Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 1986 Order” means the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986(1);

“the 1998 Regulations” means the Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998(2);

“academic authority” means, in relation to an institution, the governing body, or other body having the functions of a governing body and includes a person acting with the authority of that body;

“academic year” has the meaning given to it in paragraph (6);

“accelerated course” means a course which persons undertaking it are normally required by the institution providing it to attend (whether at premises of the institution or elsewhere) for a period of at least 40 weeks in the final year, being a course of two academic years' duration;

“applicant” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 6(3)(b);

“award” means an award made under the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998(3) or any Regulations revoked and replaced by those Regulations;

“borrower” means a person to whom a loan has been made;

“contribution” means an eligible student’s contribution calculated in accordance with regulation 21 and Schedule 3;

“designated course” means a course designated by regulation 5 or by the Department under regulation 5;

“disability related benefit” means long term incapacity benefit or short term incapacity benefit at the higher rate, severe disablement allowance, disability living allowance, industrial injuries benefit and disability working allowance, all payable under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(4) or the amount of any disability premium and severe disability premium included in the applicable amount in calculating the income support payable under the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(5) or the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987(6);

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992(7) as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993(8);

“EEA migrant worker” has the meaning assigned to it in paragraph (5);

“eligible student” means a person whom the Department has determined is eligible for support in connection with his attendance at a course in accordance with regulation 6 or 7 and “eligibility” shall be construed accordingly;

“European Community” means the territory comprised by the member States of the European Community as constituted from time to time;

“European Economic Area” means the European Community and subject to the conditions laid down in the EEA Agreement the area comprised by the Republic of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway and the Principality of Liechtenstein;

“high-cost country” means Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, countries of the former Soviet Union, United States of America;

“higher-cost country” means Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan;

“higher education course” means a course referred to in Schedule 2 or a postgraduate or other course the standard of which is higher than the standard of a first degree course;

“the Islands” means the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man;

“loan” means a loan towards a student’s maintenance pursuant to any regulations made under the Order, including the interest accrued on the loan and any penalties or charges made in connection with it;

“lone parent” means an eligible student who does not ordinarily live with a spouse or with another person as a spouse, and who has a dependant or dependents within the meaning of regulation 15(10);

“Metropolitan Police District” means the areas referred to in section 76 of the London Government Act 1963(9) disregarding any amendment after these regulations are made;

“old award” means an award made in respect of a person’s attendance at a specified course the first year of which begins before 1st September 1998, or begins on or after that date and before 1st September 1999 if the person meets the conditions referred to in the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 Regulation 8(4)(10);

“the Order” means the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998;

“periods of work experience” has the meaning given to it in regulation 5(4);

“quarter”, in relation to an academic year, means one of the periods in that year from 1st January to 31st March, 1st April to 30th June, 1st July to 31st August, or 1st September to 31st December;

“refugee” means a person who is recognised by Her Majesty’s Government as a refugee within the meaning of the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28th July 1951(11) as extended by the Protocol thereto which entered into force on 4th October 1967(12) and any reference to the child of a refugee includes a reference to a step-child;

“relevant institution of higher education in the Republic of Ireland” means an institution listed in Part II of Schedule 4 to the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998;

“responsible person” means a consular officer, minister of religion, medical or legal practitioner, established civil servant, teacher or police officer;

“sandwich course” has the meaning given to it in regulation 5(3);

“statutory award” means any award made or grant paid by virtue of the Order (except a maintenance allowance payable under the Maintenance Allowances (Pupils over Compulsory School Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996)(13) and includes any comparable award or grant or other payment made in respect of attendance at a course which is paid out of public funds;

“student loan account number” means the account number assigned by the lender to a loan made under the Order, the Education (Student Loans) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990(14), the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998(15), the Education (Student Loans) Act 1990(16), or the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(17);

“support” means financial support by way of grant or loan made by the Department pursuant to regulations made under the Order;

“transitional award” means an award made under the 1986 Order which is a transitional award within the meaning of the Students Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations a person who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland or the Islands as a result of having moved from another of those areas for the purpose of attending—

(a)his current course; or

(b)a previous designated course which, disregarding any intervening vacation, the student was attending immediately before attending his current course shall be considered to be ordinarily resident in the place from which he moved.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, including for the purpose of determining whether a person is settled in the United Kingdom within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971(18), a person shall be treated as ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, and the Islands or in the European Economic Area if he would have been so resident but for the fact that he, his spouse or his parent, guardian or any other person having parental responsibility for him, or any person having care of him when he is a child, is, or was temporarily employed outside the United Kingdom and the Islands or, as the case may be, outside the European Economic Area and paragraph 8(c) of Schedule 1 shall not apply in the case of such a person.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations an area which—

(a)was previously not part of the European Community or the European Economic Area, but

(b)at any time before or after these Regulations come into operation has become part of one or other or both of those areas

shall be considered to have always been part of the European Economic Area.

(5) In these Regulations a reference to an EEA migrant worker is a reference to a person who is a national of a member State of the European Economic Area who has taken up an activity as an employed person in the United Kingdom—

(a)under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1612/68 on freedom of movement of workers within the Community(19), as extended by the EEA Agreement; or

(b)in circumstances where as a national of the United Kingdom he has an enforceable Community right to be treated no less favourably than a national of another member State in relation to matters which are the subject of the above mentioned Council Regulation.

(6) In these Regulations “academic year” means the period of twelve months beginning on 1st January, 1st April, 1st July or 1st September, according as the academic year of the course in question begins in the winter, the spring, the summer or the autumn respectively, but if students are required to begin attending the course during August or September and to continue attending through the autumn the academic year of the course shall be considered to being in the autumn rather than the summer.