S.L. 607.3 Art. 8Application for a licence.

(1) Any new or unlicensed provider seeking to obtain a licence or any licensee seeking to renew or change its licence or extend the category under which it is licensed under these regulations, is required to apply to the Authority for such purpose.

(2) The Authority may grant or refuse any application made under sub-regulation (1) in accordance with these regulations.

(3) In accordance with regulation 5(3), prior to making an application under sub-regulation (1), providers seeking to make such application shall be required to obtain both provider accreditation and programme accreditation under these regulations: Provided that applicants seeking to be licensed as Tuition Centres in accordance with the Third Schedule shall be exempted from seeking programme accreditation in parallel to provider accreditation.

(4) For the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of regulation 5(3) and sub-regulation (3), programme accreditation for all programmes offered by a provider shall be issued on the basis of quality audits of a sample of the programmes offered by the provider, which sample is to be determined by the Authority and which shall, in every case, implicate a similar percentage of programmes across all providers.

(5) Notwithstanding the generality of the provisions of regulation 5(3) and sub-regulation (3), where a provider provides further or higher education that serves to obtain a further or higher education qualification only in part, "programme accreditation" shall be construed as referring to that part of the programme provided. Such part programme shall be accredited as a "further education module" or "higher education module" as defined in the Third Schedule.

(6) Notwithstanding the generality of the provisions of regulation 5(3) and sub-regulation (3), providers established by the Act or any regulation made thereunder, or by any other law, and granted the status of self-accrediting providers as defined in the First Schedule shall be exempt from the requirement of first-time accreditation:

Provided that self-accrediting providers shall be required to review such status through provider and programme quality audits undertaken in accordance with regulation 37(1)(c), prior to the lapse of five years from the date of the coming into force of these regulations, and every five years periodically thereafter:

Provided further that in the event of a negative outcome of such quality audit, the Authority may impose any condition or restriction that it may deem necessary in accordance with regulations 12 and 13 respectively on such self-accrediting providers.

(7) For the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of regulation

5(3) and of sub-regulation (3), where a provider already licensed in one or more of the licence categories referred to in the Second Schedule applies for the extension of its licence to another licence category, the Authority may exempt the provider from undergoing a provider quality audit to serve as the basis for extension of the provider’s licence to a new category: Provided that the Authority may so exempt the provider from undergoing an additional provider quality audit only if it is satisfied, on the basis of programme quality audits carried out for the purpose of assessing new programmes to be offered by the provider, and on the basis of a previous provider quality audit, that such provider quality audit is not necessary in the circumstances: Provided further that, in such case, the Authority may issue provisional provider accreditation in accordance with regulation 34(2)(d), for the remaining term up to the date of expiry of the provider’s existing provider accreditation, as it deems appropriate. On the basis of such provisional provider accreditation, the Authority shall issue a provisional extension of the provider’s licence, which provisional extension shall be valid for the same term as the provisional accreditation.

(8) The Authority shall make and publish guidelines to establish such information to be supplied by providers for the purpose of an application under sub-regulation (1):

Provided that, by means of such guidelines, the Authority may establish different information requirements for different categories of licensees referred to in the Second Schedule.

(9) An application made under sub-regulation (1) may only be withdrawn by written notice to the Authority at a time before the licence has been issued or refused.

(10) The Authority shall determine each application made under sub-regulation (1) within thirty working days of receipt of the application or, if the application does not comply with subregulation (3) or if additional information is required, within thirty days of compliance with the said sub-regulation or the furnishing of the additional information as the case may be.