment

Harassment is perceived or actual unwelcomed conduct that humiliates, offends, or intimidates people. Harassment is bullying conduct that is neither appropriate nor relevant to a situation. This includes words, as well as acts, pictures, and images that create a hostile or threatening atmosphere. Behaviors that can be considered harassment include: verbal abuse; offensive gestures; ignoring or segregating a person or group.
The effect of harassment is to make a person feel insulted, offended, intimidated and unable to perform a task effectively or, ultimately safely.
Harassment in this policy in any form (including sexual harassment and bullying) refers to student matters only.

  • Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is unwanted or unwelcome sexual behavior, whether verbal, physical or electronically communicated which makes a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. Behaviors that can be considered sexual harassment include: staring or leering; unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against a person or unwelcome touching; suggestive comments or jokes; insults or taunts of a sexual nature; intrusive questions or statements about a student’s personal life; displaying screen savers of a sexual nature; sending sexually explicit emails or text messages; inappropriate advances on social networking sites; accessing sexually explicit internet sites; requests for sex or repeated unwanted requests to go out on dates; behavior that may also be considered to be an offence under criminal law, such as physical assault, indecent exposure, sexual assault, stalking or obscene communications.
Sexual harassment is not interaction, flirtation or friendship which is mutual or consensual. It is not a mutual attraction or friendship.

  • Bullying

Bullying is a form of harassment and is when a person or group of people misuse power in a relationship to repeatedly and intentionally harm others. The outcome is the victim feels distressed, less powerful or helpless and there is a risk to their wellbeing.
Bullying can be overt (obvious) such as physical, verbal, or cyber harassment, or covert (hidden) such as social exclusion or intimidation. Examples of bullying behavior include: unfair and excessive criticism; excluding someone from a group (including online or in-person); ignoring a person’s point of view; constantly changing or setting unrealistic targets for a person; undervaluing the efforts of a person; intentionally and repeatedly hurting a person physically; stalking a person; taking advantage of any power over someone else.
Bullying is not mutual arguments, disagreements or dislikes.

The Hitek Computer School does not tolerate any form of harassment and students who believe they are subject to harassment should initially discuss their concerns with the perpetrator if appropriate and safe to do so, or discuss their concerns with the School staff.
It must be also highlighted that harassment is not legitimate comment or advice (including negative comment or feedback) from others, such as genuine assessment feedback. Hitek Computer School staff are responsible for undertaking an assessment of students’ work and making a judgment about their attained knowledge and competency in a particular subject. They are also expected to provide academic guidance and advice to students to complement their assessment and may have to instruct them about academic policy, processes and timeline provisions. In itself, the act – including repeated acts – of correcting students or pointing out inadequacies of performance does not constitute harassment or bullying in an educational environment.
Similarly, invoking unsatisfactory performance procedures or misconduct procedures, or applying student progress procedures, academic integrity procedures or assessment due dates do not in themselves constitute harassment or bullying of students.

If under any circumstances, a prohibited activity occurs, the following outlines the process for addressing the activity:

  • The student is encouraged to submit a complaint to the School’s office.
  • The School will ensure that:The matter is referred to the Institute’s legal representatives if required at which time students will be advised that legal representation may be required if they have not already sought this.
    • The student is not vilified or victimized for making a complaint or grievance.
    • The complaint or grievance process will be dealt with in a professional and sensitive manner and will adhere to the principles of privacy and confidentiality.
    • Support is offered to the student if required, and the student is able to have a third party of their choosing present at all meetings.
  • If the complaint is substantiated that a student has behaved in a discriminative or harassing manner to another student, the Institute can initiate the following actions:
    • Requested apology to those involved.
    • A formal warning on student perpetrator’s file.
    • Probationary enrolment for a period up to 6 months, subject to the perpetrator student’s ongoing good behavior.
    • Suspend the perpetrating student from the College for a specified period of time, not exceeding 6 months.
    • Cancel of enrolment for any subject of the perpetrating student.
    • Exclude the perpetrating student from the Institute permanently.
  • If the complaint is substantiated that a staff member has behaved in a discriminative or harassing manner to a student, the School can initiate the following actions:
    • Performance monitoring (which could include enforced peer review of teaching).
    • Formal warning on perpetrator’s staff file.
    • Dismissal and/or termination of a contract of the perpetrating staff member.

PRIVACY POLICY

Hitek Computer School collects students’ personal information for the following reasons:

  • To maintain student records as required by PTIB.
  • To keep students/graduates informed of activities of the school.
  • To issue T2202As in accordance with Canada Revenue Agency

Students’ personal information is not used for any other purpose.

For all full career training programs:

  • Hitek Computer School retains the full student file for a period of seven (7) years following the student’s withdrawal, dismissal or graduation. After seven years, the full student record is destroyed using a secure destruction method.
  • Hitek Computer School uploads a copy of the students’ contract, transcripts and credential (if any) to an approved third-party vendor. These records are retained for a period of fifty-five (55) years by the third-party vendor.

Procedure for maintaining student files:

  • Student personal information is collected throughout the student’s attendance at the institution. All required information regarding the student is placed in the student file
  • Student files containing personal information are safely stored in locking file cabinets and access to the student files is limited to the appropriate administrative staff, the Senior Education Administrator, and the School Owner.
  • When a student leaves the school either by withdrawal, dismissal or graduation a transcript is prepared showing the marks achieved in the courses completed. If the student has completed all courses within the program of study, a program credential is also prepared. These documents are signed by the School Owner and copies of the signed documents are placed in the student file.
  • Within 30 days of the student leaving school, copies of the Enrolment Contract, Transcript and Diploma for full career training programs are sent to the third-party vendor for long term storage.
  • After documents are sent for long term storage, the full student file is placed in “inactive” student storage for one year.
  • At the end of one year, the student file is placed in “closed” storage for a further six years.
  • At the end of the seven year period, the full student file may be destroyed using a secure destruction method.

Procedure for student access to the information on file:

  • Students wishing to access the information in the student file must make the request in writing.
  • The Senior Educational Administrator will meet with the student to review the file and will provide copies of any document the student requests.
  • The student will pay $0.25 per page for the documents copied for him/her.

Procedure for authorizing release of information:

  • If a student wishes to authorize a third party to access information in his/her student file, he/she must do so in writing.
  • The school will not release information to any person other than people authorized by the student to access information unless required to do so by legislation, a subpoena, court order or if release of information is necessary as part of an ongoing police investigation

GRADE APPEAL POLICY

ACADEMIC REGULATIONS
A student may appeal the grade received in a course if there are grounds to believe that:

  • Evaluation criteria for the assignment or exam were changed from those articulated;
  • Evaluation standards are substantially unreasonable or different from those applied to other students; or,
  • Evaluation was determined on some basis other than performance.

 

APPEALS PROCESS
The process by which a student may appeal a grade received in a course at Hitek Computer School is as follows:

Hitek Computer School is committed to the success of our students. All efforts are made to ensure evaluation criteria are clearly explained and that students receive feedback from their instructor as to their grades. Before launching a formal appeal, a student should make every effort to resolve the issue informally with the instructor(s) involved.

Following an informal process, should a student still disagree with his or her final grade, he or she may request a formal review.

STEP 1
The student must request that the instructor review the assigned grade with the student before a formal appeal is launched. This request must be received by the instructor, in writing, within five business days of the student’s grade being posted to his

or her online Statement of Grades. The instructor must discuss the matter with the student and confirm his/her decision to the student, in writing, within five business days subsequent to receiving the request for an informal review. Should the matter take longer than five business days, the instructor is to notify the student of an extension, in writing, and specify a date by which this review step will be completed.

STEP 2
In the event that the matter is not resolved informally with the instructor, the student may request a review by the Hitek Computer School Secretary. This request must be received by the Hitek Computer School Secretary in writing, within five business days of the student’s receipt of the instructor’s written decision, per Step 1.

The Hitek Computer School Secretary must discuss the issue with the student and instructor(s) in an attempt to reach resolution. The decision of the Hitek Computer School Secretary shall normally be given in writing to the student not later than 10 business days subsequent to receiving the request for an informal review. Should the matter take longer than 10 business days, the Hitek Computer School Secretary is to advise the student, in writing, that an extension is required. Should the Hitek Computer School Secretary determine that the grade should not be changed, an explanation and rationale for the decision is to be provided to the student.

STEP 3
In the event that the matter is not resolved with the Hitek Computer School Secretary the student may then request a formal review by the School Director. The student must notify the School’s Office of his/her intent and submit the grade appeal request within five business days of the Hitek Computer School Secretary’s written decision with a copy to the School’s Office. At this point, any changes to the student’s academic records will be suspended, pending resolution of a formal grade appeal.

The formal Grade Appeal request must state clearly:

  • the student’s name and PEN number;
  • the course, course dates, and grade received;
  • the basis for the appeal;
  • the rationale for the student’s belief that a better final grade is warranted;
  • the steps that have been taken to resolve the issue per Steps 1 and 2.

All relevant information and documentation should be attached. Pleas on compassionate grounds should not form part of the statement.

The Director must discuss the issue with the student and the instructor. The Director will:

  • raise the grade, lower the grade, or leave the grade unchanged. The decision of the Director is final, however, an explanation and rationale for the decision is to be provided to the student.