Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications there have been to date for places on the Higher Education Short Courses trial; how many and what proportion of those applications were accepted; and how many and what proportion of those that were accepted applied for (a) fee and (b) maintenance loans.

The Higher Education Short Courses trial, which will be rolling out over the course of the 2022/23 academic year, has seen 22 providers develop over 100 short courses. The department will be monitoring the overall number of students and number of applications for loans as part of the trial, which is due to run for three years in total.

The department is developing bespoke engagement activity to further engage trial providers. We are keen to explore how they can maximise their relationships with employers to ensure steady uptake of the new short courses opening throughout the year and beyond. We will continue to work closely with those providers to maximise the number of applications.

We are only offering tuition fee loans for the courses within this trial. This is the first time that a tuition fee loan from the Student Loans Company has been available to students applying for Higher Education short courses. Those who need additional support may be eligible for a study-costs bursary which can be used towards study-related costs, such as childcare, books, and travel, and is distributed directly by their provider.

The department is gathering and evaluating data throughout the trial alongside the Student Loan Company, Office for Students and providers, and will use this to inform the development of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement. We currently have no plans to publish any specific data.