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Student Access Decision MakerFind out which students should be allowed to access online resources.

When a student wants access to an online resource licensed by your institution there are three possibilities:

1. they are your student(s) so you can allow access.

2. they are the student(s) of one of your partners so you can allow access if you have a standard licence extension.

3. the student's association with your institution is too informal or remote to justify access even if a licence extension has been purchased.

It's not always easy to work out if a student is technically 'yours'.

This tool aims to help you reach a decision.

We're assuming the standard Chest licence applies to all the affected online resources. However, the guidelines will apply in varying degrees to resources licensed on different terms.

If you do use the Decision Maker for online resources licensed under different terms then do take some care interpreting the licence terms and conditions

Q1: Will your institution include the student(s) in its reports to regulatory bodies?

For HE institutions “reports to regulatory bodies” means the HESA Student Record and Staff Collection.

For FE institutions it means;

• in England, the Individualised Learner Records (ILR) reported to the Information Authority and used by the SFA

• in Scotland, the Further Education Statistics (FES) reported to the Scottish Funding Council Knowledge Management Group (SFC)

• in Wales, the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR) reported to the Welsh Assembly Department for Education and Skills

• in Northern Ireland the Further Education Statistical Record (FESR) reported to the Department for Employment and Learning.

Interpreting Q1:

It would seem to be a reasonable starting point that if the authorities consider someone to be your student then publishers should too.

Q2: Does your institution receive fees or funding for the student(s) either from the student(s), or from funding authorities or from another educational institution?

Interpreting Q2:If your institution gets funding or payment for this student from another institution, then you should record them as your own student even if you do not award their qualification.

You need to be sure that the funding or payment relates to the student and not to educational services or products that you are supplying to another institution. For example, if you get paid for designing and supplying certain course materials to another institution, the students at that other institution cannot be treated as your own. Such students may be allowed to access your licensed resources if you have an extension to the standard Chest licence.

Some care may be needed if the funding or payment comes from a private company as this might imply commercial usage which is prohibited by the standard Chest licence.

Q3: Would you include the student(s) in the user numbers or banding that determines the fees to be paid for your online resources?

Interpreting Q3

If you consider that you’ve paid for this type of student or this group of students then, ignoring other considerations, this is a reasonable argument for allowing them access.

But if the fee you paid wasn’t intended to cover the student(s), then you should be thinking in terms of not granting them access – but you can take other factors into account before arriving at a final decision.

Q4: Will the student(s) receive the majority of their education or research supervision from personnel engaged by your institution?

Interpreting Q4:

If your people will teach or supervise the students, then in isolation, this suggests they can be classified as your students.

The people teaching or instructing the student don’t need to be your employees, they could be engaged under any sort of contractual arrangement. This recognises the many variations in today’s marketplace.

A ‘yes’ answer to this question is not conclusive on its own but contributes to a positive decision when other answers are taken into account.

Q5: Will your institution provide most of the online resources that the student(s) will use?

Interpreting Q5:

Again the answer to this question can’t be conclusive on its own because of the mobility of students these days and the accessibility of resources.

However, taken along with other positive answers, a ‘yes’ answer here helps build the case that for licensing purposes the student can be treated as your own.

Q6: Are you happy that the online resources that the student(s) must access aren’t part of a resource sharing arrangement or collaboration between your institution and another educational institution or party?

Interpreting Q6:

This question is driving at whether the resources are properly licensed to your institution. If your institution is the sole licensee, then clearly there isn’t a problem granting access to your own students.

But you may have concerns where, for example, students from other institutions use the resources. If the resources are in some way jointly licensed with a partner or partners of your institution, then care will be needed because access is likely to be limited to specific students.

If resources are actually licensed by one of your partners then they need a licence extension in order to be able to grant access to your students.

Q7: Will the student(s) be entitled to use the same range of facilities and systems offered to all your institution’s students?

Interpreting Q7:

Here we’re not just talking about library resources but all sorts of facilities and systems. For example, will this type of student or this group of students have access to all the same ICT systems, sports facilities, etc. as all other students? If these students will have more limited rights than others, or they’ll be treated in some other way which distinguishes them, they probably can’t be treated as your students without taking other factors into account.

Q8: Are you happy that no other educational institution or party would consider the student(s) to be theirs rather yours?

Interpreting Q8:

This question looks at what the parties themselves feel. It’s a valid subjective test (called ‘mutuality of intent’) that’s used in many different legal situations, where the views of the affected parties helps determine the type of legal relationship that exists.

Where there are no conflicting claims over the ‘ownership’ of a student, this helps to arrive at a decision to grant access to your online resources.

More generally this question is aimed at provoking thought about the types of partnerships that your institution has and the nature of the relationships created between the various students and your institution. It’s useful to consider what the student might think – does he consider himself to be one of your students or does he more closely associate himself with another institution?

Q9: Will your institution have overall responsibility for the education and conduct of the student(s)? For example if there’s a serious instance of misconduct, can your institution take disciplinary action directly without reference to any other party?

Interpreting Q9:

Again we’re looking at the broader picture. It doesn’t just relate to misuse of online resources.

If your institution has authority and responsibility for the student’s academic progression, personal development, welfare and wellbeing, it’s indicative of the type of relationship you’d expect an institution to have only with its own students.

In a serious disciplinary situation your institution could deal with its own students as it deems fit but this would contrast with a similar situation where your institution would feel obliged to defer to or consult with another institution or party before taking action.

Again the ‘direction and control’ test is used in many situations to help determine the nature of the legal relationship that exists.

Your results

Whether you should treat students as your own depends on a range of factors.

You’ll have noticed that not all questions have the same significance but if you have answered ‘yes’ to most questions, it’s likely that your licence allows the student or group of students to access your online resources.

However you should look at the whole picture to see if on balance it’s reasonable to treat the students as your own.If you have any doubts you should refer to your legal department or contact the Chest Team at Eduserv.

Essential licence conditions

Even if you decide that a student can access your licensed online resources, terms and conditions apply to the use that the student can make of the resources.

Some of the key restrictions that you’ll find in most licences, including the standard Chest licence, are:• resources can only be used for educational purposes.• resources can’t be used for commercial gain.• limitations apply to the extent to which material can be copied or

incorporated into other works.• resources can’t be sold, leased or sublicensed .

Chest Licence ExtensionsIf the Student Access Decision Maker suggests that a group of students would not be allowed access to your online resources under normal licence terms, access might be allowed if you buy a Chest licence extension.

Extension for Educational PurposesIn essence this allows the students and staff of your partners to use your online licensed resources for educational activities that involve your institution and the partner.

Extension for Commercial ProjectsThis allows access to incubator companies or knowledge transfer partnerships that your institution is involved with.