Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Designated courses

4.—(1) A course shall be designated for the purposes of Article 3(1) of the Order and regulation 3(1)(b) if it is—

(a) mentioned in Schedule 2;

(b) a full-time course;

(c) of at least one academic year’s duration; and

(d) wholly provided by an educational institution or institutions in the United Kingdom which are maintained or assisted by recurrent grants out of public funds or is provided by such an institution or institutions in conjunction with an institution or institutions outside the United Kingdom.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations a full-time course is a sandwich course or a course—

(a) which persons undertaking it are normally required by the institution providing it to attend (whether at premises of the institution or elsewhere)—

(i) in the case of a course of one academic years' duration, for a period of at least 24 weeks; and

(ii) in the case of a course of two or more academic years' duration, for a period of at least 24 weeks in each academic year except the final year and of at least eight weeks in the final year; and

(b) the nature of which is such that a person undertaking it would normally require to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience which together amount in each academic year to an average of at least 21 hours for each week for which attendance is required for the purposes of sub-paragraph (a).

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations a course is provided by an institution if it provides the teaching and supervision which comprises the course, whether or not it has entered an agreement with the student to provide the course.

(4) For the purposes of Article 3 of the Order and regulation 3(1) the Department may designate courses of higher education which are not designated under paragraph (1).