England’s regulator has unveiled plans to redraw the initial requirements for higher education providers hoping to join its register.
The move comes during an eight-month hiatus in registrations, ending in August, designed to allow the Office for Students to focus on the university sector’s financial crisis – with an expected hike in demand at the end of that period likely to be bolstered by Department for Education proposals requiring larger franchised higher education providers to join the register.
Registration is necessary for providers to access public funding via the Student Loans Company.
The proposed changes would create a new condition of registration, known as C5, focused on treating students fairly. This would require a provider to submit its policy – or policies – setting out how it would make changes to courses, qualifications, modes of study, teaching location and facilities. This would be published as an institution’s “student protection plan”, and would replace the existing conditions, C1 and C5, which cover consumer protection law and the student protection plan respectively.
Another new condition, E7, focused on effective governance, would replace E1 (public interest governance) and E2 (management and governance). It would require institutions to submit a set of governing documents and a five-year business plan, and to provide evidence that they employ key individuals with sufficient knowledge and expertise to enable them to comply with ongoing conditions. It would also require institutions to demonstrate that these individuals pass a “fit and proper persons” test for handling public funds, and to show that they have proper arrangements in place to prevent fraud.
In both cases the expectation is that all documentation would be of the type that providers already have available, rather than materials produced specifically for OfS purposes.
Further proposed changes to the registration process include a ban on providers reapplying for registration within 18 months of a prior refusal.
“When the OfS was first created, most universities and colleges seeking registration were established institutions with a long track record of delivering higher education. Today, more applications come from organisations new to regulation, or the sector,” said Philippa Pickford, the OfS’ director of regulation.
“Our experience is that our current conditions of registration are not always well suited to their circumstances – currently, around 40 per cent of applications do not comply with our registration guidance when they are submitted.
“Today’s proposals will allow us to quickly but fairly refuse low-quality applications, focusing the OfS’ resources on applications from well-prepared providers that will bring benefits to students and to the sector. They will also enable us to ensure public funding is used appropriately as new types of higher education providers continue to seek registration.”
A consultation will run until 23 April.
