Arden University
We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.
The Armed Forces Covenant
An enduring covenant between the people of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Government and all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown and their families
The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.
Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.
This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.
Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant
1.1 We Arden University will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment
2.1 Arden University recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by pledging to the following:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- Armed Forces Day
- Reserve Forces Day
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Reservists
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
We also pledge the following:
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Education — Access and Participation: Arden University will ensure that members of the Armed Forces community — including serving personnel, veterans, reservists, and their families — face no disadvantage in accessing our programmes. We will actively promote flexible routes into higher education, including recognition of prior experiential learning, to enable those with service backgrounds to gain credit for the knowledge, skills and experience they have acquired through their military careers.
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Education — Flexible Distance Learning: As a digital first, distance learning institution, Arden University is well placed to support serving personnel and veterans who require flexibility in where and when they study. We will ensure our distance learning model and student support services are responsive to the particular circumstances of military life, including deployment, posting and non-standard schedules. We will seek to offer modular and Lifelong Learning Entitlement-aligned study options to enable learners to build qualifications progressively around their service commitments.
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Education — Funding and Financial Support: Arden University will seek registration as an ap-proved provider under the Ministry of Defence’s Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Ser-vice (ELCAS), enabling eligible serving and former service personnel to use government-funded credits towards the cost of their studies. We will ensure that information about ELCAS and other available funding routes is clearly accessible to prospective students from Armed Forces backgrounds.
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Education — Curriculum and Practitioner Engagement: Arden University will seek to embed the knowledge, skills and lived experience of Armed Forces personnel within its academic community. Through our relevant programmes we will draw on the expertise of serving and former military professionals as educators and contributors, ensuring that our curricula reflect the realities of service life and the defence, security and intelligence sectors.
2.2 We will publicise these commitments through our literature and/or on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.