EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations prescribe the qualifying courses and qualifying persons for the purposes of section 5 of the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) which sets out that fee and access plans must specify (or provide for the determination of) fee limits in relation to qualifying courses each academic year.
Fee limits are the maximum amount which a qualifying person will have to pay an institution for undertaking a qualifying course.
Section 5(2)(b) of the 2015 Act enables the Welsh Ministers to prescribe a description of qualifying courses, and section 5(5)(b) enables them to prescribe classes of persons as qualifying persons.
The qualifying courses prescribed by regulation 3 are those courses which are capable of being designated by regulations made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 where the first academic year of the course begins on or after 1 September 2012. Designation under those regulations means that students can apply for student support in respect of undertaking a course. There is an exception for “end-on courses” where the original course began before 1 September 2012.
The qualifying persons prescribed by regulation 4 are those persons who, on the first day of the relevant academic year, fall within the Schedule, save for those persons who are not eligible for support under the Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2015 by reason of certain paragraphs of regulation 4 of those Regulations, or who already have an honours degree from a UK institution.
There is an exception for those students who transfer to a qualifying course from a course which began before 1 September 2012. There are exceptions in respect of a previous honours degrees for persons undertaking courses of initial teacher training, who have obtained the honours degree only as part of a single course they are currently undertaking or where the course leads to a qualification as a social worker, medical doctor, dentist, veterinary surgeon or architect.
Regulations 5 and 6 make supplementary provision.
Regulation 5 makes clear that the words ‘provided in Wales’ in respect of sections 5 and 17 of the 2015 Act include the preparation in Wales of the materials necessary to deliver a particular course or to provide education, even if students are not required to attend the institution delivering the course or providing the education, for example a distance learning course. Regulation 6 provides that the term “2004 Act plan” in paragraph 29(3) of the Schedule to the 2015 Act includes a proposed plan which HEFCW receives under section 34 of the Higher Education Act 2004 before the 1 August 2015 (the date on which that paragraph comes into force) but which is approved by HEFCW after that date following a review under the regulations 11 to 18 of the Student Fees (Approved Plans) (Wales) Regulations 2011.
The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Higher Education Division, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.