Terms of Use
Please read these the Terms of Phoenix Academy carefully, and contact us if you have any questions, requests for information, or complaints. By using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms, including the policies referenced in these Terms. By using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms, including the policies referenced in these Terms.
THESE TERMS INCLUDE AN ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER THAT APPLY TO ALL CLAIMS BROUGHT AGAINST PHOENIX ACADEMY. PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY; THEY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. THE TERMS OF THE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER SHALL NOT APPLY IF UNENFORCEABLE UNDER THE LAWS OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH YOU RESIDE.
1. Who May Use Our Services
You may use our Services only if you:
- can form a binding contract with Phoenix Academy;
- comply with these Terms, all applicable laws, and our policies (including the Acceptable Use Policy, Honor Code, course-specific eligibility requirements, and any other policies that may be applicable from time to time (“Policies”)); and
- are over the age at which you can provide consent to data processing under the laws of your country. Certain regions and Content Offerings may have additional requirements and/or different age restrictions.
Any violation of our Terms, applicable laws, or Policies may result in your access to all or part of the Services being suspended, disabled, or terminated.
When you enrol to a course, you must provide us with accurate and complete information, and you agree to update your information to keep it accurate and complete.
Our License to You
Subject to these Terms and our Policies, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license right to use our Services. The rights granted herein are only for your personal, non-commercial use, unless you obtain our written permission otherwise. You also agree that you will use our material and you will not share ii with any third party. Using our Services does not give you ownership of or any intellectual property rights in our Services or the content you access.
Commercial Use
Any use of our Services for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. Any commercial use must be subject to a separate agreement with Phoenix Academy
2. Content Offerings
Changes to Content Offerings
While Phoenix Academy offers courses and content seek to provide world-class Content Offerings, unexpected events do occur. Phoenix Academy reserves the right to cancel, interrupt, reschedule, or modify any Content Offerings, or change the point value or weight of any assignment, quiz, or other assessment, either solely, or in accordance with Content Provider instructions. Content Offerings are subject to the Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability sections below.
No Academic Credit
Phoenix Academy does not grant academic credit for the completion of Content Offerings. Unless otherwise explicitly indicated by a credit-granting institution, participation in or completion of Content Offerings does not confer any academic credit. Even if credit is awarded by one institution, there is no presumption that other institutions will accept that credit. You agree not to accept credit for completing a Content Offering unless you have earned a course certificate or other equivalent documentation of your completion of the Content Offering. Phoenix Academy, instructors, and the associated Content Providers have no obligation to have Content Offerings recognized by any educational institution or accreditation organization.
3. Your Content
User Content
The Services enable you to share your content, such as homework, quizzes, exams, projects, other assignments you submit, posts you make in the forums, and the like ("User Content"), with Phoenix Academy, instructors, and/or other users. You retain all intellectual property rights in, and are responsible for, the User Content you create and share. User Content does not include course content or other materials made available on or placed on to the Phoenix Academy platform by or on behalf of Content Providers or their instructors using the Services or Content Offerings. As between Phoenix Academy and Content Providers, such Content Offerings are governed by the relevant agreements in place between Phoenix Academy and Content Providers.
How Phoenix Academy and Others May Use User Content
To the extent that you provide User Content, you grant Phoenix Academy a fully-transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, sublicensable, non-exclusive, worldwide license to copy, distribute, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform, publicly display, and otherwise use the User Content. This license includes granting Phoenix Academy the right to authorize Content Providers to use User Content with their registered students, on-campus learners, or other learners independent of the Services. Nothing in these Terms shall restrict other legal rights Phoenix Academy may have to User Content, for example under other licenses.
We reserve the right to remove or modify User Content for any reason, including User Content that we believe violates these Terms or other policies including our Acceptable Use Policy and Code of Conduct.
Feedback
We welcome your suggestions, ideas, comments, and other feedback regarding the Services ("Feedback"). By submitting any Feedback, you grant us the right to use the Feedback without any restriction or any compensation to you. By accepting your Feedback, Phoenix Academy does not waive any rights to use similar or related Feedback previously known to Phoenix Academy, developed by our employees, contractors, or obtained from other sources.
4. Security
We care about the security of our users. While we work to protect the security of your account and related information, Phoenix Academy cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security measures. Please notify us immediately of any compromise or unauthorized use of your account by emailing security@Phoenix Academy.org.
5. Third Party Content
Through the Services, you will have the ability to access and/or use content provided by instructors, other users, and/or other third parties and links to websites and services maintained by third parties. Phoenix Academy cannot guarantee that such third party content, in the Services or elsewhere, will be free of material you may find objectionable or otherwise inappropriate or of malware or other contaminants that may harm your computer, mobile device, or any files therein. Phoenix Academy disclaims any responsibility or liability related to your access or use of, or inability to access or use, such third party content.
6. Copyright and Trademark
Phoenix Academy respects the intellectual property rights of our users, Content Providers, and other third parties and expects our users to do the same when using the Services. We have adopted and implemented the Phoenix Academy Copyright and Trademark Policy below in accordance with applicable law.
7. Education Research
Phoenix Academy is committed to advancing the science of learning and teaching, and records of your participation in courses may be used for education research. In the interest of this research, you may be exposed to variations in the Content Offerings. Research findings will typically be reported at the aggregate level. Your personal identity will not be publicly disclosed in any research findings without your express consent.
8. Paid Services from Phoenix Academy
Phoenix Academy offers paid Services for a fee. Unless otherwise stated, fees are quoted in local currency. You are responsible for paying all fees charged by or for Phoenix Academy and applicable taxes in a timely manner with a payment mechanism associated with the applicable paid Services. If your payment method fails or your account is past due, we may collect fees using other collection mechanisms. Fees may vary based on your location and other factors, and Phoenix Academy reserves the right to change any fees at any time at its sole discretion. Any change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting through the relevant Services. Refunds may be available for paid Services as described in our Payments and Refund Policy below.
Professional licensure, certification, and job requirements for various professions may vary in each state and country, and job requirements may vary by employer. Phoenix Academy does not guarantee licensure, certification or qualification for any profession or job on the basis of your completion of a Content Offering on Phoenix Academy. You are advised to research, understand and comply with the requirements in the applicable state and/or country in which you work or intend to work, and to investigate whether the Content Offering in which you intend to enroll meets your academic and/or professional needs before enrolling.
9. Modifying or Terminating our Services
We are constantly changing and improving our Services. We may add or remove functions, features, or requirements, and we may suspend (to the extent allowed by applicable law) or stop part of our Services altogether. Accordingly, Phoenix Academy may terminate your use of any Service for any reason. If your use of a paid Service is terminated, a refund may be available under our Refund Policy. We may not be able to deliver the Services to certain regions or countries for various reasons, including due to applicable export control requirements or internet access limitations and restrictions from governments. None of Phoenix Academy, its Content Providers and instructors, its contributors, sponsors, and other business partners, and their employees, contractors, and other agents (the "Phoenix Academy Parties") shall have any liability to you for any such action. You can stop using our Services at any time, although we'll be sorry to see you go.
10. Disclaimers
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES AND ALL INCLUDED CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE PHOENIX ACADEMY PARTIES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING OUT OF THE COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. THE PHOENIX ACADEMY PARTIES FURTHER DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY RELATED TO YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF THE SERVICES OR ANY RELATED CONTENT. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SERVICES OR SUCH CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
11. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE PHOENIX ACADEMY PARTIES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM: (A) YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES; (B) ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY PARTY OTHER THAN THE APPLICABLE PHOENIX ACADEMY PARTY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT; OR (C) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE, OR ALTERATION OF YOUR CONTENT OR INFORMATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL PHOENIX ACADEMY'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATED TO THE SERVICES EXCEED TWENTY U.S. DOLLARS ($20) OR THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FEES RECEIVED BY PHOENIX ACADEMY FROM YOU FOR THE USE OF PAID SERVICES DURING THE PAST SIX MONTHS, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE DISCLAIMERS AND THE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY SET FORTH IN THIS TERMS OF USE REFLECT A REASONABLE AND FAIR ALLOCATION OF RISK BETWEEN YOU AND THE PHOENIX ACADEMY PARTIES, AND THAT THESE LIMITATIONS ARE AN ESSENTIAL BASIS TO PHOENIX ACADEMY'S ABILITY TO MAKE THE SERVICES AVAILABLE TO YOU ON AN ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE BASIS.
YOU AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION RELATED TO THE SERVICES MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.
13. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Phoenix Academy Parties from any and all claims, liabilities, expenses, and damages (to the extent attributable to you under the applicable law), including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, made by any third party related to: (a) your use or attempted use of the Services in violation of these Terms; (b) your violation of any law or rights of any third party; or (c) User Content, including without limitation any claim of infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property or other proprietary rights.
14. Governing Law and Venue
Except as provided below, the Services are managed by Phoenix Academy, Inc. which is located in Geneva, Switzerland. You agree that these Terms will be governed by the laws of Switzerland. In the event of any dispute related to these Terms that is not subject to binding arbitration, you and Phoenix Academy will submit to the personal jurisdiction of and exclusive venue in Geneva, Switzerland, as the legal forum for any such dispute.
This section shall not deprive you of any mandatory consumer protections under the law of the country to which we direct Services to you, where you have your habitual residence.
15. Binding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver
You and Phoenix Academy agree to submit to binding arbitration any and all disputes, claims, or controversies of any kind, whether based on statute, regulation, constitution, common law, equity, or any other legal basis or theory, and whether pre-existing, present, or future, that arise out of or relate to our Services, these Terms, and/or any other relationship or dispute between you and us, including without limitation (i) the scope, applicability, or enforceability of these Terms and/or this arbitration provision, and (ii) relationships with third parties who are not parties to these Terms or this arbitration provision to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law (each a “Claim,” and collectively the “Claims”).
16. General Terms
Revisions to the Terms
We reserve the right to revise the Terms at our sole discretion at any time. Any revisions to the Terms will be effective immediately upon posting by us. For any material changes to the Terms, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of such changes, via a banner on the website, email notification, another method, or combination of methods. In all cases, your continued use of the Services after publication of such changes, with or without notification, constitutes binding acceptance of the revised Terms.
Content Providers
Our Content Providers and integrated service providers are third party beneficiaries of the Terms and may enforce those provisions of the Terms that relate to them.
Acceptable Use Policy
Our mission is to provide universal access to the world’s best education. We believe strongly in preserving free speech and expression for our users as well as academic freedom for our Content Providers and instructors. We also want to make sure that all of our users and instructors feel safe and comfortable while using our Services. We have drafted this policy to ensure that people understand and follow the rules when participating in our online community and otherwise using our Services.
We may remove or edit inappropriate content or activity identified by or reported to us. We may separately suspend, disable, or terminate a user's access to all or part of the Services.
1. You are prohibited from using our Services to share content that:
- Contains illegal content or promotes illegal activities with the intent to commit such activities. Please keep in mind that users who are as young as 13 use Phoenix Academy, and we do not allow content that is inappropriate for these younger users.
- Contains credible threats or organizes acts of real-world violence. We don’t allow content that creates a genuine risk of physical injury or property damage, credibly threatens people or public safety, or organizes or encourages harm.
- Harrasses others. We encourage commentary about people and matters of public interest, but abusive or otherwise inappropriate content directed at private individuals is not allowed.
- Violates intellectual property, privacy, or other rights. Do not share content that you do not have the right to share, claim content that you did not create as your own, or otherwise infringe or misappropriate someone else’s intellectual property or other rights. Always attribute materials used or quoted by you to the original copyright owner.
- Spams others. Do not share irrelevant or inappropriate advertising, promotional, or solicitation content.
- Otherwise violates the Phoenix Academy Terms of Use.
- Please note that specific Content Offerings may have additional rules and requirements.
2. You also aren't allowed to:
- Do anything that violates local, state, national, or international law or breaches any of your contractual obligations or fiduciary duties.
- Share your password, let anyone besides yourself access your account, or do anything that might put your account at risk.
- Attempt to access any other user's account.
- Reproduce, transfer, sell, resell, or otherwise misuse any content from our Services, unless specifically authorized to do so.
- Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of our systems, unless specifically authorized to do so.
- Break or circumvent our authentication or security measures or otherwise test the vulnerability of our systems or networks, unless specifically authorized to do so.
- Try to reverse engineer any portion of our Services.
- Try to interfere with any user, host, or network, for example by sending a virus, overloading, spamming, or mail-bombing.
- Use our Services to distribute malware.
- Use our Services or any functionality of the Phoenix Academy platform for anything other than for completing online courses or for pedagogical purposes.
- Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
- Encourage or help anyone do any of the things on this list.
Copyright and Trademark Policy
Phoenix Academy respects the intellectual property rights of our Content Providers, instructors, users, and other third parties and expects our users to do the same when using the Services. We reserve the right to suspend, disable, or terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing the copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of others.
Payments and Refund Policy
For details on our refund and cancellation policies, please refer to the information below. Please note that our policies may differ between offerings, and payment options may vary. Please also note that we treat violations of our Terms of Use and Honor Code very seriously, and we have no obligation to offer refunds to users who violate these or other Phoenix Academy policies, even if their requests are made within the designated refund period. Similarly, we have no obligation to offer late refunds to users who do not receive a passing mark in a Content Offering, or who are otherwise unsatisfied with their final grade.
General Refunds
If you cancel your course paid enrollment for a course, Phoenix Academy will offer you a complete refund until 7 days after payment, upon condition that the course/module has not started yet.
Once a course starts you you are not eligible for a refund even if it is within 7 days. If you do not earn your course certificate within 180 days, your registration will expire and you will need to pay to re-enroll for the course.
Other Paid Services
Except as described in this Refund Policy or as explicitly stated as part of the sign-up process for a Service, Phoenix Academy has no obligation to provide refunds or vouchers for any other Services.
Please also note that we treat violations of our Terms of Use and Honor Code very seriously, and we have no obligation to offer refunds to users who violate these or other Phoenix Academy policies, even if their requests are made within the designated refund period. Similarly, we have no obligation to offer late refunds to users who do not receive a passing mark in a Content Offering, or who are otherwise unsatisfied with their final grade.
Promotional Offers
We may from time to time offer special promotional offers or discounts (“Offers”). Offer eligibility is determined by Phoenix Academy at its sole discretion and we reserve the right to revoke an Offer in the event that we determine you are not eligible. Users with an existing Offer may not be eligible for additional Offers. We may use information such as method of payment or an account email address used with a Phoenix Academy purchase to determine Offer eligibility. The eligibility requirements and other limitations and conditions will be disclosed when you sign up for the Offer or in other communications made available to you.
Changes to Price
We reserve the right to change our prices or adjust pricing for our service or any components thereof in any manner and at any time as we may determine in our sole and absolute discretion. Except as otherwise expressly provided for in these Terms, any price changes or changes to your subscription plan will take effect following notice to you.
Honor Code
All users of learning materials hosted on the Phoenix Academy platform are expected to abide by the following standards to ensure the integrity of learning within Phoenix Academy learning experiences. Learners are expected to familiarize themselves and comply with the Terms of Use for the Phoenix Academy platform and any code of conduct, academic policy, honor code or or any institution's requirements associated with programs which a learner has enrolled onto through the Phoenix Academy platform has established.
Academic misconduct undermines the value of Phoenix Academy hosted credentials and devalues the authentic efforts of other learners. Learners who engage in misconduct are therefore subject to consequences as described below.
Academic misconduct is defined as any activity which circumvents, or attempts to circumvent, the learning experience provided by the course through violation of course learning policies or specific policies provided by the instructor or outlined by the syllabus, or misrepresentation of the authorship or conditions of completion of course activities. The following standards provide clarification of the most common types of academic misconduct, but the list is not exhaustive. Other behavior may constitute academic misconduct in a particular course or across the Phoenix Academy platform.
Definitions
Work within a Phoenix Academy activity - all activity on the Phoenix Academy platform including logins and all course activities is subject to these policies. Work includes but is not limited to exams, quizzes, peer review activities, assessments, discussion board contributions, guided projects, and labs. Furthermore, activities outside the platform that pertain to coursework on the platform are also covered by these policies.
Unauthorized - activities that violate Phoenix Academy’s Terms of Use, course or platform policies, activities which are illegal, or those activities which violate academic standards or standards of integrity that a learner on the Phoenix Academy platform should be expected to know are considered to be unauthorized.
Violations
- Plagiarism: Plagiarism is when you copy or reproduce words, ideas, or any other materials from another source without giving credit to the original author. Plagiarism also includes the practice of employing or allowing another person to alter or revise your work, and then submitting the work as your own. Learners may discuss assessments among themselves, or with an instructor or tutor, but all assessment submissions must be original works done independently by the learner. This includes work paraphrased, translated or otherwise modified using automated means. Plagiarism can also include self plagiarism, where a learner submits the same work that they had already submitted for another assessment or module, where this is not disclosed and permitted.
- Use of Unauthorized Materials: using or consulting unauthorized materials (including electronic materials) or using unauthorized equipment or devices on any work within a Phoenix Academy activity, unless expressly permitted.
Unauthorized collaboration: working together with any person on any work within a Phoenix Academy activity unless expressly permitted.
- Contract cheating: paying, trading, or otherwise getting another person or an automated tool (including, but not limited to, ChatGPT, or similar software or applications) to create work for submission to a Phoenix Academy course or for work within a Phoenix Academy activity.
- Impersonation: completing work within any Phoenix Academy activity (including but not limited to exams, assessments, and learning activities) when logged in as another user or having another user complete work within a Phoenix Academy activity when logged in as you; otherwise misrepresenting the authorship of work submitted on Phoenix Academy.
- Unauthorized sharing of resources: making any information about or solutions to homework, quizzes, exams, projects, and other assessments available to anyone else (except to the extent an assessment explicitly permits sharing solutions). This includes both solutions written by you, other learners, outside resources, or any solutions provided by the course staff or others.
- Fraud: any misrepresentation about the authorship or the conditions under which work within a Phoenix Academy activity was performed not otherwise specified or falsifying any evidence in support of any mitigating circumstances claim.
- Other: any other behavior that confers an unfair advantage to you or someone else or any activity that attempts to dishonestly improve your results or improve or harm the results of others in the performance of work within a Phoenix Academy activity.
Consequences for Non-degree Products
Phoenix Academy will determine relevant sanctions based on the kind of misconduct, the severity of the behavior, the stakes of the assessment, and any previous history of misconduct by the user.
No refunds will be issued in the case of any corrective action for such violations. Honor Code violations will be determined at the sole discretion of Phoenix Academy and Phoenix Academy partners. You will be notified if a determination has been made that you have violated this Honor Code and you will be informed of the corresponding action to be taken as a result of the violation.