Role and Structure of Higher Education Division
Structure
The role of the Department for Employment and Learning is to formulate policy and administer funding to support education, research and related activities in the Northern Ireland higher education sector.
Higher Education in Northern Ireland is delivered through:
And two university colleges:
Higher Education courses are also delivered in the six Institutes of Further and Higher Education.
Unlike other parts of the UK, Northern Ireland has no higher education funding council; the Department fulfills the roles of both a government department and a funding council.
The Department’s higher education division is split into four branches.
Student Finance branch is responsible for student support including student loans and grants, Postgraduate Awards, FE bursaries and Education Maintainance Allowances.
Higher Education Finance branch is responsible for financial support of the sector and the promotion of good financial practice.
Higher Education Policy branch formulates and implements policies relating to learning and teaching, widening participation, international higher education, higher education in further education including foundation degrees. It is also responsible for the administration of initial teacher education.
Higher Education Research Policy branch administers funding and formulate policy for research and knowledge transfer activities.
More information for potential students, as well as more information about higher education in the United Kingdom, is available at the Higher Education and Research Opportunities 
website.