Written Statement by MS, Minister for Further and
Higher Education
The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 (‘TERA
2022') provides for the establishment of a new registration model
for tertiary education providers, providing a flexible mechanism
for accountable, but proportionate, oversight of the tertiary
education sector in Wales.
TERA 2022, together with Regulations under the Act, provides the
legislative framework for a regulatory regime which will be
developed by Medr – the Commission for Tertiary Education and
Research – working with the sector and the Welsh Government to
develop its own expectations of providers to satisfy the
regulatory requirements.
The register will replace the higher
education regulatory oversight regime
previously operated by HEFCW and provides the legal mechanisms to
regulate higher education providers in receipt of grant funding
from Medr and Welsh Government student support.
I am pleased to announce that I have made the first two statutory
instruments required to enable Medr to continue its work to
establish the register, namely the:
- The Commission for Tertiary Education and Research
(Registration and De-registration of Tertiary Education Providers
in Wales) Regulations 2024 (‘the registration Regulations')
- The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022
(Designation of Providers) Regulations 2024 (‘the designation
Regulations')
The registration Regulations make provision in respect of two
categories of registration – higher education core and higher
education alternative, and specify that providers registered in
the higher education core category are eligibility to receive
financial support from the Commission for the purposes of higher
education, research or innovation.
The registration Regulations also provide for further initial
conditions of registration, further mandatory ongoing
registration conditions, specify the information that must be
included in a provider's entry in the register and further
circumstances in which the Commission must remove a registered
provider from a category of the register.
The designation Regulations detail the basis on which a provider
of tertiary education in Wales, who is not an ‘institution', can
make an application to the Welsh Ministers to be designated as
one, for the purpose of TERA 2022.
In order to apply for registration a provider will need to
be a tertiary education provider in Wales, which means an
‘institution' providing tertiary education, including tertiary
education provided on its behalf, whose activities are wholly or
mainly carried on in Wales.
Designation as an “institution” will not in itself confer any
benefits on a provider of tertiary education in Wales other than
enabling them to satisfy the requirement to be a “tertiary
education provider in Wales” in order for them to make an
application for registration.
The intention is for the register to be established by Medr
during 2026, with a number of the registration conditions in
respect of quality, governance, financial management and staff
and student welfare applying from the time of a provider's
registration. Full implementation of the registration
system, including its interface with student support will then be
in place for the 2027/28 academic year.
This approach allows adequate time to make the necessary
subordinate legislation; for Medr to undertake its implementation
activities, and for providers to apply and be entered onto the
register in a timely manner. In addition, it will allow
Medr to provide the wider sector, individual providers and of
course learners, with clarity as to exactly what is being
implemented and the expectations to be placed on registered
providers.
Whilst the registration system provides for the regulation of
higher education in Wales, the regulation of further education
and training will continue through terms and conditions of
funding with TERA 2022 providing for synergy between the
registration conditions and terms and conditions of funding.
