Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Act 2026

32 Designation of private providers of higher and further education

(1) The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 is modified as follows.

(2) After section 74 insert—

“74A Designation of private providers of higher and further education

(1) The Scottish Ministers may, on application by a relevant education provider, designate the provider for the purpose of this section.

(2) In this section, “relevant education provider” means a person or body which—

(a) provides higher education or further education, and

(b) carries on activities in Scotland or in another part of the United Kingdom.

(3) A relevant education provider is to be treated as having been designated for the purpose of this section if—

(a) the Secretary of State has designated the provider under section 84 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017,

(b) the Welsh Ministers have designated the provider under section 83 of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022, or

(c) the Department of Education in Northern Ireland has designated the provider’s courses as eligible for student support under Article 3 of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (1998/1760) (N.I. 14).

(4) A provider which has been designated for the purpose of this section may apply to the Scottish Ministers for particular courses of education it provides to be approved for the payment of allowances or loans by virtue of section 73(f) of this Act.

(5) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations make provision about—

(a) the process for applying for a designation,

(b) the charging of a fee for applying for a designation, including—

(i) the amount of the fee payable, and

(ii) the circumstances in which the fee is to be waived by Ministers,

(c) the process for making a designation (including provision about the factors which Ministers are to take into account when deciding whether to make a designation),

(d) the withdrawal of a designation (including provision about the factors which Ministers are to take into account when deciding whether to withdraw a designation),

(e) the effect of withdrawal of a designation (including provision for allowances or loans made by virtue of regulations under section 73(f) to continue to be payable following withdrawal of a designation),

(f) the process for applying for particular courses of education to be approved for the payment of allowances or loans by virtue of section 73(f) of this Act (including provision about the factors which Ministers are to take into account when deciding whether to approve courses).

(6) Regulations under subsection (5) may make different provision for different purposes.

(7) In this section—

• “further education” means a programme of learning which falls within section 6 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992,

• “higher education” has the meaning given by section 38 of that Act.”.