Scotland (Part II and Schedule 2) Northern Ireland (Schedule 2) The Education Act 1994 (c. 30) is an act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom under John Major's government in 1994, which primarily established the Teacher Training Agency and allowed students to opt out of students' unions.

[2] This Part also places further restrictions on Students' Unions by requiring that affiliation to external organizations must be voted on at referendum if 5% of the membership requests a referendum and restricts the time a sabbatical officer can serve to two years.

It also stipulates that a students' union must be governed democratically and must be accountable for its finances.

Section 22 of the Act requires that "the procedure for allocating resources to groups or clubs should be fair and should be set down in writing and freely accessible to all students".

Some assert that it requires all university societies that draw on students' union funding to be open to membership by all students, whilst others assert that this does not explicitly prevent a society of a students' union from restricting its membership to those who share the aims and purposes of the society.