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Regulations : Student Protection Plan
What is a Student Protection Plan?
A Student Protection Plan is a document which sets out the ways in which a university evaluates and manages any potential risks to your studies: these may range from the very serious (the risk of closure of the University as a whole) to the much more local (minor changes to your agreed course of study). Every university is required to publish a Student Protection Plan, approved by the Office for Students (OfS), which is the lead regulator for higher education in England.
On this page, Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) sets out the risks we have identified to your studies, explains how likely we consider each of these risks to be and why, and the action we have taken to minimise each of these risks. We also explain your rights, and any expectations we have of you. These are in addition to the rights and protections you have under consumer protection law.
If you have any questions about the Student Protection Plan, please contact the University Secretary by email governance@aub.ac.uk.
Who is covered by this Student Protection Plan?
This Student Protection Plan covers all students who are enrolled on courses delivered by AUB. It also references students who are enrolled on courses approved by AUB and delivered at partners.
When is the Student Protection Plan activated?
The provisions in this Student Protection Plan relate to a range of very different circumstances. Some of the risks we describe would have a serious impact but are quite unlikely; others are relatively minor and routine events such as regular amendments to courses to ensure they remain up to date. The University will contact you as soon as practicable if any part of this Plan is activated in relation your studies.
Assessment of risks, and how likely they are to crystallise
In common with all higher education providers in England, Arts University Bournemouth is required to manage its budget prudently to ensure that it remains financially stable. The steady decline in the value of the maximum fee payable by Home undergraduate students has placed greater pressure on the University’s finances, and there is a need both to diversify income and to manage and reduce expenditure. We have developed a clear plan in response to these challenges, which informs the five-year financial forecast which is approved by the Board of Governors. The Governors and its supporting sub-committees continue to give close consideration to the financial viability of the University, and to monitor financial performance through Key Performance Indicators, linked to our bank covenants. We also produce annual accounts, which are reviewed by professional auditors, who have confirmed at AUB remains a going concern. Our annual report, including detailed financial information, is available through our website. While all higher education providers face some degree of risk, we are confident that our plans for managing our finances mean that this risk is successfully mitigated.
In consequence, we assess the risk of University closure as low, because of the diligent attention of both external auditors and the Board of Governors, and the responsible actions being taken by the Senior Leadership Team, led by the Vice-Chancellor. The University regularly reviews options to reduce its cost base, and its over-reliance on a single source of income, and we are confident that AUB will continue to operate as a going concern.
We have a Business Continuity Plan which sets out how we would deal with situations where parts of our campus were unavailable for an extended period, but the risk of this is also low. All the buildings on our campus are classed as being either “as new” (55%) or “operationally sound” (45%); no buildings are classed as requiring a major overhaul within the next three years, or otherwise unsuitable for study. All our residential accommodation is classed “as new”. We are confident that the full campus will continue to be operational for new students, and that we will be able to deliver the courses we describe.
Master’s degrees, Bachelor’s degrees and Foundation degrees offered by Arts University Bournemouth are awarded in its own name. The University takes its responsibilities for the awards we make very seriously, and the risk that the University loses its degree-awarding powers is very low. We prepare an annual report for our Board of Governors, which demonstrates how we know that the standards of awards we make, and the quality of the student experience, meet UK expectations.
As a specialist university, all our courses fall within the creative and performing arts or a related field (such as architecture or arts management). We have no plans to extend this range, or to remove any subjects of study.
All courses are delivered at a single campus. The University makes use of two further local sites, to provide rehearsal and production space. Each of these is on a long-term agreement, and was introduced as an enhancement to the offer. The University will continue to monitor whether this is the best way of delivering these aspects of courses, and may change the location of delivery (including bringing some delivery back onto the main campus), but the sites themselves are not integral to the offer.
The risk that we are unable to run whole courses, or material components of courses, is low. Any session which is cancelled will normally be rescheduled. If the cancellation is because a studio is temporarily not accessible, an alternative will be identified; if necessary, this might be at the start of the following academic year. The risk of key skills not being delivered at all is very low.
Courses are designed to be delivered by integrated academic staff teams, and given the cognate nature of many disciplines at the University, and the support of expert technicians, there is a low risk that any of the specialist skills or knowledge that we promised you would not be available. Many courses include considerable flexibility in terms of student projects, and projects are approved only if they can be supported by the staff team; in considering any project proposal, the staff team will consider whether the project is viable. The established staff base is supported by a number of Visiting Tutors, who often bring current industry experience as well as skills; this provides considerable flexibility to support course teams.
There is a risk that, over time, some courses will become unviable because of the changing nature of student demand. This is most likely to apply to postgraduate taught courses, where numbers are generally lower, although the demand for all courses can vary over time. If we decide to close a course to new entrants (i.e. not to allow any further intakes to a course), existing students will be supported to complete their studies (see following section). If a course is not to be offered in the next academic year, AUB will always seek to make a timely decision to give applicants the maximum time to identify a suitable alternative course. Wherever possible, we shall offer a place on another suitable course at AUB.
The University offers undergraduate provision on a full-time basis only; and all postgraduate provision is available on a full-time basis. Postgraduate research and some postgraduate taught provision is also offered on a part-time basis also. The risk to students on any specific mode of study is low, as the University is committed to enabling all students who are already on-course to complete their studies, even if it decides to close a course, or a mode of study, to new entrants.
Postgraduate research is offered under a validation arrangement with the University of the Arts, London. There is a low risk that this partnership will be discontinued, as the two institutions continue to work well together. The most recent formal review of the partnership took place during 2022, and confirmed the arrangement for a further five years until 2027. The agreement between the two universities confirms that any student already on course will be supported until they have completed their studies.
There is an extremely low risk that the delivery of a course, or a material component of a course, will become unviable or undeliverable because of an Act of God or similar unforeseeable circumstance. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the University acted swiftly to move all delivery online, and successfully enabled all students to complete their course and meet all the specified learning outcomes. We learned from this experience, and are confident that we are able to identify alternative delivery options.
There is a low risk that the University will lose its licence to enrol students studying on a Student Visa. We have clear and well-understood systems to ensure that we only make offers to students who will meet Visa requirements, as well as educational requirements; and we monitor student attendance and engagement on a weekly basis. The University underwent a successful UKVI Audit in 2015.
All businesses face cybersecurity risks, with the potential for online systems to be disabled or damaged, or for data to be stolen. At AUB, we have a sophisticated cybersecurity approach, with a network designed from the ground up to provide high availability and minimum downtime. We implement a number of enterprise-level security tools to help protect staff and students, such as:
- Next generation firewall technology : This advanced firewall helps protect our network from external threats.
- Managed endpoint security: this ensures all AUB devices are adequately protected against malware and other security risks.
- Advanced cloud protection: This secures our public-facing services from cyber attacks.
Email Security: Using multiple technologies including AI to help reduce the amount of unwanted emails users receive and help protect against phishing attacks.
In the event of a major cybersecurity incident, AUB data is duplicated and backed up across multiple locations, ensuring a fast recovery. All of these protection measures are monitored 24/7, 365 days a year by a specialist Security Operations Centre to ensure all risks are dealt with immediately.
There is a low risk that students on franchised or validated courses at partner institutions are unable to continue with their course for reasons of institutional failure; we consider the sustainability of each provider before we enter into the partnership and we are confident that each is unlikely to fail. In each case, we have a formal Partnership Agreement under which the partner commits to teaching out all students who enrol on AUB-validated courses, even were the partnership were closed to new students. In the unlikely event that a partner were to fail, the University has agreed that it will support students to find alternative educational offers which are suitable to them, either locally or at AUB.
We have conducted an Equality Impact Assessment of these risks, and we are confident that there are no specific implications for any students with protected characteristics.
Actions we have taken to minimise risks to students
In any case where the University decides to close a course, for example for the reason of non-viability, we have an absolute commitment to “teach-out” for any students already on course. For those postgraduate taught students on part-time awards, this may mean that teaching or supervision continues for up to two years beyond the date when no new entrants were admitted to the course. For postgraduate research students, supervision would continue until they had completed the course.
Teach-out will continue to take place at the Arts University Bournemouth campus, and will not require a transfer to another campus or provider.
In the event that we were unable to deliver a course to completion, any student registered with AUB would be likely to find an alternative study provider at a fellow UKADIA provider (other institutions delivering courses in the creative arts). UKADIA members have a mutual agreement that they will seek to provide continuation of study to any student we are no longer able to teach for whatever reason.
We have conducted an Equality Impact Assessment of these risk mitigation measures, and we are confident that there are no specific implications for any students with protected characteristics.
How we will communicate with you if any changes are proposed during your course of study
Major changes to your course can only be made using the periodic review process. This is a formal, detailed review of the course undertaken by the University, supported by external advisers, to ensure that the course content remains up to date, aligned to industry expectations, and provides a coherent academic experience.
Each course is reviewed regularly; the maximum period between reviews is seven years, but a shorter time period is more common because a course is reviewed as soon as it becomes evident, from qualitative or quantitative data, that important improvements can be made. Our usual expectation is that any changes introduced through this process will not apply to current students, but the course team might suggest that these changes would benefit current students, and they can be introduced sooner if the student cohort agrees to the change.
If changes are made which may impact on incoming students to Level 4, who are currently within the admissions process, the University writes to these applicants to explain the changes, and offer them the opportunity to withdraw their application if they wish. If the changes are significant, we may also offer an alternative course of study; or support them in applying for a course at another institution.
The process for making minor amendments to courses includes a specific requirement to explain how the proposed change is in the student interest, and how student views have been taken into account. Minor amendments are approved by a sub-group of the Learning, Teaching and Quality Committee, which is required to confirm that the expectations of the Competition and Markets Authority are met.
In exceptional circumstances, course changes might be necessary which have not been anticipated. One example of this was the COVID-19 Pandemic, where the government required the closure of all university campuses, with students to be taught remotely; but there are other situations which might require a change to delivery. This might include the unavailability of part of the campus, for example after a major fire.
In the event that these circumstances resulted in material changes to a course, we would notify all students by email; and where possible, would arrange to meet with them in person. We would give as much notice as possible, but in the event of an Act of God or other unforeseeable occurrence, it may not be practical to communicate in advance.
Refunds and compensation if the University cannot preserve continuation of study
Our Refunds and Compensation Policy is available from our website on our Regulations page.
We shall always do our best to minimise the impact of any changes by identifying alternative ways of meeting student expectations. We believe there is a low risk that the University is unable to preserve continuation of study, but we are clear in our terms and conditions that the University will consider providing compensation where it believes there is a fair case to do so. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, and students have the right to appeal to the Chair of the Board of Governors if they consider that the offer is unreasonable. Ultimately, if they remain dissatisfied, students can refer the case to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (oiahe.org.uk).
We do not consider that any particular groups students are at increased risk of non-continuation of study, and would meet any compensation claims from our reserves.
When any student leaves the University, whatever the circumstances, they receive certification of their learning achievements (in the form of a detailed transcript of their results on each unit they have completed).
Advice for students
Students have access to impartial advice from the University’s Student Services team. They also have access to a professional Students’ Union staff base, and sabbatical officers. In the event that the University needed to implement any aspect of the Student Protection Plan, we should seek agreement with a fellow specialist institution that their advice team could also support our students to ensure that any advice was perceived to be fair and objective.
Reviewing the Student Protection Plan
We shall review our Student Protection Plan on a regular basis, in consultation with the Students’ Union. The sabbatical officers will be invited to involve further student representatives if they consider that this would be useful. The review will take place at least annually (during the Spring term) but updates will be made more regularly if changing circumstances make this necessary.
July 2025