Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government which scientific criteria they apply in deciding whether an educational institution can describe itself as a Health Sciences University; whether these criteria could apply to an institution teaching homeopathy and other alternative therapies; and which peer-reviewed research or externally-assessed teaching the Office for Students relied upon in deciding to allow the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic and University College of Osteopathy to rebrand themselves as the Health Sciences University.

When a provider requests to change its name, a strict criteria and assessment process is followed. The provider will already have undergone considerable scrutiny when being awarded Degree Awarding Powers (DAPs), including input from quality experts, drawn from the sector, to test the provider against multiple criteria. Indefinite DAP’s status is the main eligibility test for providers to be able to go through the title process.

In this instance, the provider gained degree awarding powers in 2016 and so was able to apply for university title as per the rules set out in the Office for Students’ (OfS) ‘Regulatory advice 13: how to apply for university college and university title’, which is attached and also available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/regulatory-advice-13-how-to-apply-for-university-college-and-university-title/#:~:text=and%20university%20title-,Regulatory%20advice%2013%3A%20How%20to%20apply%20for%20university%20college%20and,as%20part%20of%20their%20name.

The department and the OfS were notified in September 2023 regarding the provider changing its name. When considering the proposed new name for a provider, the OfS must have due regard to the need to avoid names that are, or may be, confusing. In addition, in the instance of the newly named Health Sciences University, the OfS operated an open consultation on the proposed name. This ran from 22 February 2024 to 21 March 2024, and determined the regulator's final decision. The OfS approach is set out in their case report ‘Approval of proposed new name for AECC University College - Office for Students’, which is attached and can also be found at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/approval-of-proposed-new-name-for-aecc-university-college/.

In addition to the OfS process, regulations brought into force under the Companies Act 2006 means that the department has responsibility for confirming that it has no objection to the use of the sensitive word ‘university’ in a business name. The OfS published approval of the proposed new name from ‘AECC University College' to 'Health Sciences University’ in July 2024. The department then considered the request from the provider to change its name to ‘Health Sciences University’ and was satisfied that the use of the word ‘university’ was appropriate in this context. The department had no objection to the use of the term ‘university’ in the proposed business name ‘Health Sciences University’ and issued the provider with a non-objection letter on 18 July 2024.

During this consultation the OfS did not receive any responses questioning the merit of the subject area(s) of the provider.