FOI/202600500997 · FOI · not held
Graduate entry and LLB tuition fee application information: FOI release
Information requested
I request the following information for the last 5 Academic Years (2020-21 to 2024-25):
1. For each academic year, the application data - ie number of applications - for tuition fee funding for LLB (Graduate Entry/Accelerated) courses in Scotland that were:
Received Approved Rejected
2. For rejected applications in the same period, the number of rejected applications specifically on the grounds that:
The course was classified as a "graduate entry" course The applicant already held a degree qualification The course was classified as a "second degree"
3. Please provide all Policy Documentation - internal policy documents, guidance notes, or decision-making frameworks - used by SAAS staff to assess tuition fee eligibility for graduate entry LLB courses, including but not limited to:
Any definition of "first degree" applied internally Any assessor guidance on how to classify graduate entry LLB courses Any and all references to the legal basis for excluding graduate entry LLB courses from funding
4. Legal Advice and/or guidance requested or received by SAAS regarding the eligibility for tuition fees funding of graduate entry LLB courses, under the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022 and/or the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005.
Response
1. For each academic year, the application data - ie number of applications - for tuition fee funding for LLB (Graduate Entry/Accelerated) courses in Scotland that were:
Received Approved Rejected
The breakdown of this information is shown in the table below:
2020/2021 2021/2022 2022/2023 2023/2024 2024/2025 Total Received 209 214 168 143 171 - of which approved 201 203 163 136 165 - of which rejected 8 11 5 7 6
Source:SAAS
The numbers above are for all applications received for Accelerated/Graduate Entry LLB Course by application status. Please note that the data held by SAAS records application outcomes by course type and status only. The information cannot be further broken down to provide more granular figures beyond those shown above, as the underlying data structure does not support additional disaggregation.
2. For rejected applications in the same period, the number of rejected applications specifically on the grounds that:
The course was classified as a "graduate entry" course The applicant already held a degree qualification The course was classified as a "second degree"
Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) does not hold the information broken down in the format requested.
When applications are rejected, SAAS records the outcome of the application but does not record the specific reason for rejection in a way that can be retrieved, categorised, or reported under the headings requested. SAAS does not require this level of detail to be recorded in order to administer the student support scheme, and there are no searchable fields that would allow rejected applications to be identified by the specific reasons listed above.
Accordingly, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that SAAS does not hold the information you have requested.
Please note that under FOI legislation, SAAS is not required to create new information or undertake analysis in order to generate information that is not already held.
3. Please provide all Policy Documentation - internal policy documents, guidance notes, or decision-making frameworks - used by SAAS staff to assess tuition fee eligibility for graduate entry LLB courses, including but not limited to:
Any definition of "first degree" applied internally Any assessor guidance on how to classify graduate entry LLB courses Any and all references to the legal basis for excluding graduate entry LLB courses from funding Policy documentation held and used to assess tuition fee eligibility for graduate entry LLB courses
The material held and used by SAAS staff to assess tuition fee eligibility for graduate entry LLB courses comprises internal guidance and operational policy content covering tuition fee eligibility for courses designed specifically for graduate entry, course type classification terms, and course specific funding instructions for the accelerated graduate entry LLB route and related honours study outcomes. The documentation provided reflects the guidance content available to staff and is limited to LLB relevant material.
This guidance can be found in the attachment included with this response.
Definition of “first degree” applied internally
The provided guidance does not contain an explicit internal definition of the term “first degree”. The guidance uses the concept operationally by referring to a student’s “first degree” as the prior degree already held before applying to the graduate entry LLB, and it applies funding outcomes by reference to whether that prior degree was funded by SAAS or other UK or EU public funds, the level to which it was completed, and whether it is in law or a similar subject. In particular, the guidance refers to situations where a student “studied their first degree to ordinary level” and sets out how that interacts with entitlement in a subsequent honours year on the normal LLB degree programme.
Assessor guidance on how to classify graduate entry LLB courses
The guidance classifies the graduate entry LLB route as a course designed for graduates only. It states that the two year accelerated LLB is designed for graduates and that those who do not already hold a degree cannot apply. The guidance also describes “graduate entry” courses more generally as courses only available to those who already hold a degree and generally delivered as a compressed version of a full degree, with the outcome depending on the course being equivalent to an ordinary or honours degree.
The guidance includes operational classification terms used by staff when distinguishing course types, including “Graduate Entry” and “Accelerated Degrees”, and it distinguishes between an accelerated degree structure in Scotland and accelerated degree structures elsewhere in the UK. In the Scotland description, the guidance explains that a student may start on the normal degree and then, after an agreed number of years, switch to an accelerated degree. This provides the operational framework staff use when identifying whether a student is on the normal LLB route, the accelerated graduate entry LLB route, or a normal LLB honours year following earlier study.
Decision making framework used to determine tuition fee eligibility for the graduate entry LLB
The guidance sets out a clear tuition fee eligibility rule for courses intended for graduate entry. It states that where residency conditions are met a student may apply for tuition fee funding, but where an applicant has previously undertaken higher education study this may affect entitlement. For courses specifically designed for graduate entry, the guidance states that applicants who already hold a degree will not normally be eligible for tuition fee funding, regardless of whether they received public funding for their previous degree. This is the policy rule applied when assessing tuition fee eligibility for the graduate entry LLB.
In relation to the two year accelerated LLB designed for graduates, the guidance states that SAAS will offer the student loan for living costs and living cost grants only and will not pay tuition fees or a bursary, including where the student received no funding from UK or other EU public funds for their first degree. This provides the course specific application of the graduate entry tuition fee rule to the accelerated graduate entry LLB route.
The guidance also sets out how entitlement is assessed where a student undertakes honours level study after the accelerated LLB, and it distinguishes between two different pathways. Where a student progresses to the honours year of the normal LLB degree programme that is open to non-graduates, the guidance describes entitlement based on the level and subject of the student’s prior degree and whether that prior degree was funded by SAAS or other UK or EU public funds. Where the student’s prior degree was completed to ordinary level, was funded by SAAS or other UK or EU public funds, and was not in law or a similar subject, the guidance provides that the student will be entitled to a loan and living cost grants only. Where the prior degree was in law or a similar subject, the guidance provides that the student will be entitled to full funding for the honours year of the normal LLB degree.
By contrast, where the student undertakes the honours year as year three of the graduate entry LLB course, the guidance states that the student will be entitled to a loan and living cost grants only, regardless of whether their first degree was completed to ordinary degree level only. The guidance explains that this results in the same level of funding being available across all three years of the accelerated course.
References to the legal basis for excluding graduate entry LLB courses from tuition fee funding
The legal framework underpinning tuition fee eligibility is set out in the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022, made under section 73(f) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Regulation 3 enables, but does not require, the payment of tuition fees, and the decision not to provide tuition fee support for graduate entry courses is a policy decision taken within that legislative framework.
Policy advice has been provided internally to SAAS staff on the classification of graduate entry LLB courses and their eligibility for tuition fee support. This advice confirms that accelerated or graduate entry LLB courses are undergraduate-level courses which require applicants to already hold a degree and are therefore treated as second degrees for funding purposes. As a result, tuition fees are not paid for such courses, although loans and living-cost grants may be available.
This policy position has been consistently applied for a number of years and reflects the fact that courses designed specifically for graduates do not attract block grant funding from the Scottish Funding Council and are not funded in the same way as standard undergraduate degree programmes.
Legal advice received by SAAS in relation to the interpretation of this legislation and its application to graduate entry courses is addressed separately under Question 4.
4. Legal Advice and/or guidance requested or received by SAAS regarding the eligibility for tuition fees funding of graduate entry LLB courses, under the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022 and/or the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005.’
Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) is unable to provide the information you have requested as it falls within both legal professional privilege, S42, and Free and Frank provision of advice, S30(B)(1), of FOISA.
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Detected exemption language
Accordingly, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that SAAS does not hold the information you have requested. References to the legal basis for excluding graduate entry LLB courses from tuition fee funding The legal framework underpinning tuition fee eligibility is set out in the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022, made under section 73(f) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980.