New higher education sector regulators

31 Jul 2018

At the beginning of April, the 10 public bodies facing Higher Education were reduced to two, the Office for Students (OfS) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

As the new regulator for the sector, OfS has moved away from the role previously held by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) by formally placing students at the heart of their work. The OfS has four objectives, which it will use to hold providers such as ourselves, to account:

All students, from all backgrounds, are supported to access, succeed in and progress from, higher education
All students, from all backgrounds, receive a high quality academic experience, and their qualifications hold their value over time in line with sector recognised standards
All students, from all backgrounds, have their interests as consumers protected while they study, including in the event of provider, campus or course closure
All students, from all backgrounds, receive value for money

We were one of the first 42 universities registered with the OfS on 19 July, which allows us to:

Access public grants such as government funding for teaching or research
Access student support funding (in other words, our students can get government-backed loans from the Student Loan Company)
Maintain our licence to recruit international students
Maintain our right to award our own degrees
Maintain our right to call ourselves a university

As part of our registration, we have developed a new access and participation plan and student protection plan, both available on our website.