The Education (Proposed Further and Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 1989

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision for the government of proposed institutions of further or higher education intended to be established and maintained by a local education authority (“LEA”).

Regulation 2 provides that a proposed institution shall have an instrument and articles of government by applying sections 151 and 152 of the Education Reform Act 1988 (“the Act”) to it as if it were an established institution, subject to certain modifications. The instrument and articles are to be made at least six months before the institution is to be established, or within one month of the decision to establish, if later. It further provides that a proposed institution should have a temporary governing body constituted in accordance with the instrument of government, but that the temporary governing body should not include persons who are to be staff of the institution (other than the principal-designate), persons who are to be students, or parents of prospective students. The temporary governing body is to be established as soon as possible after the approval by the Secretary of State of the instrument and articles of government, and in any event within 2 months of that approval. Its quorum is to be 40 per cent. of the membership.

Regulation 3 provides for the delegation by the LEA to the temporary governing body of the management of the proposed institution’s share of their further and higher education budget and for the application, with necessary modifications, of various provisions in the Act applying to established institutions. It further provides that it is to be for the temporary governing body, and not the LEA, to select staff for the proposed institution. Delegation is only required in the case of a proposed institution which the LEA intends will have two hundred or more full-time equivalent students when it opens.