The Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Prospective

Eligible postgraduate students N.I.

101.—(1) An eligible postgraduate student qualifies, subject to and in accordance with this Part, for a grant to assist with the additional expenditure which the Department is satisfied he is obliged to incur by reason of a disability to which he is subject in respect of his undertaking a designated postgraduate course.

(2) Subject to paragraph (4), a person is an eligible postgraduate student in connection with a designated postgraduate course if he satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

(3) The conditions are—

(a) the Department has determined in connection with the designated postgraduate course that the person falls within one of the categories set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1; and

(b) the Department is satisfied that, by reason of a disability to which the person is subject, he will be obliged to incur additional expenditure in respect of his undertaking the course.

(4) A person is not an eligible postgraduate student if—

(a) there has been made to him or paid to him in connection with the course—

(i) a bursary or award of similar description under Article 44 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 or section 63 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968;

(ii) any allowance under the Nursing and Midwifery Student Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1992(1);

(iii) any allowance, bursary or award of similar description made by a Research Council;

(iv) any allowance, bursary or award of similar description made by his institution which includes any payment for the purpose of meeting additional expenditure incurred by the student by reason of his disability; or

(v) any allowance, bursary or award of similar description made under section 14 (4) (a) of the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001(2) which includes payment for meeting additional expenditure incurred by the student by reason of his disability;

(b) he is in breach of an obligation to repay any loan;

(c) he has reached the age of 18 and has not ratified any agreement for a loan made with him when he was under the age of 18; or

(d) he has, in the opinion of the Department, shown himself by his conduct to be unfitted to receive support.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(b) and (c), “loan” means a loan made under the student loans legislation.

(6) In a case where the agreement for a loan is subject to the law of Scotland, paragraph (4)(c) only applies if the agreement was made—

(a) before 25th September 1991; and

(b) with the concurrence of the borrower’s curator or at a time when he had no curator.

(7) An eligible postgraduate student does not qualify for a grant under this Part if the only paragraph in Part 2 of Schedule 1 into which he falls is paragraph 9.

(8) An eligible postgraduate student does not qualify for a grant under this Part unless the Department considers that he is undertaking his course in the United Kingdom.

(9) Despite paragraphs (3)(a) and (4), a person is an eligible postgraduate student for the purposes of this Part if he satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3)(b) and in paragraph (10) or (11).

(10) The conditions are—

(a) the person qualified as an eligible postgraduate student in connection with an earlier academic year of the current designated postgraduate course pursuant to regulations made by the Department under Article 3 of the Order; and

(b) the person’s status as an eligible postgraduate student has not terminated.

(11) The conditions are—

(a) the Department has previously determined that the person is an eligible postgraduate student in connection with a designated postgraduate course other than the current designated postgraduate course;

(b) the student’s status as an eligible postgraduate student in connection with the course referred to in sub-paragraph (a) has been transferred from that course to the current designated postgraduate course as a result of one or more transfers in accordance with regulations made by the Department under Article 3 of the Order; and

(c) the person’s status as an eligible postgraduate student has not terminated.

(12) An eligible postgraduate student may not, at any one time, qualify for support for—

(a) more than one designated postgraduate course;

(b) a designated postgraduate course and a designated course;

(c) a designated postgraduate course and a designated part-time course.

(13) Where one of the events listed in paragraph (14) occurs in the course of an academic year—

(a) a student may qualify for a grant under this Part in respect of that academic year in accordance with this Part; and

(b) a grant of the kind available under this Part is not available in respect of any academic year beginning before the academic year in which the relevant event occurred.

(14) The events are—

(a) the student’s course becomes a designated postgraduate course;

(b) the student, his spouse, his civil partner or his parent is recognised as a refugee or becomes a person with leave to enter or remain as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 1;

(c) the state of which the student is a national accedes to the European Community where the student has been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands throughout the three-year period immediately preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course;

(d) the student acquires the right of permanent residence as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 1;

(e) the student becomes a person described in paragraph 6(1)(a) of Schedule 1; or

(f) the student becomes the child of a Swiss national.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 101 in operation at 1.9.2006, see reg. 1

(1)

S.I. 1992/580, amended by S.S.I. 2002/423 and S.S.I. 2003/401.

(2)

2001 c. 3 (N.I.)