Bulletin for August 2024

The new academic year 2024/25

We require you to carry out the following administrative tasks in preparation for the new academic year.

Both new and returning learners need to sign a new EMA Learning Agreement for each academic year. The EMA scheme start date for academic year 2024/25 will be 9 September.

You should sign Learning Agreements and upload them to the portal within 10 working days of an approved application - or 9 September whichever is later. You may have learners who'll return to study earlier and have a signed Learning Agreement in place. If so, you can confirm their attendance before 9 September.

If you have not already done so, please also remember to enter your holidays for academic year 2024/25. You can find more information about how to enter your holidays in the guidance notes on the Learning Centre Services website.

You should remove any students who are no longer studying with you from the 2024/25 academic year portal as soon as possible or within 10 working days of 9 September.

Change in EMA Admin staff at your Learning Centre?

If there's been a change in staff administering EMA at your Learning Centre please contact me to arrange a training session either online or face to face.

Learning Centre Services website

Please remember that you can find all of our guidance documents for EMA on the Learning Centre Services website.

You can find academic year 2024/25 Learning Agreements and payment information guides on the portal under the downloads section.

All Ireland scholarships

Please pass the following information to your students on behalf of the Department for the Economy.

25 All Ireland scholarships are available to students at schools and further education colleges. These will be awarded to those who perform best in their A Level exams or Level 3 Extended Diploma.

Students may be eligible for a scholarship if they are:

• studying A levels at school or a Level 3 Extended Diploma at a Further Education college
• in receipt of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for academic year 2023/24
• planning to go to university in September 2024

You can find details of the scholarships, including how to apply, from the following websites:

• NI Direct: All Ireland Scholarships
• Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA)

Please note this scheme is not administered by the Student Loans Company and you should email any queries to AllIrelandScholarships@economy-ni.gov.uk.

How should EMA students apply?

New EMA students should apply using the paper application form, these are available from the Learning Centres directly or can be downloaded from the Student Finance NI website.

Returning students are not required to submit a paper application. Instead, their 2024/25 signed EMA Agreement acts as their application to reapply for support for a further year. Student Finance NI will have written to returning students during the Spring to let them know the next steps to follow for academic year 2024/25.

Backdated EMA payments

To have payments backdated to the start of the term, students must apply before 30 September 2024. If they  apply after 30 September 2024 they may have their payments backdated to the Monday after they return their application.

Please encourage students to apply as early as possible.