The Student Fees (Qualifying Courses and Persons) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

Prescribed description of a qualifying person

5.—(1) A qualifying person who is prescribed for the purposes of Article 4 of the Order is a person who falls within the Schedule on the first day of an academic year which begins during the grant period, other than—

(a) a person who is not eligible for support under the Student Support Regulations by reason of regulation 5(3)(c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) of those Regulations, or

(b) a person mentioned in paragraph (2) or (6).

(2) Subject to the exception in paragraphs (3) to (5), a person is not a qualifying person if—

(a) he has an honours degree from an institution in the United Kingdom; or

(b) he has an honours degree from an institution in the Republic of Ireland,

for which he received financial support under previous Regulations for some or all of the academic years during which he took the course leading to the award of the honours degree.

(3) Paragraph (2) does not apply where—

(a) the qualifying course is a course for the initial training of teachers;

(b) the duration of the course does not exceed two years (the duration of a part-time course being expressed as its full-time equivalent); and

(c) the qualifying person is not a qualified teacher.

(4) Paragraph (2) does not apply in respect of any part of a single course where—

(a) the single course leads to an honours degree being conferred on the qualifying person from an institution in the United Kingdom or a relevant institution of higher education in the Republic of Ireland before the final degree or equivalent qualification; and

(b) the qualifying person only has an honours degree which was received as part of that single course.

(5) Paragraph (2) does not apply where the qualifying course is a course leading to a degree in social work at an educational institution in Northern Ireland

(6) Where an event occurs in the course of an academic year and as a result a person falls within the Schedule in the course of an academic year, he is not a qualifying person in respect of the academic year in which the relevant event occurred or any previous academic year.

(7) In this regulation “a relevant institution of higher education in the Republic of Ireland” means an institution listed in Schedule 6 to the Student Support Regulations.