These Regulations amend the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (“the 2009 Regulations”). The 2009 Regulations provide for financial support for students taking designated higher education courses in respect of an academic year beginning on or after 1st September 2010.

Regulation 3(a) inserts a new paragraph into regulation 20 of the 2009 Regulations so that from 1st September 2014 students entering the first year of a full-time first degree course who have undertaken a preliminary course on a part-time basis are eligible to receive a fee loan or relevant institution charge loan provided that it is not a bursary year or an Erasmus year of a course provided at an institution in Northern Ireland or Scotland. Regulation 3(b) and (c) make consequential amendments. Regulation 3(d) corrects a drafting error.

An impact assessment has not been prepared in respect of this instrument as it has no impact on the cost of business, charities or voluntary bodies.