{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/education-fees-and-awards-regulations-1994/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/education-fees-and-awards-regulations-1994/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1994/3042",
  "legislation_title": "The Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 1994",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/education-fees-and-awards-regulations-1994",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations, which come into force on 1st January 1995, consolidate the Regulations revoked by regulation 17, with some modifications.\nThey provide that subject to specified exceptions in the cases mentioned below it shall be lawful to differentiate between students with and those without a specified connection with the United Kingdom, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, or with a particular part of the United Kingdom, either as respects fees charged or in rules of eligibility for awards. Such differentiation would otherwise be unlawful under the Race Relations Act 1976. Nothing in the Regulations is to be construed as rendering unlawful anything done which would have been lawful had the Regulations not been made (regulation 3).\nPart II relates to tuition and certain other fees (“relevant fees”) in respect of full-time or sandwich courses provided by universities, other institutions within the higher education sector, institutions within the further education sector or institutions maintained by local education authorities (regulations 4 and 5). Students who have not been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands, or who have been so resident but at any time during the three year period have been resident wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education, may be charged higher relevant fees (regulations 6 and 7). Schedule 1 provides that higher relevant fees may not be charged to nationals of member States of the European Community with a corresponding connection with the European Economic Area, to refugees or to recently arrived immigrants.\nPart III relates to rules of eligibility for discretionary awards made by local education authorities under section 1(6) or 2 of the Education Act 1962 (regulation 8). The rules adopted by an authority may provide that such students as are mentioned above should be ineligible for the awards (regulations 9 and 10). Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 provide for exceptions in relation to “excepted candidates”.\nPart IV relates to the rules of eligibility for awards made by the Research Councils and certain other specified institutions (regulation 11), and makes provision similar to that made by Part III (regulations 12 and 13). However it is provided that if the maker of the awards so determines, the required connection may be with Great Britain instead of with the United Kingdom and Islands, and that the awards may be confined to candidates currently ordinarily resident in, or in a specified Part of, the United Kingdom and Islands. Schedules 2 and 3 provide for exceptions in relation to “excepted candidates”.\nPart V relates to the rules of eligibility for postgraduate agricultural studentships made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Secretary of State for Wales (regulation 14) and again makes provision similar to that made by Part III (regulations 15 and 16). However it is provided that the required connection is with the United Kingdom instead of the United Kingdom and Islands, and that the rules may require a candidate to be a British or Commonwealth citizen. Schedules 2 and 3 provide for exceptions in relation to “excepted candidates”.\n“Excepted candidates” for the purposes of Part III, IV and V are defined in Schedule 2 in relation to maintenance awards and in Schedule 3 in relation to fees awards. They include the children of European Economic Area migrant workers and such workers themselves who seek an award in respect of a vocational training course at a vocational training establishment. If the maker of the award so determines they also include refugees and candidates who do not have the relevant connection with England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom and Islands or the European Economic Area only because they, their spouses or their parents were temporarily employed outside the relevant area. In relation to fees awards they also include nationals of member States of the European Community and the sons and daughters of such nationals who have a relevant connection with the European Economic Area.\nThe most significant modifications to the Regulations consolidated which have been made by these Regulations relate to the accession of new member States to the European Community. It is provided that a territory which was not part of the area of the European Community or the European Economic Area but which is now part of those areas shall be considered to have always been part of the European Economic Area, so that residence in such area before the accession of the relevant member State shall be considered to be residence in the European Economic Area (regulation 2(3)). It is also provided that the lawfulness of charging higher rate fees must be determined by reference to that last date on which the fees are required to be paid by the student, so that a national of a member State required to pay an instalment after the date on which the State acceded to the European Community may not be charged higher rate fees in respect of that instalment (Schedule 1, paragraph 9).",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/3042/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T13:22:05.954823+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}