Terms and conditions

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE HUB

The African Scholarship Hub (or “Hub”) is an online portal which brings together students (“Students”) and providers of scholarships (“Scholarship Providers”) into one central scholarship portal. The aim of our service is to make it easier for Scholarship Providers to market their scholarship programmes and to help students find relevant information about applying for scholarships.

The Hub is free to join for Students and Scholarship Providers.

1. Who we are and how to contact us?

1.1 The Hub is operated by Education Sub Saharan Africa (“ESSA”, “we”, “us”, “ours”). We are a registered charity (charity number 1166958) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under company number 10101086. Our registered office address is 3rd Floor Chancery House, St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1JB, United Kingdom.

1.2 To contact us, please email us: info@essa-africa.org

2. By registering with the Hub you accept these terms

2.1 Please read these terms of use carefully before you register with the Hub. They tell you who we are, how we will provide The Hub to you and other important information. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use the Hub.

2.2 By registering with the Hub, you confirm that you accept these terms and conditions and that you agree to comply with them and with our Privacy Notice and Cookies Notice, and our Content Standards Policy at paragraph 12.

3. Our role

3.1 The Hub provides a link between Students and Scholarship Providers to allow Students to easily find suitable scholarship opportunities and general information about applying for scholarships.

3.2 Please note that when Students apply for a scholarship, such application should be made directly to the Scholarship Provider (or as otherwise specified in the relevant scholarship application guidance notes issued by the relevant Scholarship Provider) and not to ESSA. We simply provide the platform on which information about the available scholarships can be found and facilitate communication between Students and Scholarship Providers.

3.3 We do not:

(a) make any representations as to the availability and/or suitability of any scholarships;

(b) participate in the application and/or selection process and/or any engagement or communications you may have with a Scholarship Provider; or

3.4 Any profiles of Scholarship Providers (including details of their scholarships) that appear on our platform are generated solely based on the information provided by such Scholarship Provider (whether on their website and/or other publically available sources, or uploaded by such Scholarship Providers to the Hub) and do not amount to our recommendation, endorsement or confirmation of suitability of any of our Scholarship Providers.

3.5 We do not verify or approve any content supplied and uploaded by our users, and we cannot guarantee that any such information or materials are accurate, complete and/or up to date. In particular, we do not, and are not required to, carry out any verification or checks of the Scholarship Providers registered with the Hub, and/or any of the terms of the scholarships offered by them.

3.6 The views expressed by the users of the Hub do not represent our views or values.

3.7 Our online portal is provided on “as is” basis and we do not make any representations it will meet your expectations. We hereby specifically disclaim all warranties in respect of our online portal and its content, including without limitation and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law: (i) all implied warranties, including any implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose; (ii) any warranty regarding the functional characteristics or performance of the platform; (iii) any warranty regarding the profitability or other benefits to be obtained by using our platform and the information obtained therefrom; and (iv) any warranty that our platform will be free from errors, viruses, bugs, interruptions or other access limitations.

4. We may make changes

We amend these terms from time to time so please check these terms from time to time. These terms were most recently updated on the date stated at the bottom of these terms.

We may update and change the Hub from time to time to reflect changes to the Hub’s functionality, and changes to our users’ needs. We will take reasonable steps to notify you of any significant changes.

5. We may suspend or withdraw the Hub

We do not guarantee that the Hub, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend, withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of the Hub, for example for security, maintenance or operational reasons, or reasons related to our status as a charitable organisation. We will try to give our registered users reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal.

6. Registration

6.1 All users are required to register to use the Hub. By submitting your registration application you confirm that the information submitted by you is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

6.2 If you are provided with, or set up, a password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures during your registration, you must treat such information as confidential. You should not disclose this information to any third party.

6.3 If you know or suspect that anyone, other than you, know such confidential identification codes or passwords, please email us immediately at info@essa-africa.org

6.4 You may at any time request the deletion of your registration with the Hub.

7. Complaints

7.1 If you are dissatisfied with the service you received from a Scholarship Provider, or have concerns that a Scholarship Provider is unsuitable to be listed on the Hub, please contact us directly at info@essa-africa.org.

7.2 If you are dissatisfied with the Hub and the service or functionality we offer, please contact us at info@essa-africa.org.

8. How you may use material on the Hub

8.1 We are the owner (or the licensee) of all intellectual property rights in the Hub, and in the material published on it (other than any documents and information uploaded by our users). Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

8.2 Any content available on the Hub is subject to the following rules:

(a) you may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from the Hub for your personal use and/or strictly for use in connection with scholarship application process and you may draw the attention of others to content posted on the Hub;

(b) you must not modify any paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text;

(c) our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on the Hub must always be acknowledged; and

(d) you must not use any part of the content on the Hub for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

8.3 You are not permitted to use our trademarks and trade names without our approval, unless they are part of material you are using as permitted under the other provisions of this paragraph 8.

9. Rules about linking to the Hub

9.1 All registered users may link to our home page, but only in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it. You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

9.2 The website in which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out in our Content Standards Policy at paragraph 12. In particular, you will not link to the Hub or refer to us or our logos from any website which is indecent or inappropriate or in any other way incompatible with our reputation.

9.3 If you wish to link to the Hub other than that set out above, please contact info@essa-africa.org.

10. We are not responsible for websites we link to

Where the Hub contains links to other websites and resources provided by third parties (including by Scholarship Providers), these links are provided for your information only. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them. We have no control over the contents of those websites or resources.

11. Content supplied by you

11.1 Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload content to the Hub, you must comply with the content standards set out in our Content Standards Policy at paragraph 12 below. You are responsible for ensuring that any such content meets those standards.

11.2 Any content you upload to our platform will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. You retain all of your ownership rights in your content, but you are hereby granting us a licence to use, store and copy that content and to distribute and make it available to third parties. You also grant to other users a licence to access and use such content for the purposes related to seeking and/or arranging scholarship.

11.3 We also have the right, but not the obligation, to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our platform constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

11.4 We have the right to remove any posting you make on the Hub if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with the content standards set out in our Content Standards Policy at paragraph 12.

12. Content Standards Policy

12.1 Prohibited uses

12.1.1 You may use the Hub only for lawful purposes. You may not use our platform:

(a) In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.

(b) In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.

(d) To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards at paragraph 12.3 below.

(e) To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).

(f) To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

12.1.2 You also agree:

(a) Not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our platform in contravention of the provisions of these terms and conditions.

(b) Not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:

(i) any part of our platform;

(ii) any equipment or network on which our platform is stored;

(iii) any software used in the provision of our platform; or

(iv) any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.

12.2 Interactive services

12.2.1 We provide interactive services on the Hub allowing Students to communicate with Scholarship Providers (interactive services).

12.2.2 We do not moderate such interactive services, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by our registered users in contravention of our content standards.

12.3 Content standards

12.3.1 These standards apply to any and all material which you upload to the Hub, and to any interactive services available on our portal. They must be complied with in spirit as well as to the letter. We will determine, in our sole discretion, whether any content breaches these standards.

12.3.2 All content must:

(a) be accurate (where it states facts);

(b) be genuinely held (where it states opinions); and

12.3.2 All content must not:

(a) be defamatory of any person;

(b) be obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory;

(d) promote violence;

(e) promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;

(f) infringe any copyright, database right or trademark of any other person;

(g) be likely to deceive any person;

(h) breach any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence;

(i) promote any illegal activity;

(j) be in contempt of court;

(k) be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;

(l) be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person;

(m) impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person;

(n) give the impression that it emanates from us, if this is not the case;

(o) advocate, promote, incite any party to commit, or assist any unlawful or criminal act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse;

(p) contain a statement which you know or believe, or have reasonable grounds for believing, that members of the public to whom the statement is, or is to be, published are likely to understand as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism; or

(q) contain any advertising or promote any services or web links to other sites.

13. We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them

13.1 We do not guarantee that the Hub will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

13.2 You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and online portal to access our online portal. You should use your own virus protection software.

13.3 You must not misuse our online portal by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our online portal, the server on which our online portal is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to our online portal. You must not attack our online portal via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities, and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our online portal will cease immediately.

14. Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

14.1 If we fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen.

14.2 We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

14.3 The Hub is made available to you for private use only and for the purpose of facilitating easier scholarship applications. If you use the Hub for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

15. Breach of these terms

15.1 When we consider that a breach of these terms or our Content Standards Policy at paragraph 12 has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate, including:

(a) immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use the Hub;

(b) immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any content uploaded by you to our platform;

(d) legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach;

(e) further legal action against you; and/or

(f) disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary or as required by law.

15.2 We may suspend or withdraw registration of a registered user if, in our reasonable opinion, such a user is unsuitable to engage with others and/or to protect our platform’s reputation.

16. How we may use your personal information

We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Notice.

17. Other terms applicable to registered users

17.1 We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation.

17.2 These terms are between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

17.3 If a court finds part of these terms illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

17.4 These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.