# The Higher Education (Qualifying Courses and Qualifying Persons) (Wales) Regulations 2026, Regulation 2: Interpretation

Extent: E+W

In these Regulations—
“the 1998 Act” (“Deddf 1998”) means the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998;
“the 2022 Act” (“Deddf 2022”) means the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022;
“academic year” (“blwyddyn academaidd”), in respect of a course, means a year determined as follows—
(a) identify the period in Column 2 of the Table within which the academic year actually begins;
(b) the academic year is the period of 12 months beginning on the date specified in the entry in Column 1 of the Table corresponding to the period set out in Column 2.
Table
Column 1
Start date of academic year for the purposes of these Regulations
Column 2
Period within which academic year begins
1 September
On or after 1 August but before 1 January
1 January
On or after 1 January but before 1 April
1 April
On or after 1 April but before 1 July
1 July
On or after 1 July but before 1 August
“course of initial teacher training” (“cwrs hyfforddiant cychwynnol athrawon”) includes such a course leading to a first degree.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2026/52/regulation/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/higher-education-qualifying-courses-and-qualifying-persons-wales-regulations-2026/regulation-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.