You can apply specific attributes to courses in CMS. These help us to make sure that students get the correct level of support during the application process.

There is no limit on the number of attributes you can apply to a single course. However, not all attributes are applicable to both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Course attributes can significantly affect a student’s entitlement, so you must ensure any attributes you add to a course are correct.

You can add the following information in the Attributes section: 

• NHS Bursary
• distance learning
• placement year
• intercalated course
• medicine/dentistry course
• undergraduate entry
• graduate entry
• paramedic
• Operating Department Practice
• pre-registration
• Dental Hygiene/Therapy
• Higher Technical Qualification

This indicator is only available for undergraduate courses.

You cannot use the NHS Bursary indicator at the same time as the Medicine/Dentistry attribute. If the course leads to qualification as a doctor or dentist, you must select the Medicine/Dentistry attribute instead. Do not select the NHS Bursary attribute as your students may receive incorrect funding.

You should not apply the NHS bursary attribute to nursing, midwifery, and allied health profession (AHP) courses in England from the 2017/18 academic year. You should give these courses the pre-registration attribute instead.

The NHS bursary attribute is still applicable to courses in Wales.

When you select the NHS Bursary attribute against a full-time course, you must also select the years the bursary applies to. You can do this in the Academic Year section labelled NHS Bursary Years. If you select this attribute when setting up a part-time course, it will apply to the whole course.

We assess students based on how the course is set up in CMS. It’s critical you set up appropriate courses with the NHS Bursary attribute and set this against the relevant course years.

Distance learning is a course attribute that shows the method of attendance. You should only select it when all students on the course are studying via distance learning.

This is an optional attribute you can use for all courses.

Scenario 1

Thomas is studying a BA Hons in sports coaching. His course hours are as follows:

• 30 weeks online study including lectures and tutorials
• 2 days per week physical attendance at sports academy
• 6 days per year attendance at university

As Thomas needs to attend the sports academy regularly rather than occasionally, this is an in-attendance course.

Scenario 2

Kate is studying an HND in Musical Theatre. Her course hours are as follows:

• 30 weeks online study including lectures and tutorials
• 3 days per year (1 day per term) attendance at college

As Kate only needs to attend college occasionally rather than regularly, this is a distance learning course.

What is a distance learning course?

Distance learning is a mode of delivery for students who do not attend traditional on-campus courses.

It is becoming more common to deliver courses which combine different methods of study. These are known as blended learning courses. They combine traditional classroom teaching with online learning and independent study.

There has been some confusion as to whether these courses should be added as distance learning courses.

Courses of any teaching method are distance learning if the students only attend occasionally, for example once a term.

If students attend regularly, for example once a week, and follow a structured timetable, the course is not distance learning and you should not add it to CMS as such.

Change of delivery method

If the mode of delivery of a course changes you must create a new version of the course. This is for both distance learning to in attendance or from in attendance to distance learning. Adding or removing the distance learning attribute will trigger reassessment of all applications linked to the course for every academic year it is available.

Placement year is a course attribute that shows the method of attendance. It lets you flag the placement year. You should only use this flag if the full-time study is less than 10 weeks.

This is an optional attribute and is only available for undergraduate courses. It consists of alternating periods of full-time study and work experience or external study.

Courses where most of the study happens overseas are not designated for student support.

You can only use the placement attribute for full-time courses. It is not available when you create a part-time course. You can apply the placement attribute to more than one year of an individual course.

There is further information on placement and sandwich courses on our practitioners website.

You should set this indicator to flag an intercalated course.

This attribute is only available for undergraduate courses.

To be considered under single course provisions, an intercalated course is a course that:

• is not higher than first degree level
• leads to more than one qualification, either as an optional or an integral part of the course

There is further information on intercalated courses on our practitioners website.

This is an optional attribute for undergraduate courses. You can only use it when the course leads to qualification as a doctor or dentist. You must not use this attribute for any other healthcare course. You can use it for both full-time and part-time courses to show:

• that the course is a medical or dental course
• whether entry was at undergraduate or graduate level

Based on this distinction student support will vary.

You can only select this attribute if the course has a CAH1 HECoS code.

You cannot use this attribute at the same time as the Attracts NHS Bursary attribute. You should also not use it for Dental Hygiene or Dental Therapy courses.

There is further information on medical and dental courses on our practitioners website.

Undergraduate entry

This is a subcategory of the medicine/dentistry attribute. You can set this indicator to show that the course is an undergraduate entry course. First, select the medicine/dentistry attribute, then select undergraduate entry checkbox.

Graduate entry

This is a subcategory of the medicine/dentistry attribute. You can set this indicator to show that the course is a graduate entry course. First, select the medicine/dentistry attribute, then select the graduate entry checkbox.

This checkbox will become active when you enter the paramedic science HECoS code. It is an optional attribute for undergraduate courses. You can deselect it if you need to.

Students on paramedic courses need to be assessed manually, as some of the courses attract funding from Local Education and Training Boards (LETBS) or Local Ambulance Service Trusts and some do not. We use this attribute to manually check these students' applications. As part of our checks, we may contact you to check the funding status of your paramedic courses.

This indicator will automatically become active when you enter the Operating Department Practice HECoS code. You can deselect it if you need to.

This is an optional attribute that only applies to part-time undergraduate courses.

We use it to assess students for Part-Time Maintenance Loans.

You must use this indicator if the course is a pre-registration nursing, midwifery or allied health profession (AHP) course.

You can use this indicator to highlight any dental hygiene or dental therapy courses.

Part-time dental hygiene or dental therapy courses should have this indicator to allow students to apply for a Part-Time Maintenance Loan.

You should not use this attribute for courses in any other subjects.

This indicator is only available for undergraduate courses.

You should use it to confirm that a course is a Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ).

This attribute is available for both full-time and part-time courses. We assess students based on how the course is set up in CMS. It's critical that you set up appropriate courses with the HTQ attribute.