Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations, which have effect from 1st September 1992 replace, with amendments, the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991 (“the previous Regulations”).

The Regulations govern the making of awards (“mandatory awards”) which it is the duty of education and library boards to make to specified persons. They do not relate to awards (“discretionary awards”) which, in pursuance of Article 50(3) of the Order of 1986, boards may make under arrangements approved by the Department of Education.

While their text and format do not repeat exactly the provision made in England and Wales, the Regulations maintain parity of awards for Northern Ireland students with their English and Welsh counterparts. They parallel in substance most of the provisions of the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations 1992 S. I. 1992/1270 made by the Secretary of State for Education and Science relating to awards for students from England and Wales.

The principal changes (other than the changes in the rates of fees, grants and allowances) as compared with the previous Regulations, are described below —

• Provision is now made to enable Boards to disregard, in defined circumstances, previous attendance at a course where a person is seeking an award for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, the Art Teacher’s Certificate or Diploma or the degree of Bachelor of Education (regulation 9(2)).

• A new regulation has been introduced under which Boards may make awards for part-time courses of teacher training (regulation 16). Other regulations and Schedules have been affected as a consequence; notably: regulation 3(1) which now defines a “course of initial teacher training” ; regulation 17(2); Schedule 6(a)(ii) and Schedule 7, paragraph 7(4) and paragraph 13.

• The time limits for the payment of fees have been amended (regulation 17(4)).

• Provision has been made to prevent students who had received a mandatory award to attend a course leading to the Diploma in Higher Education or the Higher National Diploma from receiving a second award to attend a second, similar course. Provision has also been made to prevent students who had received a mandatory award to attend a first degree course of 2 years' duration from receiving a second award to attend a further first degree course of any duration (Schedule 2 paragraph 2). Transitional provisions (regulation 8(3)) have been made in both cases to allow second awards already bestowed to continue to be paid.

• The provision on the payment of tuition fees for sandwich courses has been amended so that, in a year in which there are periods of experience and short periods of full-time study occur (of no more than 10 weeks' study in total), a half-fee instead of a full-fee is payable (Schedule 6 paragraph (a)(vii)).

• The rules for deciding upon a parental contribution have been amended so that, where a student with separated parents lives with one parent but the parental contribution is assessed on the other parent and that other parent dies, the contribution is no longer assessed instead on the surviving parent (Schedule 8 paragraph 3(e)).

• the separate rules for assessing the parental contribution for students whose courses started before 15th March 1988 have been removed (Schedule 8).