Higher Education Investigations

Thursday 17th November 2022 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Robert Halfon)]

Today I am laying regulations under section 71 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. These regulations will enable the Office for Students (OfS) to charge a fee for the investigation of providers’ compliance with quality and other requirements, where the investigation results in certain regulatory action or specified outcomes. These regulations will come into effect on 8 December 2022.

Improving the quality of higher education is a manifesto commitment, and one of my highest priorities. This Government are committed to ensuring that students and the taxpayer see returns on their investment and receive value for money. Accordingly, my Department is working with the OfS to implement a rigorous regime of investigations and in-person inspections that ensures robust action is taken where quality conditions of registration have been breached, or are at risk of being breached. I am also committed to ensuring the majority of providers, which are not in breach of the regulatory conditions, experience minimal regulatory burden.

The OfS will identify providers for investigation using a range of information sources, including outcomes data, student notifications, and other monitoring. My predecessor asked the OfS to put “boots on the ground” where necessary, and investigate universities where there are concerns about the quality of provision. These investigations will examine a range of quality matters, including whether courses are sufficiently up to date and academically challenging; whether students receive enough face-to-face engagement; and the extent to which providers secure positive outcomes for students.

Where the OfS finds that a provider’s performance just is not good enough, it may choose to take enforcement action. This could involve a sanction such as a monetary penalty or, if necessary, even go as far as the removal of a provider from the register. This work will effectively tackle pockets of poor-quality provision, and ensure all students, regardless of their background, can benefit from high-quality, world-leading higher education.

In order to fund this regime sustainably, as well as deter against the growth of poor-quality provision, these regulations will allow the OfS to charge a fee for the investigation of providers’ compliance with quality and other requirements, where the investigation results in certain regulatory action or specified outcomes, such as the imposition of a specific ongoing condition of registration. Doing so will help to ensure that the costs of investigations will fall on those responsible for their necessity, and that those in good standing face a more proportionate regulatory burden than would be the case if we did not lay these regulations.

[HCWS373]