Copyright policy

The principles of our Copyright policy are that we will:

permit re-use on the basis of acknowledgement of QAA’s copyright
allow re-use of parts of or full publications for personal, educational and research purposes without the need to request a specific licence
not allow anyone to re-use our websites wholesale
permit electronic re-use, but always encourage users to establish hypertext links to the website
not permit any user to sell our information wholesale.

For requests to re-use our information we will:

treat all similar requests equitably
respond to routine requests within 20 working days or indicate when more complex responses will take longer to deal with
only consider charges where applicants are seeking commercial gain.

Licence for re-use of QAA information

Definitions

Us, our and we: The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

You: any person, organisation or company who wishes to re-use information covered by this licence.

Information covered by this licence

For the purposes of this licence, the information covered by this licence (Information) is all documents, information and publications that appear on QAA’s website (for the avoidance of doubt, this does not include any information on any website linked to QAA’s website); paper publications that are QAA copyright; or documents and information made available through our Information publication scheme, provided such information is QAA copyright.

While we may permit re-use of electronic Information, we strongly encourage users to link back to our website so that re-used Information remains up to date.

Information not covered by this licence

This licence does not cover any of the QAA logos and trademarks. Requests to use these should be made to the Head of Communications.

This licence does not cover material where the copyright owner is not QAA. Where we have identified any third party copyright material, you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Where QAA is a joint copyright holder, you need to contact both QAA and other owners.

This licence does not cover the translation of any QAA material of greater than 200 words in length. This is covered separately below.

No wholesale re-use of our websites is permitted.

Grant of licence to re-use

You may re-use QAA’s Information anywhere in the world subject to the terms of this licence without further permission or charge for the purposes only of personal, educational and research use, in each case that does not involve commercial gain. This is provided that if you extract any Information from QAA material for these purposes, you give full acknowledgement, as set out in ‘Format for acknowledgement’ below.

You may translate QAA’s material provided that the original material is less than 200 words in length, subject to the terms of this licence.

Conditions of the licence

You must re-use the Information accurately and not in a way that misleads. The material must be acknowledged as being copyright of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and you must give the title of the source publication in accordance with the ‘Format for acknowledgement’ below.

No wholesale selling of QAA Information is permitted.

Format for acknowledgement

You should acknowledge QAA’s ownership of the Information in the following way:

You must give the title of the source publication or give a link to a web page.

Where we have identified any third party copyright material you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

We encourage users to establish hypertext links to QAA’s website www.qaa.ac.uk instead of downloading electronic versions of information.

Requirement for further licence

If you wish to re-use any Information outside of the scope of this licence you must request a specific licence for such re-use.

Procedure for requests

Requests for re-use should be sent to the Publications Manager in writing either by email using the licence form on the website or by letter.

You should include your name, address and organisation, if relevant, and specify the precise nature of your request. This should include which documents, or parts of documents, you want to re-use and the purpose for which you want to use them.

For any documents that are already available on our website, we will respond with a decision within 20 working days. If requests are complex or raise access issues, we will let applicants know within 20 working days if we cannot respond within the standard time, and give an indication of when you can expect a response.

We will respond in writing to requests and explain any reasons for refusal, or any conditions on the re-use.

All licences granted will be subject to you giving full acknowledgement, as set out in ‘Format for acknowledgement’ above.

Period of licence

The period for which a specific licence will be granted will be stated in QAA’s response and will depend on the nature of the request to re-use our material.

Charges

We may make charges if planned re-use is for commercial purposes.

Complaints procedure

Any complaints about our response must be made in writing to the Head of Communications. We will aim to respond to complaints within 20 working days. We will respond in writing with reasons for our decision.

QAA’s Information publication scheme

QAA is not designated under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), but has its own scheme, the Information publication scheme, which operates in the spirit of FOI.

Translation of QAA information

You may translate QAA Information of less than 200 words without further permission, provided you give full acknowledgement, as set out in ‘Format for acknowledgement’ above.

You must contact the Publications Manager if you wish to translate QAA Information of more than 200 words.

Part translations or extracts

Any licence granted to translate QAA Information in part or in extracts of over
200 words would contain the following conditions:

QAA’s logo is not used
QAA is the sole copyright holder of the documents chosen for translation - you should also contact QAA if you wish to translate any publication that contains a joint copyright line
the translated documents identify the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education as the copyright owner of the source of the material (see 'Format for acknowledgement' above)
all translated documents contain the following disclaimer indicating that the quality of the translated text is entirely your responsibility:

‘This material has been translated from an English original published by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. We accept full responsibility for the accuracy of the translation.’

Full translations

Any licence granted to translate QAA material in full would contain the following conditions:

QAA’s logo is not used
QAA is the sole copyright holder of the documents - you should also contact QAA if you wish to translate any publication that contains a joint copyright line
all translated documents contain QAA’s original copyright line, the original publication date and QAA’s contact details (see 'Format for acknowledgement' above)
all translated documents contain the following disclaimer indicating that the quality of the translated text is entirely your responsibility:

‘This material has been translated from an English original published by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. We accept full responsibility for the accuracy of the translation.’

you hold the copyright of the translation
the translated documents are not sold or licensed for money or money’s worth
you send two library copies of all translated versions of QAA publications to QAA’s Head of Communications. QAA shall be entitled to use the same for research and academic purposes
you follow any national obligations pertaining to international numbering of publications and legal deposits to its relevant national bodies.