Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to converting the 30 poorest-performing universities to vocational training colleges following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Office for Students (OfS) has made it clear that all higher education providers must continue to meet conditions related to the quality of their courses and the standard of qualifications they award. This means ensuring that courses are high quality, students are supported and achieve good outcomes, and standards are protected. If providers breach those conditions the OfS has powers to impose a range of sanctions, potentially culminating in deregistration and the loss of university status.