chinA. Process : If the student has a complaint, the student should contact our customer service department and contact Mrs Luo via email at contact@hedonia.cn or by phone call at 15862360428. Complaints remain confidential and will not prejudice the student.

B. Content : When issuing a complaint, the student should include personal information such as the student’s name, address and contact information. The complaint should be fully detailed with any supporting documents and, if relevant, should include details of any previous attempts made to resolve the problem.

C. People & timelines : The complaint will be handled by the head of customer service Mrs Luo and will be acknowledged in a maximum of 3 working days and answered in a maximum of 20 working days.

D. Appeals : If the complainant receives a response and is still not satisfied, the complaint will be referred to the director M. Ventelon for further review. The complaint will then be acknowledged in a maximum of 3 working days and answered in a maximum of 20 working days.

E. If the above steps have all been completed and the student is still dissatisfied, they may wish to file a complaint with WSET about Hedonia, by contacting WSET’s Quality Assurance Team (chinaqa@wsetglobal.com) 

 As an APP Hedonia is required to identify to WSET and assist in managing or monitoring actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest (‘Conflicts of Interest’) involving both APP staff and students. This policy complements WSET’s conflicts of interest policy and works to safeguard the integrity of WSET qualifications and promote confidence in WSET and Hedonia processes and procedures.

This policy applies to all Hedonia staff and students and to any individual acting on behalf of Hedonia.

A Conflict of Interest exists where an individual has interests or loyalties that could adversely influence their judgement, objectivity or loyalty to WSET or Hedonia when conducting activities associated with WSET qualifications.

Examples of Conflicts of Interest include:

• The assessment of candidates by an individual who has a personal interest in the result of the assessment for any or all individuals concerned;

• The moderation of assessment of candidates by an individual who has a personal interest in the result of the assessment for any or all individuals concerned;

• The undertaking of a WSET qualification by any individual employed by an APP;

• The invigilation of a WSET assessment by any individual involved in the delivery of training leading to the assessment;

• The coaching of candidates by any individual involved in the assessment of candidate scripts;

• The employment by an APP of individuals engaged in the delivery of taught programmes or in the role of Internal Assessor in another APP;

• The investigation of a non-compliance incident by someone who is unable to act impartially.

Some of these Conflicts of Interest are manageable and therefore acceptable. For example, if family member of one of Hedonia’s educators or APP staff takes a qualification and exam through Hedonia, or when an employee of Hedonia, or of the WSET, takes a WSET qualification through Hedonia, we can notify WSET in advance and work with them to put in place measures to maintain the integrity of the exam.

Some Conflicts of Interest are not manageable and are not acceptable. For example, no mitigation efforts overcome the conflict created when an individual when a single individual serves as the educator and exam officer of an exam for a family member where an external invigilator is not available.

Any staff member or student of Hedonia who becomes aware of a Conflict of Interest must inform Mrs Luo via email at contact@hedonia.cn as soon as possible. Hedonia will inform the WSET of the possible conflict of interest and will work with WSET to put any protective or mitigating measures in place to manage the conflict on a case-by-case basis. If WSET and Hedonia determine the conflict is not manageable, Hedonia will inform any impacted APP staff or students.

Please note that the failure to declare a conflict of interest may have consequences for the student or Hedonia because we are required to report conflicts to WSET.

When registering to WSET courses, the student’s personal information will be passed to WSET Awards. This may include name(s), date of birth, gender and email address, as well as health or additional information to support reasonable adjustments or special consideration. Please be informed that data passed to WSET will be handled in accordance with WSET’s Privacy Policy.

Why we collect your personal data

• To register you as a candidate with WSET Awards and enable you to sit examinations for WSET qualifications.
• To administer and conduct your examination, including making arrangements for reasonable adjustments and/or special considerations.
• To communicate with your course provider and issue your examination results and qualification certificate as appropriate.
• To provide you with post-results services such as enquiries against results and appeals and solicit feedback from you on WSET qualifications.
• To process your registration for any WSET-hosted courses or events so that we can deliver these services to you.
• To send you information regarding the course or event for which you are registered (or which have registered interest in).
• To process sales of products or services you have purchased from us.
• To manage any account(s) for providing our online services including but not restricted to our Online Classroom and Global Campus where you have registered with us so that:
• We can provide you with the relevant products and services;
• You can access relevant course materials;
• We can fulfil our services and communicate with you about them;
• To verify your identity;
• To carry out research to better understand your requirements on the relevant products and services.
• To personalise, report on and improve the services and products we provide to you, and to provide you with a best-in-class customer service experience.

To send you marketing communications including information about our qualifications, upcoming events and links to our blogs.

How do we keep your shared personal data secure?

• We will only ever share data specific to its intended use;
• Specific details of what data we have shared is available to you on request.

Data passed to WSET will be handled in accordance with WSET Awards’ Data Protection Policy.

In the event of data loss, our team will contact the students in order to recover the data.

In case the students have any questions about Data protection, they may contact our data protection officer Mrs Luo at contact@hedonia.cn.

Hedonia’s Data Protection policy are in accordance with the laws of the People’s Republic of China.

Hedonia assures equality of opportunity for candidates by:

• Promoting open access to WSET qualifications (having regard to the legal minimum age for the retail purchase of alcohol and assessment competence standards);
• Allowing candidates with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access WSET assessments without changing the demands of the assessment in line with our Reasonable Adjustment and Special Consideration policies;
• Reviewing this policy regularly to ensure it continues to meet legislative and organisational requirements and is fit for purpose.

In case the students have any questions about Diversity and equality, they may contact Mrs Luo at contact@hedonia.cn.

Hedonia’s Diversity and equality policy are in accordance with the laws of the People’s Republic of China.

Both WSET and Hedonia want to make WSET assessments accessible for all students, so none are at an advantage or disadvantage based on a disability or differing ability. This policy and the reasonable adjustment process allows us Hedonia to work with you, our student, before an assessment to gather the information we need to submit a request to WSET and work with them to make arrangements that give students access to WSET qualifications.

A reasonable adjustment is any accommodation or arrangement that helps to reduce the effect of a known disability or
difficulty that substantially disadvantages a student’s assessment. Using a reasonable adjustment does not impact how WSET grades your exam, or your result, but WSET cannot agree to reasonable adjustments where your particular difficulty directly affects performance necessary to complete the assessment outcomes (e.g. inability to smell or taste for a Level 3 Exam). The goal of a reasonable adjustment is to give you equal access to a WSET qualification, not to give unfair advantages over other students who take an assessment without the same adjustment, or to affect the overall reliability of the assessment outcomes that are explained in the course Specification.

Examples of reasonable adjustments may be:
• Changing standard assessment arrangements, for example allowing candidates extra time to complete the assessment activity;
• Adapting assessment materials, such as providing materials in large text format;
• Providing access facilitators during assessment, such as a sign language interpreter or reader;
• Re-organising the assessment room, such as removal of visual stimuli for an autistic candidate

Hedonia will gather the information we need from you to submit a Reasonable Adjustment Application form to WSET. WSET must approve and arrange reasonable adjustments before the assessment activity takes place. Before completing enrolment with Hedonia, we will give all students access to this policy and the chance to identify any special needs that could require a reasonable adjustment. If a student identifies a special need, Hedonia will give the student the Reasonable Adjustment Application form as soon as possible and work with the student to gather the necessary information.

For any student seeking a reasonable adjustment, please contact Mrs Luo at contact@hedonia.cn with:

• Your full name;

• contact information;

• description of the special need, disability or differing ability that requires an adjustment; and

• supporting documentation.

You must submit this information at least 30 working days before the exam date for Levels 1-3 qualifications and at least 50 working days before the exam date for Level 4 Diploma. The information you submit will be shared with WSET and will be handled under WSET’s Privacy and Data Protection Policy.

Hedonia will keep records of all reasonable adjustment applications.

Special consideration is any adjustment given to a student who has temporarily experienced an illness or injury, or other event outside of their control at the time of the exam that significantly affects their ability to take the exam or their ability to show their knowledge and understanding in the assessment. Special consideration is only for things that happen immediately before or during an exam that have a material impact on your, the student’s, ability to take the exam or on your performance. To be eligible for special consideration, you must have completed the whole course and would have been fully prepared if not for the temporary illness, injury or other uncontrollable event. A special consideration may be for an individual (e.g. a student becomes ill the day of the exam) or a group of students (e.g. an exam is interrupted by a natural disaster).

You may be eligible for special consideration if:

• Your performance on the exam is adversely affected by an event outside of your control. This may include temporary illness, temporary injury, bereavement or exam room conditions;

• Reasonable adjustments which were agreed in advance of the exam proved inappropriate or inadequate;

• The application of special consideration would not make a passing result and certificate misleading about the student’s ability to satisfy the qualification’s assessment criteria.

Applying for special consideration 

If you have taken an exam, or your exam is immediately approaching, and you feel that you have a temporary injury or illness, or other uncontrollable event that has interfered with your ability to complete your exam, please contact Mrs Luo at contact@hedonia.cn as soon as possible. Hedonia will provide you with a Special Consideration Application Form, which must be completed and returned with supporting documentation within 7 working days after the effected exam. The information you submit will be shared with WSET and will be handled under WSET’s Privacy and Data Protection Policy.

If there has been serious disruption during an exam affecting a group of students, Hedonia will submit a detailed report of the circumstances and candidates affected to WSET to request a special consideration.

Hedonia will keep records of all applications for special consideration.

Both Hedonia and WSET have policies and procedures in place to protect WSET students and safeguard the integrity of WSET qualifications. Hedonia ensures compliance with Hedonia and WSET’s policies through this Malpractice and Maladministration Policy, which gives a framework for both us and you to identify, report and manage potential malpractice or maladministration.

Non-compliance with Hedonia or WSET Policies and Procedures can fall into two distinct, but related, categories:

1. Maladministration, where the non-compliance is generally unintentional, or the result of mistakes, carelessness, inexperience or poor processes; and

2. Malpractice where the non-compliance is intentional or the result of a negligent or reckless action without consideration of the consequences of the action.

Context is important and the line between maladministration or malpractice is not always clear: for example, maladministration incidents may become malpractice (e.g. if you fail to implement corrective measures, repeat the same or similar incident, or attempt to misrepresent or hide information during an investigation); or there may be mitigating factors that turn potential malpractice into maladministration. Though malpractice and maladministration are distinct concepts, they can shade into one another. Malpractice and maladministration are always case, context and fact specific. Both APPs and students can commit malpractice and maladministration.

There are many ways that malpractice or maladministration could occur, including new ways we have not seen yet. But some examples of malpractice or maladministration include:

For APPs:

• Failure to adhere to WSET Policies and Procedures;

• Failure to follow WSET requirements for course delivery or exam regulations;

• Failure to follow WSET’s candidate registration and certification procedures;

• Late student registrations;

• Fraudulent claim for certificates/fraudulent use of certificates/reproduction or forgery of certificates;

• Withholding critical information from WSET quality assurance;

• Insecure storage of exam materials;

• Revealing or sharing confidential exam materials with candidates ahead of an exam;

• Intentional attempts to manipulate exam results so that they do not reflect the candidate’s actual exam performance;

• Issue of incorrect exam results/failure to issue results to students in a timely manner;

• Failure to timely respond to WSET;

• Unathorised reading/amendment/copying/distribution of exam papers;  Failure to report changes in APP ownership/personnel/location/facilities;
• Denying WSET access to information, documentation, workforce, facilities;
• Failure to return exam papers within the specified timeframe or to follow delivery and tracking regulations;
• Infringements of WSET copyright, trademarks, intellectual property rights and brand identity;
• Use of unqualified and/or unregistered educators or internal assessors;
• Breach of confidentiality;
• Misleading advertising/publicity;
• Any action likely to lead to an adverse effect;
• Failure to disclose a Conflict of Interest.

For students:

• Cheating, or facilitating cheating, including the use of unauthorised devices or materials;
• Disruptive behaviour in an exam;
• Plagiarism of any nature by students;
• Impersonation (including forgery of signatures);
• Unauthorised reading/amendment/copying/distribution of exam papers;
• Any action likely to lead to an adverse effect;
• Breach of confidentiality.

In general, we also expect that both Hedonia staff and our students should treat others and be treated professionally and respectfully at all times. We will treat inappropriate behaviour including verbal or physical abuse, persistent or unrealistic demands, or threats that cause stress to staff as misconduct and may report student misconduct to WSET as necessary.

Reporting and Investigation of Malpractice or Maladministration 
As an APP, we aim to ensure compliance with WSET Policies and Hedonia policies and will keep records of potential or actual malpractice or maladministration by you, our students, or our staff.

We are required to notify WSET immediately of any non-compliance issues that could be malpractice or maladministration, so that WSET can investigate the non-compliance under their own Malpractice and Maladministration Policy.

We ask that you also raise any concerns or non-compliance issues that may be malpractice or maladministration with Hedonia as soon as possible by following the process outlined in our Complaints policy.

During WSET’s investigation, they may reach out to Hedonia or to you directly to request further information or conduct an interview. Please respond to any requests promptly and honestly.

Managing Non-ComplianceIf WSET identifies malpractice or maladministration, they will consider its impact and may apply sanctions. WSET will take all reasonable steps to ensure the sanctions do not disadvantage uninvolved students affected by malpractice or maladministration. However, in some cases, they may need to disallow or withhold results and/or certificates.

WSET will consider all relevant information on a case-by-case basis, balancing the facts with potential or actual effects, and against the seriousness of the sanctions against those effects. WSET records all malpractice and maladministration incidents for both APPs and students. If WSET determines that a student has committed malpractice or maladministration, they may apply one or any of the following sanctions:

Sanctions Applicable to Students/Candidates
• Written Warning: The student is issued with a written warning that if the offence is repeated within a set period of
time then further specified sanctions will be applied.
• Exam Result Declared Null and Void: A student’s exam result is disallowed. This may include invalidation and recall of a certificate already issued.
• Disqualification from a Qualification: The student is disqualified from participating in the concerned qualification with immediate effect and further excluded from participating in any further WSET qualifications for a period of 12
months. This includes access to WSET materials.
• Student Disqualification: The learner is disqualified from participating in any courses or assessments leading to WSET
qualifications. This includes access to WSET materials.
• Disqualification from use of WSET certified logos and postnominals: Actions bringing WSET into disrepute may result in the student or graduate being barred from use of WSET postnominals and WSET certified logos.

Appeals

If you wish to appeal penalties or sanctions WSET has imposed due to Malpractice or Maladministration, please follow the procedures laid out in WSET’s Complaints Policy.

A. Refund: Hedonia will in principle not refund paid tuition. However, in the case of Special Consideration situations, refund is possible. In such case, the student who presents a Special Consideration situation should contact Hedonia before the start of the course and express the wish to cancel the course the student has previously registered to and paid for. If the Special Consideration is confirmed by Hedonia, Hedonia will offer the student a choice between a full refund or a change of date for the course. Extenuating circumstances will also be taken into account.

B. Change of course date: Hedonia will also allow the participant to change the date of course with a notice of 10 working days before the beginning of a WSET Level 2 and 25 working days before the beginning of a Level 3 course.
If the change is asked after this period and until the beginning of the course, the change of date will cost 25% of the training’s price per person.
Once the course has began, there is no possible change of date, and the training price will be have to be paid.

C. Change of exam date: You are allowed to change the date of an exam with a notice of 15 working days before the beginning of a WSET Level 2 or Level 3 exam. If the change is asked after this period and until the beginning of the exam, there will be a fee of 23GBP for Level 2 and 26GBP for Level 3, plus a 100RMB administrative fee, when registering for a future exam date.

D. Cancellation of course: Hedonia has the right to cancel the course, with a notice of 5 working days; the participants will be transferred to a future session that suits the participant’s availability.

Cancellation and refund requests should be addressed by the candidate to Mrs. Luo by email at contact@hedonia.cn or by phone at 15862360428.