English Providers

From AY 2019/20 English providers intending to access student finance must be registered with the Office for Students (OfS).

Once you are registered with OfS, all eligible courses are automatically designated for English students.

You will only be able to add your courses to CMS if you are registered with OfS.

There are 2 categories of registration:

Approved (fee cap) with or without an Access and Participation Plan (APP)
Approved

If you deregistered with OfS for any reason, you may need to seek ‘teach out’ at course level from OfS. This will give your returning students access to the student finance system.

English School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) providers need to be registered with the Department for Education (DfE) to add courses to CMS.

Franchise and validation arrangements

English providers that are registered with the Office for Students (OfS) can enter into validation and franchise agreements with:

providers that are registered with OfS
providers that are not registered with OfS

They can do this without seeking specific designation. All eligible courses run through validation or franchise arrangements are automatically designated. Eligible students will be able to access the student finance system.

If you are a higher education provider that is not registered with OfS, courses delivered via validation and franchise agreements by an OfS-registered provider are not eligible for student finance funding.

Validation arrangements

Validation arrangements are needed when a provider (Provider A) does not have the level of degree-awarding powers (DAPs) needed to run a course leading to a designated qualification. Such a provider can enter into a validation arrangement with another provider (Provider B) that has the DAPs needed.

Example

Provider B approves a programme of study offered by Provider A that contributes to the qualification awarded 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. Provider A would add the course to CMS.

Franchise arrangements

Franchise arrangements are used when a lead provider (the franchisor) enters into an agreement with another provider (the franchisee).

Under this agreement, the franchisee will deliver a course on behalf of the lead provider. The franchisee may deliver all or part of a programme that the franchisor (the lead provider) approves and owns.

The lead provider keeps overall control of the programme's content, delivery, assessment and quality assurance. The lead provider must add the course on CMS. Students will apply for funding at the lead provider and all tuition fee loan payments will be made to the lead provider.

Example

Provider C (franchisor) has entered into a franchise agreement with Provider D (franchisee). Provider D is delivering the course at its campus on behalf of Provider C. The lead provider, Provider C, must upload the course details to CMS under its provider details. The location of the course should be shown as Provider D.

Offering courses to students domiciled in the rest of the UK

If an English provider offers its own courses to students domiciled in the rest of the UK, the following designation rules apply.

Own courses are those wholly provided by this higher education provider.

	Wales	NI	Scotland
An English provider that is:	designation	designation	designation
Approved (fee cap) with APP	Automatic	Automatic	Automatic
Approved (fee cap) without APP	Automatic	Automatic	Automatic
Approved	Specific (course-level) designation by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW)	Specific (provider-level) designation by the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland (DfENI)	Specific (course-level) designation by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)

English providers offering their courses to Scottish students need specific designation at course level if their organisation:

was a publicly funded provider that registers as an Approved provider with the Office for Students (OfS)
is a new provider
is a privately funded provider that registers as an Approved provider with the Office for Students (OfS).

If your organisation was publicly funded in AY 2018/19 and registers as an Approved (fee cap) provider with OfS, you have automatic designation for Scottish students for full-time courses only. This includes courses run through validation or franchise arrangements. If your franchise agreement is with a provider in Scotland you must contact SAAS.

There are separate course designation rules for students domiciled in the rest of the UK for validation and franchise arrangements.

If you need specific designation at course or provider level, you need to request this from the relevant designating authority (DA) each academic year. We can request this on your behalf for Northern Irish and Scottish students. However, you need to contact HEFCW directly each academic year to seek designation for Welsh students. We do not request designation for Welsh students on your behalf.

Validation arrangements – Welsh students

There are course-specific rules for Welsh domiciled students attending a higher education provider in England.

From AY 2019/20, providers registered in the Approved (fee cap) category can automatically enter validation arrangements with other OfS registered providers. Approved providers, and those not registered with OfS, must seek specific course-level designation from HEFCW for courses run through a validation arrangement.

The designation for full-time and part-time undergraduate courses for each category is:

Approved (fee cap) with plan – automatic designation
Approved (fee cap) with statement – automatic designation
Approved – specifically designated by HEFCW
not on register – specifically designated by HEFCW

You must not add courses to CMS before HEFCW has granted designation. If HEFCW advises your courses are only designated for continuing students, you must set your course to returning students only when saving to CMS.

Franchise arrangements – Welsh students

Only providers registered as Approved (fee cap) with an Access and Participation Plan (APP) are automatically designated to run franchised courses in partnership with other OfS registered providers. All other providers must have these courses specifically designated by HEFCW.

The designation for full-time and part-time undergraduate courses depends on the registration status of both providers.

If the franchisee (deliverer) is registered with OfS and the franchisor (lead provider) is:

Approved (fee cap) with an Access and Participation Plan (APP) – automatic designation
Approved (fee cap) without (APP) – specific designation by HEFCW
Approved – specific designation by HEFCW

If the franchisee (deliverer) is not registered with OfS, the courses will need specific designation.

Example 1

Provider C is registered with OfS as Approved (fee cap) with an Access and Participation Plan. Provider C has a genetics course, but would like to run it at another location (Provider D who is OfS registered) to use Provider D’s specialist laboratory.

Provider C is the lead provider. As it is an Approved (fee cap) provider with an Access and Participation Plan, the genetics course is automatically designated for funding since Provider D is OfS registered. Provider C can add the course to CMS and set the location to Provider D.

Example 2

Provider E is registered with OfS as an Approved (fee cap) provider and does not have an Access and Participation plan. Provider E also has a genetics course and wants to enter a franchise arrangement with Provider D to use their specialist laboratory.

Provider E must apply to HEFCW to have the course specifically designated for support. They should not add the course to CMS until HEFCW has given it specific designation.