University participation

1. The short version

A chapter is the working relationship between a University and the Society. It is established by agreement, and either side can end it.

You never pass us contact details for your honorary graduates. You tell them the Society exists and they come to us themselves.

You appoint the staff who take part. They hold accounts in their own name and they are treated on the platform as everyone else is.

You keep control of what leaves your institution. A challenge you raise is seen by your chapter alone unless you decide otherwise.

Participation carries a one-off set-up fee in year one and an annual fee from year one onwards, both exclusive of VAT. The figures are set out in the participation agreement we issue when you enquire. The annual fee covers your chapter and, each year, a first year of Fellowship for that year's honorary doctors at no cost to them.

2. Who we are

The Society of Honorary Doctors is a new initiative, developed and operated by Space Network Ltd, a company registered in Scotland with company number SC656651, whose registered office is Clyde Offices, 48 West George Street, Suite 2/3, Glasgow G2 1BP.

In these terms, "the Society", "we" and "us" mean Space Network Ltd, operating as the Society of Honorary Doctors, and "the University" and "you" mean the institution taking part.

3. Institutions and chapters are two things

The Society lists every degree awarding institution it knows of, whether or not it has spoken to them. A listing carries the institution's name, city, country, a short overview, its founding year, the name of its head, its website and its crest.

A chapter is different. It is established when the University agrees to take part, and it is where the work happens.

Listing an institution does not imply that it endorses the Society, or that it has been approached. Any institution that would prefer not to be listed, or that would like a correction, should tell us and we will act on it.

4. Establishing a chapter

A chapter is established by the Society after agreement with the University. Establishing it means:

• the Society records the chapter as live
• the University appoints a representative, and may appoint others in a leadership capacity
• the Fellows who hold an honorary doctorate from that University are shown as members of the chapter
• the chapter can raise challenges and hold events

The Society decides who is admitted as a Fellow. The University decides who represents it. Neither controls the other.

5. How your honorary graduates hear about us

The Society asks Universities to tell their honorary graduates that it exists, and to point them to the application form. That can be a line in a newsletter, a mention at an event, a page on your site, or a letter.

The Society does not ask you for a list of names or contact details, and will not accept one. Each honorary doctor applies in their own name, gives us their own details, and consents in their own right. This keeps the lawful basis for their information where it belongs, which is with them.

6. Confirming an award

When someone applies naming your institution, we ask you to confirm the award. We give you the name, the award and the year.

There are two honest answers and we ask for whichever is true: you can confirm it, or you can tell us you are not able to. Telling us you cannot confirm an award sends us to the public record. It is never reported to the applicant as a refusal, and it never causes a decline on its own.

We will always find a named person to ask before we write.

You can nominate a standing contact for verification requests, and we would prefer that. Tell us who, at info@societyofhonorarydoctors.org.

7. The staff who take part

The University appoints its representative and any leadership members. They hold accounts in their own names.

On the platform they carry a photograph, a role, a profile and a card built on the same pattern as a Fellow's. They can connect with Fellows in both directions, they can post in the Common Room, and they can submit to The Honorand in their own right.

What they do not have is FSHD, an honorary doctorate record, or a Founding Fellow badge. Their profile says plainly that they take part as staff.

They take part under the community guidelines, as everyone does.

Tell us when somebody leaves the role, or the institution, and we will close or reassign the account. Please treat that as part of your own leavers process.

8. Your institution record

Your staff maintain your institution record: the overview, the founding year, the website, the name and title of your head, and the crest.

We use your crest to identify your institution on the platform and, where your chapter is live, on the website. Tell us at any time if you would prefer it were not shown and we will remove it.

9. Challenges

A challenge is a question your institution puts to the people it recognised. It has one of three settings, and you choose:

Nothing moves between these settings without your say. Where a challenge is anonymised, every member is told not to name the institution behind it, on the platform or off it.

Responses to a challenge are visible to the chapter that raised it. A responder can always see, amend and withdraw their own response.

Challenges and events come into their own as chapters are established. We will tell you what is available and when.

10. What the Society is, and is not

The Society is independent of any University. It is not a part of your alumni relations function, it does not duplicate your advancement office, and it does not raise funds from your graduates in your name.

The Society makes no claim on your honorary graduates' loyalty to you. The proposition is that they contribute more to you, through a structure that keeps them engaged.

The Society will not present itself as speaking for your institution, and will not use your name or crest to suggest an endorsement you have not given.

11. Fees

Both fees are exclusive of VAT. VAT is added at the rate in force on the date of the invoice. The figures are set out in the participation agreement we issue before you commit. They hold for the term of that agreement.

11.1 What the set-up fee covers

• establishing your chapter and building your institution record
• accounts and platform functionality for the staff you appoint
• an invitation to every honorary doctor your institution has already awarded, each of whom receives their first year of Fellowship at no cost to them

11.2 What the annual fee covers

• your chapter, your staff accounts, challenges, events and support for the year
• an invitation to that year's new honorary doctors, each of whom receives their first year of Fellowship at no cost to them

Every honorary doctor of a participating University therefore has their first year covered by the University. After that year, Fellowship is theirs to continue in their own name, at the fee in force. That is between the Society and the Fellow, and the University owes nothing for it.

Where a Fellow has already paid for a year of their own, we do not refund it and we do not stack it. Their covered year is added to the end of the year they paid for.

11.3 Paying

The set-up fee and the first annual fee are invoiced when the chapter is established. Each following year is invoiced 30 days before the anniversary. Payment is due within 30 days of the invoice.

11.4 Changing the fee

We will give you at least 90 days' notice before a renewal of any change to the fee. You then decide whether to renew.

12. Information

The privacy notice explains what we hold about individuals. For the University's own part:

• we hold the institution record and the contact details of your appointed staff
• we hold the correspondence about verification requests
• we do not receive your student, alumni or donor data, and we do not want it
• where your staff hold accounts, we are the controller for what is on the platform, and you are the controller for your own records of their appointment

If you need a data processing agreement for any part of this, ask and we will put one in place.

13. Ending it

Either side can end a chapter by giving 30 days' notice in writing. Neither side needs a reason.

When a chapter ends:

• the chapter closes and stops appearing as live
• your staff accounts are closed
• Fellows who hold your honorary doctorate stay Fellows of the Society. Their Fellowship is theirs, and it does not depend on your participation
• a covered first year already running for one of your honorary doctors runs to its end
• fees already paid for the current year are not refunded, unless it is the Society that has ended the arrangement
• challenges raised by the chapter are removed from the platform, apart from any already published publicly with your agreement
• your institution stays listed as an awarding body, unless you ask us to remove the listing

We may end a chapter if the University asks us to act in a way the Society cannot, or if the arrangement stops working. We will talk to you first.

14. Our responsibility to each other

Neither of us promises the other a particular result from a chapter. What it produces depends on the people in it.

Neither of us is responsible to the other for loss of profit, business, goodwill or anticipated savings, or for any loss that was not a foreseeable consequence of breaking these terms. Nothing here limits responsibility for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

This is not a partnership in the legal sense, and neither of us can bind the other.

15. Changes

We will update these terms as the Society develops. If a change affects you materially, we will write to your representative at least 30 days before it takes effect.

16. Which law applies

The Society is a Scottish company. These terms are governed by the law of Scotland and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction, wherever the University is based.

Nothing here displaces a protection your own country's law gives you that cannot be contracted away.

17. Talking to us

Write to info@societyofhonorarydoctors.org.