A wnaiff Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet ddatganiad am y gefnogaeth ariannol sydd ar gael i fyfyrwyr sy'n astudio ar gyfer diploma ôl-raddedig, gan esbonio pam nad oes benthyciad ôl-raddedig ar gael i unigolion sy'n ymgymryd â chyrsiau ymarfer cyfreithiol yn 2017/18?
In 2017/18, students wanting to study a post graduate course will be entitled to apply for a loan of up to £10,280 as a contribution to the costs of undertaking a postgraduate qualification.
In order to be eligible for student support, a student must be enrolled on a course that has been designated for the purposes of student support funding. There are two routes to designation. Automatic designation applies to courses of higher education provided by ‘recognised educational’ institutions as specified in the Welsh student support regulations. A recognised educational institution will qualify for automatic designation of its full-time higher education courses that satisfy the conditions set out in the Welsh student support regulations. Specific course designation is available to other providers that can demonstrate they meet specific criteria, relating to, for example, financial viability and quality standards. We have published designation policies for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Alternative providers can apply for the designation of postgraduate Master’s courses, including legal practice courses, enabling eligible students to apply for support to study courses provided by them.
In order to have their courses designated, providers must submit an application which satisfies the specified criteria. If a postgraduate course has not been awarded specific designation for Wales, students will not be able to apply for the postgraduate loan. The Welsh Government has received applications from a number of providers for designation of postgraduate courses, including the LLM. These are being processed as quickly as possible and we have recently awarded specific designation to several such courses.