Welcome! Please read our Terms of Service ("T-O-S") and the G&A Institute Privacy Policy and Honor Code before you register or use this e-learning platform as a requirement for use of this platform.

The T-O-S, Privacy Policy and the Honor Code are to be considered as legal "Agreements" between you, the user, and Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. ("G&A Institute"), and the third party subject matter experts (SMEs) and curriculum providers presenting their content on the platform for your use.

By using the platform, you are agreeing to and accepting these "Agreements" and agree to comply with them. If you don't wish to comply, please do not use this platform or access content on the platform.

G&A Institute may update the T-O-S and other documents in the future and will display the notice for users.

Use of The G&A Institute - Sustainability Training HQ Platform

We designed this on-line e-learning and web-based coaching platform as part of our educational mission, to create learning/teaching/coaching/knowledge-sharing opportunities for SMEs, professors and students. The platform is designed to accommodate student learning at the student's own pace; to enable student-student and student-professor interactivity and communication; to allow for professors' assessment of students' work; and for other applications that the professors believe will benefit student-users.

On-line Conduct Guidelines

Students agree to be responsible for their own work and for the content of their "User" postings to the platform.

The information and resources generally made available to the student on this platform include such features as easy-to-use curricula for the students' use; interactive forums for posting; easy saving of notes; submission of questions; access to the help desk; the option of "office hours" for professors; "wiki" posts by students to share ideas and information; file uploading; content sharing...and more.

Each curriculum provider will decide on the specific resources to be made available as a part of their curriculum and learning experience — and, of course, these resources may vary from professor-to-professor.

The student agrees by use of the platform to comply with the Terms of Service; the Honor Code; instructions from the professor(s); and all applicable laws (local, state, federal, international) and regulations.

Protection of Intellectual Property

There is a range of laws and regulations protecting intellectual property — such as copyright and patent protection, protection of brands, and protection and use of other IP. There are "Fair Use" laws and regulations governing intellectual property and the educational purposes — it would be good for the student to know about these and adhere to generally-accepted guidelines. Information is available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

"Good behavior" on the platform includes displaying "good manners — such as not being disrespectful and indulge in abusive criticism of other users, or the professors; not "spamming" in any way; protecting the privacy rights of other users; not "hacking" or generally interrupting the use of the platform by others; and especially not damaging the platform in any way.

We reserve the right to terminate access of any user indulging in such behavior.

To be clear about civil, acceptable behaviors on the platform, G&A Institute requests that you adhere to the following:

• Do not post content that bullies others, might embarrass or threaten other users.
• Do not infringe of others' rights to enjoy the full use of their intellectual property (especially such IP as brands, logos, and copyrighted content or trademarked, or patented property).
• Don't post pornographic or other offensive content.
• You can share certain information that may have a commercial nature — but please don't use the platform for outright marketing of services and products. The platform is not intended to be for advertising or promotional purposes.
• Please don't post political or partisan or political or issue campaign-related content.
• Please do not damage the platform with malware, spyware, or any type of software that could damage the platform — or damage other users' computers and other devices used to access platform content.
• Don't post deliberately false information — we ask that you verify to the best of your ability the information and facts that are shared with others. Please do not make any attempt to mislead your fellow users, or the professors.

Protection of Intellectual Property on the Platform

Note that each curriculum provider owns the intellectual property that makes up the portion of the platform that hosts their content (the course presented) and all material related to that content.

The ownership will be clearly marked. The student agrees that by registering for the course work and becoming a user, he/she will adhere to laws, rules and regulations that protect intellectual property (such as copyrights for content) and will not misuse the property (such as by making illegal copies of curriculum and related materials).

For information on protected intellectual property, there is information at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/intellectual-property-ip-policy

Deliberate violations of protected intellectual property are subject to enforcement under: American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-113). The U.S. Department of Justice's Computer Crime and IP Section (CCIPS) is another source of information: http://www.justice.gov/criminal-ccips

Identification of "User" (Students)

The student / user will register using their full legal name, email, and legal address. User names will also be accepted. The platform enables the student to create their own password — and the privacy of this information (user name, password) will be protected by G&A Institute and the third party curriculum providers. Passwords should not be shared with any other person — these are meant for use only by registered users. Sharing of passwords will result in the cancellation of user access to the platform.

Users agree not to scrape, or download in bulk, any platform content, including but not limited to a list or directory of users on the system, on-line textbooks, User Postings or user information. Users agree not to misrepresent or attempt to misrepresent their identity while using the e-learning platform (You are welcome to use an anonymous username in the forums and to act in a manner that keeps your identity private.)

Users - Your Account and Permissions

To participate in activities on this platform, as explained above, you must provide your legal name, an email address and a user password — and create a user account (the "User Account").

You agree that you will never share access or access information for your User Account with any person or organization for any reason. In setting up your User Account, you may be prompted to enter additional optional information. All users represent that all information provided is accurate and current. Users agree to maintain and update their information to keep it accurate and current while using the platform. 

We care about the confidentiality and security of your personal information. Please see our Privacy Policy for details.

Your Right to Use the Platform / and Access the Content

By becoming a User, you have the right to access the material on the platform related to your course work. Unless identified as being in the public domain, the content on the platform is protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. Unless otherwise expressly stated on the platform, the texts, exams, video, images and other instructional materials provided with the courses offered are for your personal use in connection with those courses only.

For those interested in the subject, there is a wealth of information at "Intellectual Property Commons" — http://network.bepress.com/law/intellectual-property/

We will strive where possible to make certain course content available under "open license" terms and we encourage our third party curricula providers to do the same.

Certain reference documents, digital textbooks, articles and other information on the platform are used with the permission of third parties, and use of that information may be subject to rules and conditions. These will be posted along with the course-related information. By using this platform you agree to abide by all such rules and conditions.

You agree to protect and not share all copyright and other notices on any content you obtain from the platform. Content on the platform should be considered to be protected intellectual property.

About Student / User Posting / Comments

By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you affirm, represent and assure to G&A Institute and course providers the following:

• You have the appropriate rights, permissions, licenses, consents, etc, to reproduce and publish the User Postings.
• You assure that submission of your User Postings does not infringe on, or violate the rights of any third party. We stress that you — the User — will be solely responsible for your User Postings and the consequences of posting or publishing them. G&A Institute and the institutions and professors providing course content will be held harmless by you for intellectual property infringements.

Helpful Note: As a policy, the team at G&A Institute identifies the source of all content (text, photo, video, graphic representation) posted on its web sites and platforms and archives the source and permissions for future reference. This may include "free" (open use) content offered on the web or stock items licensed for use. It is a good policy to follow if you are inclined to use photos or art work, or quotations in your own work. Of course, sharing a link to protected intellectual property is a suitable means of bringing important subject matter to others' attention.

License Grant to G&A Institute. Unless you otherwise state your objection, or case-by-case exception, by submitting or distributing your User Postings, you are granting G&A Institute and the course providers (where applicable) a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, assignable, sub licensable, paid-up, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to host, transfer, display, perform, reproduce, modify, distribute, re-distribute, relicense and otherwise use, make available your User Postings, in whole or in part, in any form and in any media formats and through any media channels (now known or hereafter developed).

If you do not agree with this policy, please identify the specific content to be excluded as you create your User Posting — email us at: Training@ga-institute.com

Granting Permission to Use Content: By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you hereby grant to each user of the platform a non-exclusive license to access and use your User Postings in connection with their use of the platform for their own personal purposes.

Certificate of Completion

We encourage our course providers to consider issuing a Certificate of some kind at the completion of course material.

Generally, G&A Institute and/or the third party course providers on the platform may provide a certificate of completion, achievement or other acknowledgment ("Certificate") for students who, in their judgment, have satisfactorily demonstrated mastery of the course material.

The decision whether a Certificate will be awarded to a given student is up to the course providers. Institutions and professors providing courses on the platform reserve the option not to offer a Certificate for some courses or to students not completing the course work.

There may be a small payment required by course providers to receive a Certificate.

Registration and Payment

The payment for your User experience is processed by PayPal. You may be required to submit personal identity information as part of your registration.

Course Withdrawal and Potential Refunds. Depending on the terms imposed by course providers, for a period of seven (7) calendar working days from the course start date you may elect to withdraw or unregister from the course by clicking on the "unregister" link on the student dashboard. You can request a partial or full refund (depending on the terms offered by the course provider) by emailing: Training@ga-institute.com

Access to Other Courses. When you sign up for a course on this platform, you will not be an automatic applicant or enrollee for admission to, or enrolled in, any other course work offered by the same third party provider, or by G&A Institute.

Proof of Identify

G&A Institute and third party curriculum providers reserve the right to request authentication of your identity. This generally may include some or all of the following:

• National Government or State/Province issued driver’s license with photo.
• Passport with photo.
• National ID card.
• State or Province issued identification of some kind.

Your platform ID must include:

• Your full legal name exactly as presented in the identification
• A current photograph of you
• Be current and valid — note that expired documents will not be accepted

Notes About G&A Institute Trademarks / Brands

Copyrights / Trademarks / Service Marks

The Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. logo and terminology, the design of the platform, and certain related content displayed are the protected intellectual property of the Institute and Users agree to protect the integrity of that content and not make unauthorized copies of the logo or other G&A identified materials.

Similarly, as identified by the SME, institution or professor presenting curricula and related material on the platform, all of their respective brands, trademarks, service marks, and other intellectual property may not be used without the express permission of the owner.

Nothing that is housed on this platform should be considered as usable for any purpose (such as posting on other digital, video, print platforms or media) without the express permission of the respective content owners.

Notices for Intellectual Property Owners

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Intellectual property owners who believe their material has been infringed in some way on the platform should contact Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. via email: LearningPlatform@ga-institute.com or by U.S. Mail: 845 Third Avenue, NY NY 10022 - Sixth Floor.

We request that the information include:

• Identification of the protected work.
• Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity. Please include sufficient information for us to locate the material (e.g., URLs, IP addresses, computer name).
• Information for us to be able to contact the complaining party (e.g., your email address, phone and fax number).
• A statement that the complaining party believes that the use of the material has not been authorized by the copyright owner or an authorized agent.
• A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Important Disclaimers.

Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. does its best to protect the privacy of Users, and content providers. We contract with reputable security services to maintain the highest level available to them to secure the platform and the information therein.

We live in a world of prying eyes and mischief-makers. We cannot guarantee that there will be no interruption of service for Users. We will do our best to keep the platform operating at 99% "up," 24/7. In the event of service interruption we will make our best effort with our service providers to get the platform back to normal operating conditions as quickly as possible.

The third party course providers separately offer students/users assurance that the information related to their learning experience will be held in confidence.

User Postings Disclaimer. When using the platform you will be exposed to User Postings from a variety of sources — there is no guarantee that the material that you see in User Posting is accurate, fact-based, or does not violate the intellectual property rights of others.

User Postings - Cautionary Notes: Users may be exposed to [other] User Postings that may not be accurate, or are offensive, defamatory, indecent or personally objectionable. Please notify the professors and G&A Institute if this occurs. In use of the platform Users agree to hold G&A Institute harmless for their exposure to such material. We reserve the right to remove the User Posting that is offensive.

Links to Other Sites: A popular means of sharing information with others is the provision of a link to the material which is on web sites of third parties. We do not routinely screen, or approve the content found at the URL contained in the link. If you decide to access linked third-party websites, you do so at your own risk.

Indemnification of G&A Institute and Third Party Providers

In using this platform, you agree to hold harmless and indemnify Governance & Accountability Institute, and the third party curricula providers against any claims, legal actions or demands rising out of, resulting from or in any way related to your use of the platform. This includes liability or expense arising from any and all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), lawsuits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys' fees.

Other Notes

Entire Agreement. These Terms of Service, the Honor Code, and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and Governance & Accountability Institute, with respect to your use of the platform.

Choice of Legal Jurisdiction: Users agree that these Terms of Service and any claim or dispute arising out of or relating to these TOS or any content or service obtained from or through the platform will be governed by the laws of the State of New York.

Effective Date: June 20, 2015.