Higher education corporation

FOIA Schedule I includes:

• 53 - (1) The governing body of—

• (c) an institution conducted by a higher education corporation,

• (2) In sub-paragraph (1)—

• (a) “governing body” is to be interpreted in accordance with subsection (1) of section 90 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 but without regard to subsection (2) of that section,
• (c) in paragraph (c), “higher education corporation” has the meaning given by section 90(1) of that Act, and

Section 90(1) defines a higher education corporation to be:

a body corporate established under section 121 or 122 of the Education Reform Act 1988, including those sections as applied by section 227(4) of that Act (application to Wales), or a body corporate which has become a higher education corporation by virtue of section 122A of that Act

Section 121 is about the initial establishment of HECs for LEA-run institutions. Section 122 is about creating new HECs from LEA-run institutions, and section 122A is about turning FECs into HECs. All of these are done by order.

Many HECs are also universities by virtue of section 77 of the 1992 Act, which states that any HEC with "university" in its name is a university unless "university" is immediately followed by "college" or "collegiate".

On WhatDoTheyKnow, HECs are filed under hei and university.

Section 121

The only order under this section appears to be SI 1988/1799, which incorporated:

• Bath College of Higher Education
• City of Birmingham Polytechnic
• Bolton Institute of Higher Education
• Bretton Hall College of Higher Education
• Brighton Polytechnic
• University of the West of England (as Bristol Polytechnic)
• Bulmershe College of Higher Education
• Charlotte Mason College of Education
• Coventry Polytechnic
• Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education
• Dorset Institute of Higher Education
• Ealing College of Higher Education
• Edge Hill College of Higher Education
• Essex Institute of Higher Education
• Hatfield Polytechnic
• The Polytechnic, Huddersfield
• Humberside College of Higher Education
• Kent Institute of Art and Design
• Kingston Polytechnic
• Lancashire Polytechnic
• Leeds Polytechnic
• Leicester Polytechnic
• Liverpool Polytechnic
• The London Institute
• Loughborough College of Art and Design
• Manchester Polytechnic
• Middlesex Polytechnic
• Nene College
• Newcastle Polytechnic
• North East London Polytechnic
• North Riding College
• Oxford Polytechnic
• Plymouth Polytechnic
• Portsmouth Polytechnic
• Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication
• Royal Northern College of Music
• Sheffield City Polytechnic
• South West London College
• Staffordshire Polytechnic
• Sunderland Polytechnic
• Teesside Polytechnic
• Thames Valley College of Higher Education
• Trent Polytechnic
• West Midlands College of Higher Education
• The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton
• Worcester College of Higher Education

Section 122

• SI 1988/1800
• SI 1988/1801
• SI 1988/1888
• SI 1988/2283
• SI 1989/17
• SI 1989/2242
• SI 1989/2418
• Incorporated by SI 1991/1976 (but probably mostly renamed or dissolved since then):
  • Cardiff Institute of Higher Education
  • Gwent College of Higher Education
  • The Polytechnic of Wales
  • Swansea Institute of Higher Education
  • The Welsh College of Music and Drama

Section 122A

• Norwich University College of the Arts (transferred, as Norwich School of Art and Design Further Education Corporation, by SI 1994/2017)
• Northern School of Contemporary Dance (transferred, as Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds Further Education Corporation, by SI 1994/2018)
• Writtle Agricultural College Higher Education Corporation (transferred, as Writtle Agricultural College Further Education Corporation, by SI 1994/2019)
• The Arts Institute at Bournemouth (transferred, as The Arts Institute at Bournemouth Further Education Corporation, by SI 2001/337)
• University College Birmingham (transferred, as Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies, by SI 2002/1136)
• Leeds College of Music (transferred by SI 2005/1792)