Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013 and come into operation on 22nd October 2013.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to the provision of support to students in relation to an academic year which begins on or after 1st September 2014 whether anything done under these Regulations is done before, on or after 1st September 2014.

Amendment of the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

2.  The Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009(1) are amended as provided by regulations 3 to 17 and the Schedule.

3.  In regulation 2(1)—

(a) after the definition of “accelerated course” insert—

• ““authority-funded” means—

  (a)

  in relation to educational institutions in Northern Ireland, maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from the Department or the Department for Agriculture and Rural Development;

  (b)

  in relation to educational institutions in England, maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from the Higher Education Funding Council for England;

  (c)

  in relation to educational institutions in Wales, maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from the Higher Education Funding Councils for Wales; and

  (d)

  in relation to educational institutions in Scotland, maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from the Scottish Funding Council;”;

(b) in the definition of “current system student”(2) after paragraph (b)(iii) add “or” and insert—

“(iv) where the course mentioned in paragraph (iii) is an end-on course following on from a course that the student began before 1st September 2013 at any such institution;”.

(c) for the definition of “Erasmus year” substitute—

• ““Erasmus year” means an academic year of a course where a student is participating in the action scheme of the EU for the mobility of university students known as ERASMUS and the student’s course is a course referred to in regulation 6(1)(e) and—

  (a)

  where the course began before 1st September 2012, all the periods of study or work placement during the academic year are attended at an institution or workplace outside the United Kingdom (as the case may be);

  (b)

  where the course began on or after 1 st September 2012 and is provided by an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland, all the periods of study or work placement during the academic year are attended at an institution or workplace outside the United Kingdom (as the case may be); or

  (c)

  where the course began on or after 1 st September 2012 and is provided by an institution in England or Wales—

  (i)

  at least one period of study or work placement is attended at an institution or workplace outside the United Kingdom (as the case may be); and

  (ii)

  either—

  (aa)

  in respect of that academic year the aggregate of any one or more periods of full-time study at the institution in the United Kingdom is less than 10 weeks; or

  (bb)

  in respect of that academic year and any previous academic years of the course the aggregate of any one or more periods of attendance which are not periods of full-time study at the institution in the United Kingdom (disregarding intervening vacations) exceeds 30 weeks;”;

(d) in the definition of “ordinary duration”—

(i) omit the words “bursary years or Erasmus years”; and

(ii) after “are” insert—

“but does not include an academic year that is—

(a) a bursary year;

(b) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland; or

(c) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in England or Wales where the course began before 1st September 2012;”.

(e) in the definition of “preliminary course” after the words “means a course” insert the words “or courses”;

(f) in the definition of “standard academic year”—

(i) omit the words “(other than an academic year that is a bursary year or an Erasmus year)”; and

(ii) after “student” insert—

“but does not include an academic year that is—

(a) a bursary year;

(b) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland; or

(c) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in England or Wales where the course began before 1st September 2012;”.

4.  In regulation 6—

(a) for sub-paragraph (1)(e) substitute—

“(e) either—

(i) wholly provided by an authority-funded educational institution;

(ii) provided by a publicly funded institution in the United Kingdom or by a relevant institution of higher education in the Republic of Ireland on behalf of an authority-funded educational institution; or

(iii) provided by an authority-funded educational institution in conjunction with an institution outside the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland; and;”

(b) in paragraph (6)—

(i) in sub-paragraph (b), for the words “publicly funded” substitute “authority-funded” in each place where they occur;

(ii) at the end of sub-paragraph (b), omit the word “and”;

(iii) in sub-paragraph (c), after the words “publicly funded” insert “or authority-funded”;

(iv) at the end of sub-paragraph (c), for the full stop substitute “; and”; and

(v) after sub-paragraph (c), insert—

“(d) a course is not to be regarded as provided on behalf of an authority-funded educational institution where a part of the course is provided by a private institution.”

5.  In regulation 20—

(a) in paragraph (3)(a), for “a bursary year or an Erasmus year”, substitute—

“—

(i) a bursary year;

(ii) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland; or

(iii) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in England or Wales where the course began before 1st September 2012;”;

(b) in paragraph (3)(b) for the words “the Business Education Initiative” substitute “Study USA”;

(c) for paragraph (8), substitute—

“(8) In addition to the standard entitlement, a current system student who falls within regulation 23 and has failed to complete the most recent previous course because of compelling personal reasons qualifies for a fee loan in respect of the first academic year that the student takes of the designated course that is not—

(a) a bursary year;

(b) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland; or

(c) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in England or Wales where the course began before 1st September 2012;”;

(d) in paragraph (9), for “a bursary year or an Erasmus year” substitute—

“—

(a) a bursary year;

(b) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland; or

(c) an Erasmus year of a course provided by an institution in England or Wales where the course began before 1st September 2012;”

(e) after paragraph (13) add—

“(14) The amount of the relevant institution charge loan in respect of an academic year is determined in accordance with regulation 25A and may be nil.”

6.  In regulation 57(3)(a), after “Erasmus year” insert “in accordance with regulation 20(3)”.

7.  In regulation 59—

(a) in sub-paragraph (3)(a), after “Erasmus year” insert “in accordance with regulation 20(3)”;

(b) in sub-paragraph (4)(3), for the word “regulation” substitute “paragraph”.

8.  In regulation 63(3)(a) for the words “the Business Education Initiative” substitute “Study USA”

9.  In regulation 64(4)(a) for the words “the Business Education Initiative” substitute “Study USA”

10.  In regulation 101(15) for paragraphs (a) and (b) substitute—

“(a) the Department must subtract from any amount of loan which remains to be paid under Part 6 such an amount as is necessary to ensure that the student does not borrow an amount of loan under Part 6 which is greater than that for which the student qualifies;

(b) if the amount to be subtracted is greater than the amount of loan remaining to be paid under Part 6, the amount of that loan remaining to be paid is reduced to nil;”.

11.  In regulation 104—

(a) paragraph (11) in sub-paragraph (a), for the words “any amount of the loan in question payable to the student from time to time” substitute “any amount of loan payable to the student from time to time under Part 6”;

(b) in paragraph (12), for the words “any amount of the loan in question payable to the student from time to time” substitute “any amount of loan payable to the student from time to time under Part 6”.

12.  In regulation 124—

(a) in paragraph (1), for sub-paragraph (d) substitute—

“(d) it is either—

(i) wholly provided by an authority-funded educational institution;

(ii) provided by a publicly funded institution in the United Kingdom on behalf of an authority-funded educational institution; or

(iii) provided by an authority-funded educational institution in conjunction with an institution outside the United Kingdom;”;

(b) in paragraph (5)—

(i) in sub-paragraph (b), for the words “publicly funded”, in each place where they occur, substitute “authority-funded”;

(ii) at the end of sub-paragraph (b), omit the word “and”;

(iii) in sub-paragraph (c), after the words “publicly funded” insert “or authority-funded”;

(iv) at the end of sub-paragraph (c), for the full stop substitute “; and”; and

(v) after sub-paragraph (c), insert—

“(d) a course is not to be regarded as provided on behalf of an authority-funded educational institution where a part of the course is provided by a private institution.”.

13.  In regulation 141—

(a) in paragraph (1), for sub-paragraph (c) substitute—

“(c) it is either—

(i) wholly provided by an authority-funded educational institution;

(ii) provided by a publicly funded institution in the United Kingdom on behalf of an authority-funded educational institution; or

(iii) provided by an authority-funded educational institution in conjunction with an institution outside the United Kingdom;”;

(b) in paragraph (2)—

(i) in sub-paragraph (b), for the words “publicly funded”, in each place where they occur, substitute “authority-funded”;

(ii) at the end of sub-paragraph (b), omit the word “and”;

(iii) in sub-paragraph (c), after the words “publicly funded” insert “or authority-funded”;

(iv) at the end of sub-paragraph (c), for the full stop substitute “; and”; and

(v) after sub-paragraph (c), insert—

“(d) a course is not to be regarded as provided on behalf of an authority-funded educational institution where a part of the course is provided by a private institution.”.

14.  In Schedule 3, omit paragraph 6.

15.  In paragraph 5(6)(a) of Schedule 5, omit the words “, ordinarily resident” in each place where they occur.

16.  In Schedule 6, omit the words “St Catherine’s College, Sion Hill, Co Dublin” and “Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute”.

17.  The Schedule has effect to substitute the figures in the third column of the table for the figures in the second column where they appear in the regulations of the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 set out in the first column.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Employment and Learning on 18th September 2013.

Dr Stephen Farry MLA

Minister for Employment and Learning