Completed petition Amendment to Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2018 to include UK institutions with operations overseas
We call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to amend the current wording of the Education (Student Support) (Wales) Regulations 2018 ("the Regulations"). We call on the National Assembly to make the amendments to the Regulations to address the current limitation of Regulation 6, Condition 5 which prevents Welsh students accessing student finance to study at UK higher education institutions where the location of study is at their overseas campus which we consider could be achieved in one of either two ways, by either:
- widening the criteria in Condition 5 to include courses which are provided by UK higher education institutions at either their UK or overseas campuses; or
- amending Condition 5 to include courses which are provided by higher education institutions offering designated courses and to include the University of London Institute in Paris on the list of institutions offering designated courses, using your discretion under Regulation 8.
Proposed Amendment:
Option 1
"Condition 5
At least half of the teaching and supervision which comprise the course is provided in the United Kingdom or at any campus of a United Kingdom higher education institution located outside of the United Kingdom".
Option 2
"Condition 5
At least half of the teaching and supervision which comprise the course is provided in the United Kingdom. This condition shall apply, unless the course has been deemed to be treated as a designated course pursuant to Regulation 8(1) or 8(2)."
We call on the National Assembly for Wales to adopt the proposed amendments so that Welsh students applying for courses at institutions such as the University of London Institute in Paris, can be considered as "eligible students" for the purposes of receiving student support. The University of London Institute in Paris offers higher education courses in modern languages, where the teaching and supervision is carried out primarily in Paris. Nonetheless, students are taught by employees of the University of London and its collaborative partner, Queen Mary, University of London.
Unless an amendment is made to the current wording of the Regulations, Welsh students will continue to suffer an unjust disadvantage when applying for courses at specific UK institutions. We call on the National Assembly for Wales to make this change as there is no equivalent limitation across other parts of the UK. If no action is taken, the Regulations may continue to act as a deterrent for students hoping to apply for courses at the University of London, Institute in Paris.
More details
Between September 2018 and February 2019 we received inconsistent messages relating to the University of London Institute in Paris' position and both current and prospective students received contradictory information on their eligibility. The University of London Institute in Paris took the following steps to address this:
- Contacted the Students Loan Company
- Contacted Student Finance for Wales
- Contacted the 'Designation' department of the Welsh Government.
Copies of the relevant correspondence are available on request.
When the position was eventually clarified in February, Welsh applicants were informed by the University of London Institute in Paris of their ineligibility for student finance for these programmes which caused significant distress, so we call on the National Assembly for Wales to please consider our concerns as a matter of priority.
This petition was considered by the Petitions Committee
Find out about the Petitions Committee’s discussion of this petition