J-Course: Terms and Conditions (2025)
1.1. Students must be 18 years of age and over.
1.2. J-Course is an exclusive service offered to active (i.e. paid) members of The Japan Foundation, Sydney. Applicants must be current members at the time of enrolment, with the exception of students in Aki (First) Term of Starter Course.
1.3. A student’s enrolment in a course is confirmed once full payment and online application have been received by The Japan Foundation, Sydney.
1.4. The Japan Foundation, Sydney reserves the right to cancel the enrolment of students who do not hold an active membership, including in cases where their membership has expired.
1.5. With the exception of new students enrolling into the Starter Course for the first term of the academic year (i.e. the Aki Term), new students and those who have studied with J-Course in the past are required to complete a placement test prior to enrolment. This consists of an online written test and a pre-enrolment meeting conducted over Zoom or in person. The J-Course team may use their discretion and exempt students from this requirement if it is deemed unnecessary.
1.6. Students may only enrol in one (1) course per term.
1.7. Some courses will require a pass mark in order to advance to the next level. All students currently studying at the Elementary 1 or Pre-Intermediate level wishing to enrol in the Elementary 2 or Intermediate 1 level respectively must obtain 60% or higher in their achievement tasks in Week 10 of the Natsu (Fourth) Term.
1.8. Except for the achievement tasks outlined in 1.6, the grade obtained in the achievement task does not impact eligibility for continuing enrolment.
2.1. All Standard courses run over a period of one-year and are made up of four (4) terms.
2.2. With the exception of the B2 Level Courses, each J-Course term consists of 10 x 2-hour classes which are held once per week.
2.3. Classes are not held on designated New South Wales public holidays. In the event that a class falls on a public holiday, the class will be held on the Friday of the same week.
3.1. Students must be in possession of or have access to the relevant textbook(s) for their enrolled course in order to participate in class.
3.2. Applicable textbook fees will be charged along with the course fees at the time of enrolment.
3.3. Textbook fees will only be charged where the purchase of new textbook(s) are required for the enrolled course.
3.4. Textbooks may only be purchased by current students of J-Course and for the corresponding course in which they are enrolled.
3.5. The copyright of all course materials remains the exclusive property of The Japan Foundation, Sydney. Students may not reproduce or distribute any part of the course materials to any other persons or organisations without express written consent from the Japan Foundation, Sydney.
4.1. The Marugoto Course (i.e. Starter to Intermediate 2) tuition fee is $370. This is subject to review and change throughout the year.
4.2. Students who are not continuing students (i.e. those who are enrolling with J-Course for the first time or have returned to study with J-Course after a break of 1 term or more) will be charged a $20 non-refundable administration fee in addition to the $370 tuition fee when enrolling. Please note that the administration fee is distinct from The Japan Foundation, Sydney annual membership fee of $25.
4.3. Textbook fees and The Japan Foundation, Sydney annual membership fees are not included in the tuition fees or administration fee outlined in 4.1 and 4.2. These can and will be charged separately if and where required.
5.1. Enrolment applications and payments are processed on a term-by-term basis.
5.2. J-Course are unable to accept incremental course payments for tuition fees, textbook fees, membership fees, administration fees, or any other required payment(s).
5.3. Students who enrol during the term will be charged the tuition fees for the remaining classes of the term only. The tuition fee will be calculated from the date that an application is submitted. Any relevant administration fees, membership fees, and textbook fees will still apply in accordance with the conditions outlined in terms 3 and 4.
5.4. The previous term (i.e. 5.3) does not apply in the case where a student’s enrolment is delayed due to missing a priority enrolment window. Where a student misses the priority enrolment window, resulting in a delay in their enrolment, the J-Course administration team reserves the right to apply a three (3) business day administration period in order to process and finalise their enrolment. Students will not be permitted to join their classes until the conclusion of this administration period and no refund will be offered for any class(s) that is missed as a result.
5.5. All fees and payments are not transferrable in any way, whether to another period of study, or to another student.
5.6. All prices are listed in Australian Dollars and include GST.
6.1. Courses and/or classes may be cancelled if enrolments do not reach the minimum student requirement. In the event that a course is cancelled due to not reaching the minimum student requirement, students who are already enrolled in the course will be notified prior to the course commencement date and any associated fee(s) that have been paid will be refunded.
6.2. The Japan Foundation, Sydney reserves the right to cancel any enrolment applications received after a class has reached maximum capacity. Any associated fee(s) that have been paid will be refunded.
6.3. In cases where a class is cancelled due to circumstances that are beyond our control, students will be offered a substitute class and/or a full refund for the affected class(s). Each situation will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and the most appropriate course of action will be determined by The Japan Foundation, Sydney.
6.4. Students may cancel their enrolment up to five (5) business days before the first class of the term for the enrolled course. Students are required to notify J-Course via email (jcourse_sy@jpf.go.jp) in order to cancel their enrolment. Where an enrolment cancellation require is received before the stipulated five (5) business day requirement, all associated fee(s) will be refunded, minus a cancellation fee of $50.
6.5. Students who wish to cancel their enrolment after the cancellation deadline stipulated in 6.4 due to circumstances beyond their control may be eligible to receive a refund equal to 50% of any remaining course fees. Students are required to make a cancellation request to J-Course via email (jcourse_sy@jpf.go.jp) in order to cancel their enrolment. The refundable amount will be calculated from the date that J-Course receives a cancellation request. Cancellations requests received by 5pm on regular business days will be lodged on the same day. Cancellation requests received after 5pm or on weekends/holidays will be lodged on the next business day.
6.6. Depending on the banking institution that you are associated with, it may take between 5 to 10 business days from the day a refund is processed to reach your bank account.
6.7. Individual class refund requests are not available.
7.1. Students transferring (i.e. permanently changing) to a different course or class after the first two (2) weeks of a term will incur a transfer fee of $50. Transfer requests made within the first two (2) weeks will not incur a fee. In the event that a student has enrolled during the term, this transfer grace period will be reduced to one (1) week. A course and/or class transfer request may not be accommodated in all cases and circumstances. Course and class transfer requests can only be accommodated if the requested transfer course or class has an available place(s).
7.2. Course and/or class transfer requests must be submitted directly to the J-Course team via e-mail (jcourse_sy@jpf.go.jp) or Transfer Request Form.
8.1. Students are only permitted to attend one (1) class per week.
8.2. Students who are unable to join their enrolled class on a particular date are entitled to request to join a substitute class within the same week.
8.3. Substitute classes are only available for courses that are offering two (2) or more classes per week. A substitute class can only be taken within the same week of the original class.
8.4. Requests for a substitute class cannot be guaranteed due to limited places in each class. A substitute class request does not guarantee that a student will be able to join the requested substitute class. A substitute class request will only be considered ‘approved’ once an email confirmation is sent directly from the J-Course team.
8.5. Each student is permitted to request up to four (4) substitute classes per term.
8.6. Substitute class requests are accepted via the substitute class and absence request form on the Japan Foundation, Sydney website. In the event that The Japan Foundation, Sydney website cannot be accessed, requests may be accepted via email sent to J-Course (jcourse_sy@jpf.go.jp). Substitute class requests sent via email must include student’s full name, course level, regular class time, and date of their preferred substitute class. Substitute class requests must be sent at least two (2) hours before the regular class commences, or at least two (2) hours before the substitute class commences, whichever comes first. Requests will not be accepted if received after this time. As our Saturday classes fall outside of regular business hours, substitute class requests for Saturday classes must be submitted before 4pm of the preceding Friday.
8.7. Once a substitute class request has been approved, the student’s place in their original class becomes vacant and may be offered to other students who submit a substitute class request. Should a student cancel their substitute class request, a place in their original class may not be guaranteed and is subject to availability.
8.8. Students must inform J-Course via email (jcourse_sy@jpf.go.jp) if they are no longer able to attend an approved substitute class. In the instance where J-Course is not notified of an absence from an approved substitute class, the substitute class will still be counted towards a student’s substitute class quota of four (4) per term.
8.9. Substitute classes may not always be available through the same method of class delivery. For instance, a student who normally attends a class online may request to attend a substitute class held in-person, or vice-versa. It is the student’s responsibility to be adequately prepared and practically able to join the substitute class, i.e. the student has access to the requisite equipment necessary to join an online class, the student makes the necessary arrangements to join an in-person class at our Chippendale Centre in a timely manner.
9.1. The Japan Foundation, Sydney reserves the right to change teachers and classrooms during the term. Students will be informed of any such changes in advance via email and our online learning platform, Canvas.
9.2. The Japan Foundation, Sydney reserves the right to change the method of class delivery at any time, at its discretion. Students will be informed of any such changes in advance via email and our online learning platform, Canvas.
9.3. The Japan Foundation, Sydney, has a zero-tolerance policy regarding disruptive or aggressive behaviour from students, staff, and visitors. Where a student is deemed to be in breach of this policy, J-Course reserves the right and discretion to cancel their enrolment at any time. A cancelled enrolment will be refunded in accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in section 6.
10.1. The following terms apply to all students enrolled in an online class, in addition to the general J-Course Terms and Conditions outlined 1 to 8.
10.2. The technical prerequisites for online classes are as follows:
i. a computer or laptop (operating systems: Windows 10 or 8.1 / Mac OS X 10.10 or later),
ii. the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Safari,
iii. headphones with a microphone,
iv. a web camera, and
v. a stable internet connection, with at least a 1.2Mbps download speed and 600kbps upload speed.
The student is responsible for ensuring that the above technical requirements are met. Students who are unable to adhere to the above technical requirement andcause significant disruptions to class delivery and/or negatively affect other student’s ability to learn may be asked to rectify these technical requirements or change their attendance to an in–person class, where space is available. In the event that reasonable measures are not taken by the student to meet these technical requirements, a student’s enrolment may be cancelled. A cancelled enrolment will be refunded in accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in section 6.
10.3. Students are not permitted to record any class, including audio only, under any circumstance.
10.4. The student is required to participate with their web camera switched on during online instruction.
Updated: March 5, 2025