Article 1 — Purpose and scope
These specific terms govern enrolment on the Foundation Year in French for University run by Centre Zenith (SASU, SIRET 832 566 038 00036), hereafter "the programme".
They apply to this programme only, and for it they prevail over the general terms of use and over the general terms covering evening and weekend classes — in particular on enrolment, fees, payment schedule and refunds. For anything they do not cover — use of the site, personal data, intellectual property, liability — the general terms continue to apply.
Payment of the deposit set out in Article 5 constitutes acceptance of these terms.
Article 2 — Application and admission
Places are limited and admission is decided on the strength of your file. You apply online and there is no application fee.
Centre Zenith may invite you to an interview. You receive an answer within ten days of your application reaching us.
Applications for the intake of 4 January 2027 close on 31 October 2026. No enrolment is accepted after the programme has started.
Article 3 — The programme
- 600 hours of class over 31 weeks, from 4 January 2027 to mid-August;
- 20 hours a week, Monday to Friday, four hours a day;
- two holiday weeks, one at Easter and one at Ascension;
- three Saturdays of guided visits to cultural and historic sites, led by your teacher: these are teaching days, and they are part of the 600 hours. The dates are given in advance and may change;
- 5 to 12 students per class.
The detailed calendar is issued before the start. Centre Zenith may move a session (public holiday, a teacher unavailable, force majeure); the total number of hours is maintained. Students may or may not have the same teacher throughout the programme.
Article 4 — Fees
Tuition for the full 600-hour programme is €7,200. Centre Zenith does not charge VAT on tuition: this is the total amount payable and nothing is added to it.
The following are not included:
- the DELF B2 exam fee of €150, paid separately when you register for a session;
- the textbooks used during the programme, which you buy yourself. Any supplementary material your teacher suggests is optional;
- travel and any entrance fees for the three guided visits;
- living costs (accommodation, transport, food, insurance).
Bank transfer charges on payments to Centre Zenith are paid by the student: payments must be sent with the charges settled at your end, so that the full amount reaches Centre Zenith. Where a refund is due, Centre Zenith returns the full amount it received and keeps nothing: €1,000 received is €1,000 sent back. Any commission or fee then taken by an intermediary bank, by your own bank or by a payment provider is outside Centre Zenith's control and is neither deducted from, nor added to, the amount refunded.
Centre Zenith sends back everything it actually received and takes nothing out. Bank charges, however, are outside its control on both legs of the journey: a correspondent bank may take a fee on the way in — in which case Centre Zenith receives less than the student sent — and again on the way out. You may therefore receive slightly less than you transferred, without Centre Zenith having kept any of it.
Article 5 — Payment schedule
- Once your application is accepted, you pay a deposit of €2,160, being 30% of the tuition.
- Centre Zenith then issues your attestation d'inscription, the document the consulate asks for in support of your student visa application.
- The balance of €5,040 is due at the latest 14 working days before the first day of class.
The attestation d'inscription is issued only once the deposit has actually cleared. If the balance is not paid within that period, Centre Zenith may refuse access to the classroom.
Article 6 — Visa refusal
If your student visa is refused, Centre Zenith refunds everything you have paid, in full.
You send us the written refusal from the consulate or competent authority. There is no deadline on your side for sending it. The refund is made within 30 days of that document reaching us and covers the deposit, the balance, and the exam fee if you have already paid it. Centre Zenith keeps nothing and sends back everything it received; only charges taken by the banks on the way back, which are outside its control, can reduce what finally reaches you (Article 4).
This article expressly overrides Article 7: a visa refusal is not a withdrawal.
Article 7 — Withdrawal
Statutory cooling-off period
Under articles L.221-18 and following of the French Consumer Code, an individual student has 14 days from the conclusion of the contract to withdraw, without giving a reason and without penalty. Everything paid is returned in full. Because the contract is concluded several weeks before the start, this period runs out before the first day of class.
Withdrawal after the cooling-off period and before the start
After that period, one question decides what happens to the money: was your visa refused?
Visa refused, on production of the written refusal from the consulate or competent authority: everything you have paid is refunded in full, on the terms of Article 6. Centre Zenith keeps nothing, subject only to the bank charges on the way back (Articles 4 and 6).
Any other withdrawal, at whatever moment before the start, or not appearing on the first day: the deposit of €2,160 is retained by Centre Zenith. The place was held in your name, other applicants were turned away, and your attestation d'inscription — issued in support of a visa application — cannot be recalled once it has been used. The balance, if already paid, is returned to you.
The deposit is not lost to you, however: it is held to your credit. If you come back to Centre Zenith — for a later intake of the foundation year, or for another course — that sum is set against what you have to pay, and you do not pay it a second time. The credit is personal to you, cannot be transferred to anyone else, and applies once only: if you also give up that second enrolment, the deposit is definitively retained by Centre Zenith. It is valid for three years from the start date of the intake you gave up — that is, the three following intakes.
Leaving after the programme has started
From the first day of class, the tuition remains payable in full and no refund is made, whatever your actual attendance. The programme is sold as a single academic year: a place taken cannot be reallocated mid-year.
A student who has had to break off nevertheless keeps the possibility of finishing. You may join a later intake to follow the hours you missed, with nothing more to pay. This depends on a later intake actually being run and on a place being free on it, so it cannot be guaranteed in advance. It is offered once only — a student who also breaks off the second time cannot ask for a third — and must be taken up within three years of the start of the interrupted session.
Force majeure
If you are prevented from following the programme by force majeure, duly recognised and supported by documents, you may end the contract. In that case, only the hours actually delivered remain payable; anything you paid for hours not delivered is refunded to you. For another serious reason (serious illness, the death of a close relative), supported by documents, Centre Zenith may refund the unused hours pro rata or move your enrolment to a later intake.
Article 8 — Cancellation by Centre Zenith
If Centre Zenith has to cancel the session — minimum number of enrolments not reached, force majeure — you are offered either a transfer to a later session or a full refund of the sums paid, at your choice. The refund is made within 14 days of the cancellation. Nothing here limits any right you hold under the general law.
Article 9 — Attendance
Attendance and punctuality are conditions of following the programme. Attendance is recorded at every session.
If you hold a student visa, you are reminded that your residence permit is tied to actually following a course of study. Centre Zenith issues attendance certificates when asked, whether by you or by an authority entitled to request them.
Article 10 — Certification
The programme prepares you for the DELF B2, a French State diploma awarded by France Éducation international. Centre Zenith holds the Label Qualité FLE and is an official DELF–DALF exam centre: you prepare for the exam and sit it on our premises.
Registering for an exam session is separate from enrolling on the programme, and the exam fee is not refundable once your application has been sent to the certifying body.
The exam result cannot be guaranteed. Centre Zenith provides the teaching, without an obligation as to result. A training certificate is issued at the end of the programme; it is not a diploma.
Article 11 — Accommodation and employment
Centre Zenith helps students look for accommodation and part-time work: we explain how the search works in France, we go over your applications with you, and we point you to the channels that work.
This help carries no obligation as to result. Centre Zenith does not guarantee that you will find accommodation or a job, and is not a party to any contract you sign with a landlord or an employer.
Article 12 — Image rights
You authorise Centre Zenith to use your comments, testimonials, photographs and videos taken during class to promote the school, including on the website and on social networks. You may decline this at the time of signing, or withdraw it at any time by a written request.
If you decline or withdraw, images in which you appear alone or are the main subject are taken down. Group photographs are kept, but your face is masked so that you are no longer identifiable in them.
Article 13 — Conduct and exclusion
Students undertake to respect the other participants, the teaching team and the teaching materials. Disruptive behaviour may result in a warning and, if repeated, in exclusion.
Serious misconduct calls for no prior warning: violence, threats, sexual or moral harassment, sexist or discriminatory behaviour, forgery of documents, cheating in an examination. Conduct of a sexual or sexist nature directed at another student or at a member of the team is serious misconduct whether or not it is repeated. Where the situation requires it, Centre Zenith may remove the student from the premises immediately, as a temporary measure, before any decision is taken.
No sanction is imposed without the student first being informed in writing of the grievances against them. Where the sanction under consideration would affect their presence on the programme, they are summoned to an interview by registered letter or by letter delivered against receipt, may be assisted by a person of their choice, and are heard before any decision is taken, in accordance with articles R.6352-4 and following of the French Labour Code. The decision is notified to them in writing and gives reasons.
On exclusion, the tuition remains payable in full and no refund is made: a place is taken for the academic year and cannot be reallocated once teaching has begun, and the teaching hours, the classroom and the materials are provided whether or not the student attends — Centre Zenith's costs are therefore not reduced by the exclusion.
Students may not approach a teacher directly for private lessons, nor teachers students: any such request goes through Centre Zenith.
Article 14 — Governing law, language and changes
These terms are governed by French law. The French version prevails; the English version is a courtesy translation.
Centre Zenith may change these terms. The terms that apply are those in force on the date the deposit is paid. In the event of a dispute, the student may refer the matter to the competent consumer ombudsman before bringing legal proceedings.