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Courses Management Service 1 © Student Loans Company Ltd

Courses Management Service Supporting Guidance for Higher Education Providers


CONTENTS Section 1 | Definitions and related documents ..................................................................................................... 3 Section 2 | Introduction..........................................................................................................................................4 Accessing the Courses Management Service........................................................................................5 Section 3 | You As A Provider ................................................................................................................................. 6 Provider Details……………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………….…..…6 Provider Fee Cap .................................................................................................................................. 6 Designation By Domicile ...................................................................................................................... 6 Locations .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Section 4 | Entering Your Courses ......................................................................................................................... 8 Updating Course Details for a New Academic Year……………………………. .............................................. 8 Creating a New Course…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9 Course Name........................................................................................................................................ 9 Course Qualification............................................................................................................................. 9 HEP Code ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Duration ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Foundation Years ............................................................................................................................... 11 Subject Category…………………….. ........................................................................................................ 12 Designation ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Fees .................................................................................................................................................... 14 Course Credits……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 Course Attributes…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15 Entering Term Dates on CMS ............................................................................................................. 18 Available Course Years……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….18 Edit Course..........................................................................................................................................20 Search Course.....................................................................................................................................21 Export Courses....................................................................................................................................21 Closing a course………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..21

Section 5 | Further Guidance................................................................................................................................22 Initial Teacher Training & School Direct…………………………….……………..…………………………………………….22 Course Designation…………………………….……………..…………………………………………………………………….…….23

Compressed / Shortened / Repeating / Multi Academic Year Courses………………….……….………....……24 Study Abroad………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....26 Scottish Postgraduate Courses…………………………………………………………………………………………………….… 27 English Postgraduate Healthcare Courses…………………………..……………………………………………………….… 27 DSA Courses……………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………....28 Accelerated Degrees……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….29


Section 1 | Definitions and related documents

DEFINITIONS

Term Definition APP Access and Participation Plan DfE Department for Education Characters The number of letters contained in a field value CoC Change of Circumstance CMS Courses Management Service DfE NI Department for Economy Northern Ireland DET Diploma in Education & Training Distance Learning Also referred to as flexible or open learning, this is a programme of study

where students are not required to be in attendance Domicile The country the student treat as their permanent home and from which they

apply for funding Education Authority (EA) Replaced the Education Library Board (Northern Ireland) Field Components of information in a record, e.g. college address lines such as

street name, postcode, etc FT Full-time course / student HEFCW Higher Education Funding Council for Wales HEP Higher Education Provider Intercalated Course A course that is not higher than first degree level that can lead to more than

one qualification and be considered a single course. These are medical, dental and veterinary science courses which include an intercalated first degree (i.e. a BSc)

NHS Bursary Income-assessed bursary or healthcare awards from the Department of Health due to their chosen course of study

OfS Office for Students Placement A period of relevant, supervised work experience or study at a provider in the

UK or abroad, which is assessed as part of a student’s programme of study (can be compulsory or optional)

PT Part-time course/student QTS Qualified Teacher Status SCITT School Centre for Initial Teacher Training SFE Student Finance England SIS Student Information Service SLC Student Loans Company TFL Tuition Fee Loans UCAS Universities and Colleges Admission Services UKPRN UK Provider Reference Number VTF Variable Tuition Fees All supporting material for the Courses Management Service can be found on the Courses Management Service page of the HEP Services website: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service.aspx

http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service.aspx


Section 2 | Introduction

The Student Loans Company’s (SLC) Courses Management Service (CMS), accessible via the HE Portal, is a directory of Higher Education Providers (HEPs) and their full and part-time course information for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. CMS is utilised by SLC’s student finance application systems to enable accurate assessments and assist timely payments of support. CMS is a single, flexible, controlled service that supports a single repository of provider and HE course data which holds accurate course information that has been subjected to strong designation, security and anti-fraud measures. The key design principles held by SLC for the Courses Management Service are to ensure:

A single point of entry for provider and course information; Students should be able to easily find their course when they apply; A student is not made eligible for support unless the course they are on or plan to attend is designated.

The accuracy of course information held within the service is critical as it is used for many purposes. It allows SLC: - To correctly assess student funding applications

- To ensure that payments are accurate, paid on time and to the right location It will allow you: - To maintain and manage a centralised log of your course and fee information We will ask you annually to:

Provide term dates and fee information for existing full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses;

Provide any new full-time or part-time undergraduate and postgraduate course information as the Academic Year (AY) progresses.

If you have any operational queries with regards to the Courses Management Service, the Partner Services Support Desk can be contacted via the details below.

TELEPHONE: 0300 100 0642 EMAIL: [email protected]

It is the responsibility of HEPs to ensure that the course details held by SLC for all of their full and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses are correct and meet the relevant Student Support Regulations. This will ensure that students are assessed against the correct course details and that, where applicable, fee payments issued to providers are accurate.


ACCESSING THE COURSES MANAGEMENT SERVICE

The HEP Services website hosts the link to the HE Portal. The website can be accessed via the following link: https://www.heinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services.aspx. You can access the HE Portal Gateway using your current username, password and secret answer. It is your responsibility to ensure that these login details are not disclosed to anyone else. On successful login you will see a link to the Courses Management Service in the side menu bar of the HE Gateway homepage. Each individual user should hold unique access details, as sharing user access is not permitted. It will be up to the HEP Courses User Administrator to determine what system role(s) will be allocated to each member of staff. If you do not have access to CMS, your Courses User Administrator will be able to create a user account for you. On accessing the CMS link, we will ask you to enter your username and password again as a secondary security check. This will allow us to validate you in the service. Once you have logged into CMS, the timeout on the screen is one hour if there has been no activity (with an eight-hour maximum session) before we ask you to re-enter your access details. There is no restriction on the number of users that can be set up with access to the Courses Management Service; this is entirely at your discretion. The user access levels are as follows: Course Advisor Read-only access to view the provider and course information in CMS Course Administrator Administrative access to add locations and course information in CMS Course User Administrator Access to set up or expire any number of other users with access to CMS Users within new providers (all locations) and Alternative Providers in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland will all have read only access only by default.

https://www.heinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services.aspx


Section 3 | You as a provider

PROVIDER DETAILS

We’ve input all your provider details and AY specific information for you. As it’s key that this information is correct, we would ask you to check these on first logging into CMS.

You are unable to edit these details yourself, however if you notice any of this information is incorrect please contact us at [email protected]

PROVIDER FEE CAP

The provider fee cap will be pre-populated depending on your domicile and will equal the maximum amount stated by OfS, HEFCW, DfE NI and SAAS. This cap is set for both full and part-time courses.

When entering fee information at course level you will not be able to enter a fee rate for a course higher than the fee cap pre-populated in the provider details.

CATEGORY The category indicates the provider’s category of OfS registration for English providers:

Approved (fee cap) with an APP Approved (fee cap) without an APP Approved

For providers in Wales, Scottish and North Ireland the category indicates the funding status of the provider:

Authority-funded Other publicly-funded Private

PROVIDER COURSE DESIGNATION – BY DOMICILE

This section will show you which domicile you have courses designated for. Further information on designation can be found on pages 12 and 23.

CONTACT DETAILS

You can add an email address of a contact at your HEP which will be displayed to students who are unable to find their course when completing their application.

By providing an email address you will enable students to get in touch with your HEP quickly should they require assistance at the application stage. It will also help to ensure that they are assessed for eligibility before the start of their course and help to minimise delays for these students as they cannot proceed with their application unless it is linked to their course.

Only students applying for Part-Time Maintenance Loan (PTML) who are unable to find their course will be able to see the contact email address at this stage. We hope to roll out this feature to all application types in the near future.


LOCATIONS [MANDATORY FIELD]

Courses can be assigned to any location created for your provider within the locations tab. If a course is being offered at two or more separate locations this can be reflected under one entry on CMS.

Within CMS there are three location types:

CAMPUS Campus is a location at your provider which students attend for their studies. We would expect this to be your main site (or lead school in the case of school direct ITT providers). All we require you to enter for each campus is the name of the campus and the postcode (the postcode determines the funding that the student receives – i.e. inside/outside London). FRANCHISE Franchise is a location at another provider who is authorised to deliver your courses. When setting up a franchise provider, we will ask you to link your franchise provider to an existing provider on CMS. (If you are unable to locate the provider on CMS please contact [email protected]).

Courses that you have franchised out to another provider should be included in your course return and the franchised location used. We are aware that some HEPs want these franchise colleges to receive the student’s tuition fee, but the accrediting HEP should always supply the course information and therefore the student will appear on their attendance worklist in the Student Information Service. (The fees can then be passed on to the franchised provider by an independent arrangement between the provider and the franchise location.) TEACHER TRAINING SCHOOL Teacher Training School is a location used to deliver School Direct Teacher Training courses. For more information on ITT Providers please refer to Section 5.


Section 4 | Updating your courses UPDATING COURSE DETAILS FOR A NEW ACADEMIC YEAR When you access CMS and click on the Courses tab, the page will always default to the most recent academic year (AY). Previous AYs can be navigated to by using the AY tabs.

Each new academic year, SLC will automatically populate your previous AY’s course catalogue into the new academic year. The courses will be presented as being ‘Unsaved’ and in a worklist format. Each provider is then required to open each individual course and ensure that the relevant term dates are populated and check that the course fee rate is correct or amend if necessary. Once this activity has been carried out the course can be saved for the new academic year. The course list will show two totals, the ‘Total Courses’ and the number of ‘Unsaved’ courses. Once an individual course is saved, the ‘Unsaved Courses’ total at the top of the course list will decrease to reflect the number of unsaved courses remaining. To assist you in the process of saving courses for the new AY, the course search facility can be used to filter on a specific sub-set of courses. This course search will persist so that you can work down a list of filtered courses, saving them individually and then returning to the previously selected filtered list of courses without having to enter a filter value again. When you access the first unsaved course for the new academic year, you will be required to manually type in the term dates for that course for the new academic year. Once this has been completed and you have saved the course, when you open up the next course to save for the new academic year, the term dates entered on the previous course will be automatically populated. This will persist until the point you amend the term dates by overtyping (from this point the newly entered term dates will become the default dates on all unsaved courses). Providers therefore may find it quicker to enter courses that all have the same term dates at the same time. Course fee rates will always be defaulted to the provider fee cap. If a course has a placement attribute against a specific year of a course, once a value is manually entered against this placement fee initially, this same value will automatically be used in all further courses that have the placement attribute. This placement value will persist until you manually amend the placement fee by overtyping. From this point onwards the newly updated placement fee will be defaulted on all unsaved courses with a placement attribute.


CREATING A NEW COURSE On selecting the ‘Add Course’ button, users will be prompted to specify if the course being added has a funding level of ‘undergraduate’ or ‘postgraduate’. If ‘postgraduate’ is selected, providers will be further prompted to determine if the course being added is to enable SFE/SFW-domiciled students to apply for the Postgraduate Master’s or Doctoral Loan products or SFNI domiciled students to apply for the Northern Ireland Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan. Validation is in place on the ‘Add Course’ screen to ensure that the AY selected drives validation of what course types can be created for which AY as per policy. If a new course is being created in a previous academic year it will automatically appear in any future academic year. When a new course is added a new SLC course code (or codes depending on number of course variants) will be created. A comprehensive list of the fields required at course level when creating a new course within CMS can be found on the Courses Service Management page of the HEP Services website: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service.aspx. Below is some further guidance around the key fields that you will need to complete when creating either a new undergraduate or postgraduate course on CMS.

COURSE NAME [MANDATORY FIELD]

The course name can be up to 120 characters in length and should always be presented as the actual name of the course, as marketed on your prospectus or website. No other information about the course, such as the location, start date or duration, should be entered as part of the course name as all these other attributes will be captured elsewhere when creating the course. Presenting the course name exactly as it is marketed will help your students apply for the correct course first time. Where you have courses that share the same course and UCAS code (for example courses that run with or without a sandwich or placement year), we advise that you still include a unique identifier in the course title. This will assist your attendance return in SIS for those providers using the file import. Example: Business Studies with placement year For postgraduate doctoral courses, the course name should not be a generic doctoral course or the title of a

student’s thesis. The course name should include a unique identifier such as the subject or faculty, for example,

civil engineering.

QUALIFICATION – UNDERGRADUATE [MANDATORY FIELD]

The Student Loans Company has worked closely with the Department for Education and the devolved authorities in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to create a concise and comprehensive list of undergraduate course qualifications. The following qualifications remain in the undergraduate qualification drop-down list and are not to be confused as being eligible for the postgraduate loan – this is because these courses still attract undergraduate funding:

Postgraduate ITT courses Master’s of Architecture Integrated Master’s Scottish Master’s Scottish Postgraduate courses English Postgraduate Healthcare courses

http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service.aspx


QUALIFICATION – POSTGRADUATE MASTER’S [MANDATORY FIELD]

When a course is set up with a funding level of ‘Postgraduate Master’s’ only two qualifications will be presented to the user in the qualifications drop-down:

Taught Master’s Research Master’s Postgraduate Certificate (PG NI courses only) Postgraduate Diploma (PG NI courses only)

Further details on course eligibility for postgraduate master’s courses can be found via the link below: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx.

QUALIFICATION – POSTGRADUATE DOCTORATE [MANDATORY FIELD]

When a course is set up with a funding level of ‘Postgraduate Doctorate’ only one qualification will be presented to the user in the qualifications drop down:

Postgraduate Doctorate Further details on course eligibility for postgraduate doctoral courses can be found via the link below: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx.

HEP CODES [MANDATORY FIELD]

We have provided five non-mandatory (alphanumeric) fields that you can use to enter further course identifiers if required. These can be added to or changed at any point and can be used to tag and group courses by type such as placement courses, fee variances etc. On the course search facility you can filter by HEP codes to assist you in grouping your courses in whichever way you choose.

DURATION – UNDERGRADUATE [MANDATORY FIELD]

A full-time undergraduate course with a duration of between one and six years can be selected. The option is also provided to indicate if the course should contain a foundation year. For part-time undergraduate courses you should enter the ‘full-time equivalent’ duration of the part-time course they are entering. More information on part-time course durations can be found via the link below: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx.

DURATION – POSTGRADUATE MASTER’S [MANDATORY FIELD]

A full-time postgraduate master’s course may only have a course duration of one or two years for SFE/SFW postgraduate courses. If the user selects to create a full-time PG SFE/SFW course with a funding level of postgraduate, the duration field will automatically default to one or two years.

A full-time and part-time postgraduate NI course can have a duration of one, two or three years and these durations will appear by default if the provider selects to enter a postgraduate course for Northern Ireland-domiciled students.

http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx




A part-time postgraduate master’s course for SFE-domiciled students can be set up with a duration of one or two years ‘full-time equivalent’ or two or three years ’fixed duration‘ – if there is no full-time equivalent course.

SFE part-time courses with a duration of one year ‘full-time equivalent’ – will be studied over two years.

SFE part-time courses with a duration of two years ‘full-time equivalent’ – will be studied over three or four years.

SFE part-time courses with a duration of two years ‘no full-time equivalent’ – will be studied over two years.

SFE part-time courses with a duration of three years ‘no full-time equivalent’ – will be studied over three years.

As of AY 2018/19 part-time postgraduate master’s courses for SFW-domiciled students can be set up with a duration of either two, three or four years. Where a course has a full-time equivalent, the course duration should be entered as the duration of study and not the full-time equivalent duration. For example, where a one-year full-time equivalent course is studied over two years, the course should be entered with a duration of two years.

SFW part-time courses studied over two years should be entered as two years ‘no full-time equivalent’.

SFW part-time courses studied over three years should be entered as three years ‘no full-time equivalent’.

SFW part-time courses studied over four years should be entered as four years ‘no full-time equivalent’.

More information on part-time course durations can be found via the link below. http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx

DURATION – POSTGRADUATE DOCTORATE [MANDATORY FIELD]

A full-time and part-time postgraduate doctoral course with a duration of between three and 8 years can be selected.

FOUNDATION YEARS [MANDATORY FIELD – UNDERGRADUATE ONLY]

Some full-time undergraduate courses are extended beyond their normal length to include a foundation year which is designed to prepare those entrants whose qualifications or experience, while acceptable for entry to higher education, are not entirely appropriate for normal entry to their particular course for study in their chosen subject. Students are eligible for funding if the foundation year is an integral part of the course, not a standalone course, and the course as a whole is designated by or under the regulations, with students enrolling at the outset for the full duration of the extended course. If the students enroll onto a four-year course with an integrated foundation year, and after that year they transfer onto a course with a different course code, then the award authority is bound by the regulations to reassess a student’s standard entitlement as if they are transferring course. This would mean that once the student changes course, regardless of whether this is a chosen pathway, they would be using up their additional year of funding (sometimes referred to as a gift year or a +1). This can impact students if they have studied previously or they need to repeat a year in the future, unless the course they are transferring to also has a foundation year and the student is going into an advanced year.



Within the Courses Management Service, full-time undergraduate courses with a foundation year can be created by selecting the ‘Add Foundation Year’ checkbox within the Course Duration field which will create a course with the duration selected but with a marked foundation year (year 0). The foundation year attribute is only applicable to full-time undergraduate courses.

SUBJECT CATEGORY [MANDATORY FIELD]

The subject classification is a generic classification that is based on subject matter. The classification does not indicate the level of study being undertaken on the course, it is solely for capturing the subject of the course, as the same list is used for courses at any level: undergraduate courses, postgraduate courses, as well as for continuing education programmes. The structure of the subject category is based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) coding system and is presented as a six-digit code. HECoS is the subject classification system used to describe the subject content of courses at UK higher education providers and was developed by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Up to five subject categories can be recorded against a single course if required (for example a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Mathematics would have two subject categories, one for the Geography and one for the Mathematics element). The subject category is a mandatory field for all undergraduate and postgraduate, full-time and part-time courses. This subject category will be used to determine which part-time courses are exempt from the Equivalent or Lower Qualification rule (ELQ) being implemented for part-time study. There is a link between the subject category selected and the healthcare-related course attributes. Only courses set up with a subject category of either Medicine and Dentistry, or Subjects Allied to Medicine can have one (or more) of the following healthcare attributes checked:

Medicine/Dentistry NHS Bursary Paramedic course Dental Hygiene/Therapy

More information on entering HECoS codes can be found here: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx.

DESIGNATION – UNDERGRADUATE [MANDATORY FIELD]

ENGLISH PROVIDERS Providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) in the Approved (fee cap) category have their designation status for all domiciles automatically and CMS will default automatically to designate your courses in all domiciles. However, you do have the ability to change this at course level if you have courses only for students from a particular country. Providers registered with the Office for Students in the Approved category have automatic designation for English students only. Should an Approved provider require designation for students domiciled in Scotland / Wales / Northern Ireland, these providers must be specifically designated by the appropriate domicile before eligible students may access student support.



Where a provider was an Alternative Provider in AY 2018/19, regardless of which category they are registered with the OfS, will be required to have their courses specifically designated for Scottish students to access student support. Only the domiciles for which the provider has specifically been designated will be available for selection when adding your course. SCOTTISH & NI PROVIDERS Authority-funded providers (often referred to as public providers) are providers that are maintained or assisted by recurrent grants out of public funds. Authority-funded (public) providers have their designation status for all domiciles automatically and CMS will default automatically to designate your courses in all domiciles, however you do have the ability to change this at course level if you have courses only for students from a particular country. An Alternative Provider is the name given to any provider of higher education courses that is not maintained or assisted by recurrent grants out of public funds and does not receive any other form of direct annual public funding (for example, from a local authority, or the Secretary of State for Education) and is not a further education college. Courses that are provided wholly or in part by an Alternative Provider fall outside the scope of any automatic designation under the regulations and need to be specifically designated in order that eligible students may access student support. SLC will administer course details in CMS on behalf of Alternative Providers and only the domiciles for which the provider has specifically been designated will be selected. WELSH PROVIDERS From 1 August 2017, the automatic designation of full-time HE courses applies only to those courses provided by ‘recognised educational institutions’. A ‘recognised educational institution’ is currently defined as follows:

a Welsh regulated institution i.e. an institution which has a fee and access plan approved by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) under Section 7 of the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015 whilst that plan remains in force;

an English regulated institution i.e. an institution maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from the office for Students (OfS); or

an institution situated in Scotland or Northern Ireland maintained or assisted by recurrent grants out of public funds.

Where an HE course is not automatically designated it will need to be specifically designated by HEFCW before students are to be able to apply for financial support from the Welsh Government. Such courses may be designated on a course-by-course basis by the Welsh Ministers.

DESIGNATION – POSTGRADUATE MASTER’S [MANDATORY]

In AY 2016/17 only English-domiciled and EU students were eligible to apply for Postgraduate Master’s Loans. When a user added a course with a funding level of Postgraduate Master’s in AY 2016/17 the domicile designation was defaulted to England only. There is no option for the user to amend this. From AY 2017/18 English, Welsh and EU students are eligible to apply for Postgraduate Master’s Loans. When a user adds a course with a funding level of Postgraduate Master’s in AY 2017/18, the domicile designation is defaulted to England and Wales only. Either England or Wales can be de-selected if required but no further domiciles can be added. Once a provider saves a course there is no option to add another domicile. From AY 2017/18 NI-domiciled students are eligible to apply for the Northern Ireland Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan and postgraduate courses can be set up in CMS specifically for NI students. These courses are defaulted to the NI domicile only.


Only students from the domicile checked against the course in CMS can view and apply for that course in our Customer Portal when completing an application. Specifically designated providers can enter details of postgraduate master’s courses into CMS to enable their students to apply for the Postgraduate Master’s Loan. However, this is for English and Welsh-domiciled students only and from AY 2017/18 onwards.

DESIGNATION – POSTGRADUATE DOCTORATE [MANDATORY]

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan will only be available from SFE and SFW for courses provided by UK HE providers with research degree awarding powers (R-DAPs). Only providers that have been granted research degree awarding powers can award doctoral degrees.

There are instances where a provider who does not have R-DAPs (Provider A), may enter a validation arrangement with a provider that does have R-DAPs (Provider B). In these instances, Provider B approves a programme of study offered by Provider A which contributes to the award of a doctoral qualification from Provider B. In validation arrangements, the degree awarding body (Provider B) is ultimately responsible for the academic standards of any awards granted in its name, and for the quality of the learning programme. If your doctoral courses are validated by a provider with R-DAPs, please contact your Account Manager or [email protected] to find out if your courses are eligible and for information on how to add these courses to CMS.

For further information on eligible validation arrangements please follow the link below: https://www.heinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx.

From AY 2018/19 English and Welsh students are eligible to apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan. When a user adds a course with a funding level of Postgraduate Doctorate, the domicile designation is defaulted to England and Wales only. Either England or Wales can be de-selected if required but no further domiciles can be added. Once a provider saves a course there is no option to add another domicile.

Only students from the domicile checked against the course in CMS can view and apply for that course in our Customer Portal when completing an application.

FEES – UNDERGRADUATE [MANDATORY FIELD]

Different fee caps can be entered for each domicile to enable you to manage fee variants and caps. For example Welsh and NI providers will be able to manage within one course their separate fee structures for students from different domiciles. The system is defaulted to apply the same fee rates across all domiciles and you should un-tick this if you wish to put in a different fee amount for a particular domicile. If required providers can enter a course fee for a particular year of a course with a course fee rate of zero (this may be useful if your provider offers courses with a placement year). Part-time courses only require one fee rate to be entered regardless of the duration selected (although different fee rates can be entered per domicile if the course is split over differing domiciles). Within the Provider page of CMS, there is an AY-specific provider fee cap displayed for both full-time and part-time courses. This fee cap is administered on your behalf by SLC. No course fees can be entered within CMS that exceed this provider fee cap. With the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) from AY 2017/18, providers that achieve TEF status can charge a higher fee amount than providers that do not achieve TEF status. It is at the discretion of each provider if the higher TEF fee amount is applied to all course years for all students or just set to course year

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.heinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx


one for their new students. (Fee change, change of circumstance notifications can be submitted for direct entrant students that apply to a course year that has a course fee amount lower than the provider fee cap.)

FEES – POSTGRADUATE [NI POSTGRADUATE MASTER’S ONLY]

As the Postgraduate Master’s and Doctoral Loan products for SFE/SFW students are paid directly to the student, the course fee rate is not required to be populated in CMS. When a user adds a course with a funding level of Postgraduate Master’s or Doctorate and SFE/SFW is selected, no course fee box is presented on the course capture screen.

The Northern Ireland Tuition Fee Loan product requires a tuition fee to be entered when setting up the course in CMS. When a provider opts to set up this course type, a course fee rate will be required per course year. This fee entered can be higher than the provider fee cap displayed within the Provider page of CMS.

COURSE CREDITS [MANDATORY FOR ALL PART-TIME UNDERGRADUATE COURSES]

All providers are required to enter a value in the ‘Credits’ field on all part-time undergraduate courses. Once this value has been populated it will be included as part of the core course information and will therefore not require to be amended each academic year. The total number of credits associated to the entire course, rather than the number of credits available by the course year, should be entered in this free type field and then saved. The part-time course will not be able to be saved until a value has been entered into this field.

It is vitally important to submit an accurate course credit as this impacts the student’s entitlement. More information on part-time course durations can be found via the link below: http://www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx.

COURSE ATTRIBUTES [OPTIONAL FIELD]

Within CMS, courses will be able to have various specific attributes applied to them, which will also assist us in ensuring that the correct level of support is given to the student during the application process. There is no limit on the number of attributes applied to a single course. Not all attributes are applicable to both undergraduate and postgraduate courses, this is detailed below. The selectable course attributes are as follows: DISTANCE LEARNING An indicator against the course to highlight that the particular course has a distance learning method of attendance as a course attribute. Distance learning courses are courses that provide a mode of delivery for students that do not attend traditional ‘on-campus courses’. The Distance Learning attribute can be applied to both full-time and part-time, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The Distance Learning attribute when applied against a part-time course only indicates that the student will not be attending a campus location for the majority of their study. Students studying a full-time distance learning course are not eligible for maintenance support.

PLACEMENT/SANDWICH COURSES This is a method of attendance course attribute and allows the placement year to be flagged. This attribute is only available for undergraduate courses. It consists of alternate periods of full-time study in a provider and periods of work experience or study externally. It should be noted that courses where the majority of study is delivered overseas are not designated for student support. The placement attribute can only be applied to full-time courses and is therefore not available when creating a part-time course. The placement attribute can be applied to more than one year of an individual course.



For further information on Placement/Sandwich courses please follow the link below: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1644/assessing-financial-entitlement-1819.pdf. NHS BURSARY This indicator can be set to show that the course is applicable for an NHS Bursary and is only available for undergraduate courses. There are various elements of student support available for students that are undertaking health-related courses that attract NHS funding. When selected against a full-time course the applicable years can be ticked that the bursary applies to. However, if this attribute is selected when setting up a part-time course the flag will go against the course as a whole. Once the provider selects the NHS Bursary they then need to enter the course year(s) that the bursary is to be applicable to. From AY 2017/18 going forward, new students at English providers are no longer eligible for NHS Bursary support and as such, the NHS Bursary indicator can’t be set at these providers against the foundation year or course years one and two of the NHS flagged courses. The NHS Bursary indicator cannot be used at the same time as the Medicine/Dentistry attribute. It is critical that the provider sets up appropriate courses with the NHS Bursary attribute and sets this against the relevant course years as the assessment for student support is determined by how the course is set in CMS. Courses studied in England: Students starting study on nursing, midwifery and AHP courses on or after 1 August 2017 are not eligible to apply for the NHS Bursary, and will instead be entitled to the standard package of support under the regulations, including fee support, maintenance support and supplementary grants. Courses studied in Wales: The NHS Bursary package remains for students studying nursing, midwifery and AHP courses in Wales. However, a new bursary eligibility requirement was introduced for courses starting on or after 1 August 2017. Students studying an eligible healthcare course in Wales must sign an agreement to work in the NHS in Wales for two years after course completion in order to be eligible for the bursary. Courses studied in Scotland: From AY 2017/18 students studying AHP courses in Scotland will not be eligible for any of the previous healthcare bursaries. English, NI and Welsh-domiciled students studying Nursing and Midwifery courses will no longer receive the bursary, however, Scottish-domiciled students can still access the bursary. Courses studied in Northern Ireland: From AY 2017/18 bursaries for nursing, midwifery and AHP courses will cease to be available to English-domiciled students at HEPs in Northern Ireland. The decision was made to prevent English-domiciled students (as well as Scottish and Welsh students) from accessing places on these courses and therefore support. For further information on NHS Bursaries and the support they attract for students please follow the link below: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1654/sfe-nhs-18-19-guidance.pdf DENTAL HYGIENE / THERAPY This indicator should be used to highlight any Dental Hygiene or Dental Therapy courses. Part-time Hygiene or Dental Therapy courses should have this indicator to allow students to apply for a Part-time Maintenance Loan. This attribute should be ticked for Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy courses only. PARAMEDIC COURSE This indicator should be used to highlight any Paramedic courses to enable any students on these courses to be assessed in a particular manner, as some Paramedic courses can attract NHS support and some don’t. Therefore

https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1644/assessing-financial-entitlement-1819.pdf

https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1654/sfe-nhs-18-19-guidance.pdf


an identifying attribute is required to highlight these courses in order for students on them to have their applications manually checked. OPERATING DEPARTMENT PRACTICE This indicator should be used to highlight part-time Operating Department Practice courses to enable students on these courses to be assessed for a Part-time Maintenance Loan. INTERCALATING COURSES This indicator can be set to show that the course is an intercalating course and is only available for undergraduate courses. An intercalated course is a course that is not higher than first degree level and leads to more than one qualification, either as an option or an integral part of the course, which will be considered as single courses. This attribute can be selected against both full-time and part-time courses.

For further information on intercalated courses please follow the link below: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1654/sfe-nhs-18-19-guidance.pdf. MEDICINE /DENTISTRY This indicator can be set to show that the course is a Medical or Dental course and whether the entry for this course was at an undergraduate or graduate level. Based on this distinction student support will vary. This attribute can be set against both full-time and part-time undergraduate courses. The Medicine/Dentistry attribute cannot be used at the same time as the NHS Bursary indicator. The Medicine/Dentistry attribute should not be used for Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy courses. For further information on medical/dental courses please follow the link below: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1654/sfe-nhs-18-19-guidance.pdf.

It is the provider’s responsibility to ensure the correct attributes have been added to a course. Course attributes can significantly impact a student’s entitlement. It is therefore important to check the correct attributes have been added.




TERM DATES [MANDATORY FIELD]

All undergraduate and postgraduate courses entered into CMS require three sets of term dates in order to pass system validation. For undergraduate and postgraduate master’s, providers are asked to add term dates for all years, meaning the provider can add variable term dates for each year where relevant. Postgraduate doctoral courses require only one year’s worth of term dates for AY 2018/19. From AY 2019/20, postgraduate doctoral courses will require term dates for all years. When either saving a course in a new academic year or creating a new full-time or part-time course, the term dates you manually enter will be copied forward to the next course you save or create. Therefore, if you have standardised term dates, this will reduce the amount of repetition when saving or setting up courses. If your provider does not have standardised term dates, it is recommended that courses are bulked together by term dates when populating the system with course details. When creating a new course, once all term dates have been entered for all years (where relevant) of a particular course, there is an option to add another intake of this course. This would mean that if the course that is being created is a September start course, a separate intake for the same course which starts at a later date in the academic year (i.e. January) can also be entered. You cannot add an intake once a course has been saved so it is advisable to add all intakes before saving the course. Up to 12 intakes can be created under a postgraduate course – only one per month. For postgraduate doctoral courses, where a provider has multiple intakes in the one month, a generic date in the month should be chosen and the course added to CMS with one intake for that month. If required, the first intake month can be amended when saving in the new academic year. For example, if your course had a September intake in the previous AY, this can be amended to October in the new academic year. Validation is in place for full-time undergraduate courses in CMS to highlight that only courses that contain a compressed course year should be entered with a term three start date of before 1 April. All other undergraduate courses should not have a term three start date before 1 April. This is to prevent the scheduling of three lots of tuition fee payments within one financial year. Please be aware that in the years that a bank holiday falls at the beginning of April, the term three start date should be 3 April at the earliest. The SLC’s payment system schedules payments before the bank holiday which means that even if a term three start date falls on the 1 or 2 April, the payments would need to be processed in March. It is the responsibility of each HEP to ensure that the term dates entered are an accurate reflection of the teaching provided to students attending that course. Further information on compressed courses can be found on page 24.

AVAILABLE COURSE YEARS [OPTIONAL] The ‘available course years’ function enables providers to manage individual student applications more effectively by determining if a particular year of a course should be visible to students applying online or not. This function enables providers to phase in or phase out courses and gives greater flexibility to providers than using the open/closed course status indicator.


The available course years can be edited at any time although providers should be aware that changes made take approximately four hours to filter through to our application system. All courses are defaulted to ‘All Students’. Where a provider does do not have administrative access to CMS, any requests to use the available course years functionality should be forwarded to [email protected] and SLC will administer on behalf of the provider. The available course years function has no impact on students who have already applied / been approved for a course – it is simply a tool for providers to manage which course years can be selected on application. Similarly there is no impact on downstream systems (change of circumstances / SIS) on students already approved on courses that are edited. Students who apply on paper will have their applications approved as normal even if the available course years have been amended to prevent applications – this functionality is for online applications only.

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES The ‘available course years’ functionality is available for full-time undergraduate courses. The three settings are as follows:

All Students Returners (continuing students and repeaters) No Students

In instances where a course year has been set to ‘Returners’ and an ‘End on’ student applies, the student would be prevented from applying as ‘End on’ students are classed as new students. In this instance the course year should be amended to ‘All students’ in order to enable the ‘End On’ student to apply and then the course year switched back to ‘Returners’ once the student has applied.

POSTGRADUATE COURSES The ‘available course years’ functionality is available for all full-time and part-time postgraduate courses. The two settings are as follows:

All Students No Students

All courses are defaulted to ‘All Students’. Where a provider does do not have administrative access to CMS, any requests to use the available course years functionality should be forwarded to [email protected] and SLC will administer on behalf of the provider. Due to the Apply Once nature of postgraduate applications, providers should set their courses to ‘No students’ rather than closing courses to ensure continuing students still receive their funding.

For more information on the financial support available under the Education (Student Support) Regulations for AY 2018/19 please refer to the memorandum on the SLC’s Practitioner website: http://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1609/financial-memorandum-for-201819-131217.pdf.

HE Providers are reminded that only designated courses (which are valid for statutory financial support) are to be added to the Courses Management Service. A course that has been designated under the Student Support Regulations allows eligible students on this course to access loans and grants from the Student Loans Company.



http://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1609/financial-memorandum-for-201819-131217.pdf


EDITING A COURSE [OPTIONAL] You have the facility to edit a course that has already been added to CMS. If you need to make an amendment to an already saved course, please contact [email protected] in the first instance to advise of the changes you need to make. Please be aware that making changes to course details could result in the need for your students to be reassessed and potentially impacting their entitlement. UNDERGRADUATE By clicking on the 'Edit' button next to the Course Details section of an already added course, you can amend:

Term Dates (only where the change does not impact the Year 1 start month) Fee rates Placement Year Course Name UCAS Code HEP Code(s) Subject Category Intercalated Course indicator

The user is then provided with the option of either saving or cancelling these changes. When making changes to courses already added to CMS, the provider will be given a warning message to communicate these changes to our Partners Support Desk before progressing.

POSTGRADUATE

SFE/SFW Saved SFE/SFW postgraduate master’s and doctoral courses can also be edited after being initially created. By clicking on the ‘Edit’ button next to the ‘Course Details’ section of an already added a course, you can amend:

Term Dates (only where the change does not impact the Year 1 start month) Course Name Qualification (postgraduate master’s only) UCAS Code HEP Code(s)




SFNI Saved SFNI postgraduate master’s courses can also be edited after the course has been added to CMS. By clicking on the ‘Edit’ button next to the Course Details section of an already added a course, you can amend:

Term Dates (only where the change does not impact the Year 1 start month) Course Name Qualification UCAS Code HEP Code(s) Course Fee


COURSE SEARCH / FILTER [OPTIONAL]

You can search and filter your courses in any way that you choose, using the search bar facility at the top of the screen. By using the free-type search bar you can filter on any combination of the following areas:

Course Name UCAS Code HEP Code

Qualification Foundation Year Courses Placement Year Courses

Full-time / Part-time Courses Unsaved Courses Postgraduate/Undergraduate

Mode of Study Duration NHS Bursary Courses

Distance Learning Courses Intercalated Courses Medical & Dental Courses

Alternatively underneath the search bar in the ‘What Can I Search For’ link the searchable attributes are listed and by clicking on each one, the results of that search will be returned.

EXPORT COURSES [OPTIONAL]

Course information that has been added can be exported if required by clicking the export drop-down button on the courses page of CMS. Users are given the option of either selecting a specific academic year to export or selecting to export all courses across all academic years. The export contains all fields at course and academic year level and is in CSV file format.

CLOSING A COURSE [OPTIONAL]

If you wish to close one of your saved courses, you should ensure there are currently no students on this course. A course should not be closed if it has students accessing funding for the course.

We would advise using the Available Course Years functionality (detailed on Page 18) rather than closing a course. Once you have confirmed there are no students on the course, you can close the course by clicking on the ‘Close this course’ link on the Course Details page. On clicking this, you will then be presented with a warning message to ensure you want to close the course.


Section 5 | Further Guidance

SCHOOL CENTRED INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING (SCITT) SCITT programmes are initial teacher training postgraduate courses designed and delivered by groups of schools and colleges that have been accredited by the National College of Teaching & Leadership (NCTL). The courses lead to Qualified Teaching Status (QTS) with many also awarding a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) that is validated by a higher education provider. There are consortia of schools and colleges running SCITT courses all over England providing different kinds of teacher training, covering primary, middle years and the full range of secondary subjects. SCITT courses generally last for one year full time. There are two main types of ITT courses which can be designated – Schools ITT courses and ITT courses for those wishing to teach in the further education (FE) sector. These courses can be delivered under a range of different models and the designation and approval arrangements vary. Schools ITT courses can be delivered by authority-funded institutions, private institutions or by School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) providers (some of these may be delivered under the School Direct programme). ITT courses for the FE sector are delivered mainly by authority-funded institutions and in some cases by private institutions. Initial Teacher Training courses taken as part of an employment-based teacher training scheme are not designated courses.

SCHOOL DIRECT COURSES

School Direct places are available in certain primary and secondary schools across England and are delivered in partnership with an accredited ITT provider (a SCITT or a University/College). These full-time programmes generally last for one academic year, although where the programme is undertaken on a part-time basis it will usually take longer. School Direct Training Programme can be salaried or unsalaried. Only students on the unsalaried route are eligible for student finance, however as this is a student attribute rather than a course attribute there is no need to capture this detail at course level. Where undertaken on a full-time basis, students on these courses can attract the full-time package of support. Where undertaken on a part-time basis, these students can attract the Part-time Tuition Fee Loan and, if the course is a level 6 or 7, students are eligible for a Part-time Maintenance Loan. These courses should be entered as normal on the Courses Service with appropriate qualification being selected. There are several types of ITT qualifications that have been introduced for people wishing to teach in the FE sector: Diploma in Education and Training – 120 credits; Diploma in Education and Training integrated specialist diplomas – 120 credits (or in the case of the

English: Literacy and ESOL Diploma 135 credits); Diploma in Education and Training with specialist pathways – 120 credits (or in the case of the English:

Literacy and ESOL Diploma 135 credits); and Standalone specialist diplomas of 45 credits. HEPs also offer their own FE ITT qualifications, at level 6 or 7,

and can be called different names including Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and Postgraduate Diploma (PGD). Courses for FE ITT will not lead to the award of QTS however; they will have been designed and validated to meet requirements of the DET.


The Department is working with the Education and Training Foundation to remind all providers that courses should be ‘DET compliant’ in order to achieve funding. All DET courses that are mentioned above except the standalone diplomas at 45 credits can be designated for student support. This is because the standalone diplomas are not deemed to be ITT courses in their own right and they would not normally take a year to complete.

COURSE DESIGNATION To ensure that only courses that are validated as ‘designated’ are displayed on CMS, as they are the only courses that can attract student support, we have built rules within the system based around duration, qualifications, location and type of course. Only designated courses can be added to CMS. Adding course information to the Courses Management Service will push the information through designation validation (where applicable). The designation validation checks the course format, course year and course term data associated with course academic year, against the designation rules. Course designation rules have been agreed by all award authorities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

AUTOMATIC DESIGNATION

For providers that are automatically designated, CMS will default to designate your courses in all domiciles, however you do have the ability to change this at course level if you have courses only for students from a particular country. For SFE students on postgraduate doctoral courses, only students on courses offered by institutions with research degree awarding powers are automatically designated to be eligible for Postgraduate Doctoral Loan funding. For SFW students on postgraduate doctoral courses, only students on courses offered by publicly funded institutions with research degree awarding powers are automatically designated to be eligible for Postgraduate Doctoral Loan funding.

COURSE DESIGNATION FOR ALTERNATIVE PROVIDERS (ENGLISH / WELSH / NI / SCOTTISH STUDENTS) Alternative Providers based in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland must ensure that their courses are designated by the appropriate devolved authority before they can be added to CMS. If Alternative Providers from any of these domiciles wish to attract English-domiciled students then they must apply to DfE for specific course designation.

POSTGRADUATE MASTER’S COURSE DESIGNATION Postgraduate courses are available at Alternative Providers for English & Welsh-domiciled students. Postgraduate courses are not designated for Alternative Providers for Northern Irish and Scottish-domiciled students. POSTGRADUATE DOCTORAL COURSE DESIGNATION SFE Postgraduate Doctoral funding will be available for English-domiciled students on courses provided by Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh HE Alternative Providers with research degree awarding powers. SFW Postgraduate Doctoral funding will be available for Welsh-domiciled students on courses provided by UK HE Alternative Providers that have been individually designated by the Welsh Government/HEFCW.


COMPRESSED AND SHORTENED UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

The key principle followed by the Department for Education (DfE) is that students cannot apply for more than the maximum grant and loan amounts for that course in respect of an academic year relating to that course. The academic year is defined in the Education (Student Support Regulations) as the 12-month period beginning on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 September of the calendar year in which the academic year of the course begins. For example, this means that the maximum Tuition Fee Loan, Maintenance Grant and Loan for living costs awarded to a student starting their course in September or October covers the academic year from 1 September until 31 August the following year.

TUITION FEE PAYMENT BREAKDOWN

For full-time and part-time courses, SLC will pay tuition fees to institutions in three instalments of loan: 25%, 25% and 50%. This payment profile has been designed to satisfy DfE policy requirements. It also accommodates the majority of undergraduate courses that will still follow the standard 12-month academic year as defined in DfE regulations.

COMPRESSED / SHORTENED ACADEMIC YEAR BREAKDOWN

Where you have ‘compressed’*or ‘shortened’ an academic year of study, students will not be entitled to tuition and living cost support for the next year of their course until after a full 12-month period has passed. This means that if you were charging £6,000 for the first year of a full-time course starting in January you can charge the student a full £6,000 regardless of whether this first year is taken over the full academic year (January – December) or in a ‘compressed’/’shortened’ mode (e.g. January–August). However you cannot receive a further tuition fee loan for the student for the second year of that course until 1 January the following year. Students starting full-time or part-time courses where the first year is a compressed or shortened academic year will be able to apply for the same up-front tuition fee loans as students completing a full academic year. However, they will not be able to apply for a second year of tuition fee support or living costs until after the end of the full academic year period. Therefore students will not be able to apply for a second year of tuition support or living costs until after the end of the full academic year period, as defined by regulations. A simplified way to look at this scenario is that unless a student is transferring to a new course or has withdrawn from one course to begin another, their academic year start will remain the same throughout the duration of their studies. *A compressed academic year of study is not the same as an accelerated / compressed / fast track course separately defined in the

Education (Student Support Regulations).


ENTERING TERM DATES – Undergraduate courses only

Consequently we would ask providers to ensure that term dates within the Courses Management Service reflect the guidance above and you do not input term dates that overlap within the same academic year. Example 1 Student begins a two and half year degree programme with a shortened first academic year. Student’s study pattern: Yr 1 – January to July Yr 2 – September to July Yr 3 – September to July This study pattern must be reflected in the Courses Management Service as: Yr 1 – January to December Yr 2 – January to December Yr 3 – January to July Example 2 Student begins a shortened foundation year before progressing onto chosen degree pathway. Student’s study pattern: Yr 1 - September to December Yr 2 - January to December Yr 3 - January to December Yr 4 – January to December This study pattern must be reflected in the Courses Management Service as: Yr 1 – September to July Yr 2 – September to July Yr 3 – September to July Yr 4 – September to December Where the final academic year is less than 15 weeks, the HEP cannot receive more than £4,500 in tuition fee loan/grant. This fee reflects the shortened academic year. We would advise providers for full-time courses to space the term dates throughout the academic year to guarantee students are paid at regular and timely intervals, while still respecting the liability period restrictions. This ensures that the term lengths are reflective of the teaching provided to students attending that course though we appreciate that this may not align to the institution’s true academic schedule.


WELSH-DOMICILED STUDENTS Where a Welsh-domiciled student starts a ‘compressed’ or ‘shortened’ academic year of study, the Welsh Government permits the student to access the next year’s tuition and maintenance support from the point the next year of study commences. Example 1 February start, compressed first year, annual tuition charge £8,000 Liability point 1 (4 February) – student B’s attendance confirmed by HEP – £2,000 fee loan/grant paid to HEP in Feb 2014 Liability point 2 (22 April) – student B’s attendance confirmed by HEP – £2,000 fee loan/grant paid to HEP in May Liability point 3 (5 July) – student B’s attendance confirmed by HEP – £4,000 fee loan/grant paid to HEP in October Student B begins second year of course in September, 100% tuition fee and maintenance support available to student from start of year (September)

STUDY ABROAD After the change to Student Support Regulations in 2015/16, allowing more flexibility for providers, there has been an increased number of HEPs offering the opportunity to students to study more of their degree overseas. These degrees are generally offered in conjunction with an overseas institution and some are offered as dual degrees. There have been several questions around how to offer these courses and how to correctly build the course content in order to meet the designation and eligibility requirements for student funding. Providers will need to ensure that a minimum of 50% of the degree is studied in the UK. As many course years abroad can run longer than those offered in the UK (earlier course start dates), providers would need to confirm that a minimum of 50% of study and supervision over the duration of the course years takes place in the UK. The amount of tuition fee support available is up to 15% of a full academic year’s fees for study periods abroad, unless the student attends the HEP in the UK for 10 weeks or more in the AY. Where full year abroad study / ERASMUS is attended, even if it is for two academic years out of four, the fees will be capped at 15% for both years. SLC is closely monitoring dual degrees and courses offered in conjunction with overseas institutions to ensure that providers adhere to designation requirements outlined. Please note, where a course is incorrectly designated or a student is not eligible due to studying less than 50% in the UK, SLC would have an obligation to use the overpayment recovery process for any incorrectly paid funding.


SCOTTISH POSTGRADUATE COURSES The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) funds Scottish-domiciled students studying a postgraduate course. These courses should be added to CMS as an undergraduate course under the undergraduate tab.

Scottish providers should enter these courses for their entire postgraduate course catalogue. Providers in the rest of the United Kingdom should only enter these courses at the direct request of SAAS.

The qualification on these courses should be set to ‘Scottish Postgraduate’. There is validation within CMS that ensures that once this qualification is selected then only the ‘Scottish’ domicile can be checked in the Designation section. This ensures that only Scottish-domiciled students can select these courses and they will not be available for selection by either English/Welsh or Northern Irish students.

If the course fee is £5500 or more, the course fee should be entered as £0. If the course fee is less than £5500, the actual course fee should be entered (e.g. £3500).

Scottish universities are required to input nine-month PG Dip courses separately from 12-month master’s and should indicate the qualification after the subject name, e.g. Accountancy (PG Dip), or Accountancy (MA). All other fields should be entered as normal for these courses.

As these courses are for Scottish-domiciled students only, when approved students on these courses appear in the Student Information Service (SIS) the attendance confirmation section will be reflected as ‘Attendance Confirmation Not Required’.

When entering part-time courses, providers should enter the duration as either ‘1 Year Full-Time equivalent’ or ‘2 Year Full-Time equivalent’.

ENGLISH POSTGRADUATE MASTER’S HEALTHCARE COURSES From AY 2018/19 the Department of Health will no longer fund tuition fees through Health Education England or bursaries through the NHS BSA to new students on postgraduate healthcare courses studying in England.

Instead, English-domiciled students new to a postgraduate healthcare course in AY 2018/19 will be eligible for the standard undergraduate package of support.

To be eligible to attract this package of support, these postgraduate healthcare courses must meet the following criteria:

A designated pre-registration course in allied health profession subjects, nursing or midwifery (see list of courses below);

A level 7 postgraduate master’s or postgraduate diploma; Full-time; Not distance learning; and Must be a minimum of two academic years.

Eligible courses are those leading to professional registration in:

Chiropody


Dental hygiene Dental therapy Dietetics and Nutrition Nursing – Diplomas and Degrees (including courses to convert from second to first level registration) Midwifery – Diplomas and Degrees Occupational therapy Operating department practice – Diplomas and Degrees Orthoptics Physiotherapy Podiatry Prosthetics and orthotics Radiography Radiotherapy Speech and language therapy

From AY 2018/19 you should enter an undergraduate course for English-domiciled students, allowing them to access the undergraduate package, as well as a postgraduate course for Welsh and Northern Irish-domiciled students, to allow them to access the appropriate postgraduate loan where applicable.

The qualification on the undergraduate courses should be set to ‘Postgraduate Healthcare’. There is validation within CMS that ensures that once this qualification is selected then only the English domicile can be checked in the Designation section. This ensures that only English-domiciled students can select these courses and they will not be available for selection by Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish students.

All other fields should be entered as normal for these undergraduate courses.

For Northern Irish and Welsh-domiciled students, postgraduate healthcare courses should be added as a normal postgraduate course with the relevant qualification.

DSA UNDERGRADUATE COURSES To allow students to access DSA support, providers should continue to update their DSA course themselves. These should be treated exactly the same as all other courses on CMS (i.e. enter the relevant fee, term date and location information and add the course). The format to use for the DSA undergraduate course is as follows: Course Details Name of Course – DSA Designated Post Grad Qualification – Postgraduate ITT with QTS Duration – 1 UCAS Course Code – POST HECOS Code - 101274 – General Studies HEP Code – N/A Subject Category – Guidance to follow Location – main campus Term Dates 3 Sep – 14 Dec 14 Jan –15 Mar 22 Apr – 24 May The campus location should be entered as the primary location for your institution and the course fee should be the institution fee cap.


If your provider only has part-time courses, you are still required to enter the DSA course as a full-time course with the details above.

DSA POSTGRADUATE COURSES

To allow students to access DSA support, providers should update their generic DSA course themselves. These should be treated exactly the same as other postgraduate courses on CMS. The format to use for a DSA course with a postgraduate funding level is as follows: Course Details Name of Course – DSA Designated Post Grad Qualification – Taught master’s Duration – 1 UCAS Course Code – POST HECOS Code - 101274 – General Studies HEP Code – N/A Subject Category – Guidance to follow Location – main campus Term Dates 3 Sep – 14 Dec 14 Jan -15 Mar 22 Apr – 24 May

ACCELERATED DEGREES From AY 2019/20 HEPs in England can charge a higher fee amount for an AY of an accelerated degree and most students on these courses will be able to access higher fee funding. Only students starting a course in AY 2019/20 or later are eligible to access the higher fee funding. Providers should note that the Welsh Government has confirmed they will not provide additional funding up to the higher fee cap for their students. However they will fund up to a standard course fee cap. Welsh students would need to self-fund the difference. English, Scottish and Northern Irish students can access funding up to the higher fee rate. However, Northern Irish students studying at an Approved provider only will continue to be subject to a maximum fee cap of £4,275 for both standard and accelerated degree courses. The definition of an accelerated degree is a FT course that is undertaken over the length of an equivalent standard-length course minus one year. The most common scenario is where a UG degree course is delivered over two AYs instead of three. For an accelerated course to be eligible for the higher fee cap in AY 2019/20 it must meet the following criteria:

The course must be provided by an English HEP The course must lead to one of the following degree qualifications:

o Honours degree,

o Ordinary degree, or

o Integrated master’s degree. Full-time The course is undertaken over the length of an equivalent standard length course minus one year.


To add an accelerated course to CMS for new students in AY 2019/20, select the ‘Accelerated’ check box displayed when creating the new course. Validation has been added to CMS to allow providers to add a fee of up to 1.2 times their provider fee cap for an accelerated course. For more information on how to add an accelerated course to CMS or to find out more information on eligibility, please refer to the Accelerated Degrees Quick Guide on the HEP Services website.

https://www.heinfo.slc.co.uk/hep-services/courses-management-service/guidance-further-information.aspx

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