Section 50 — Validation by authorised providers

(1) The OfS may enter into arrangements (“commissioning arrangements”) with an authorised registered higher education provider requiring the provider to offer to enter into validation arrangements in respect of—

(a) all the taught awards that the provider is authorised to grant, or

(b) such of those taught awards as are specified in the commissioning arrangements or are of a description so specified.

(2) Commissioning arrangements may require a provider to offer to enter into validation arrangements subject to conditions specified by the OfS.

(3) Commissioning arrangements may not require a provider to offer to enter into validation arrangements that the provider is not authorised to enter into.

(4) In this section, “validation arrangements” means arrangements between one registered higher education provider and another registered higher education provider under which the first provider—

(a) grants a taught award to a person who is a student at the other provider, or

(b) authorises the other provider to grant a taught award on behalf of the first provider.

(5) In this section, “authorised”, in relation to a registered higher education provider, means authorised to grant taught awards, and to enter into validation arrangements, by—

(a) an authorisation given—

(i) under section 42(1),

(ii) by or under any other provision of an Act of Parliament, or

(iii) by Royal Charter, or

(b) an authorisation varied under section 45(1).