The Office for Students in consulting on a new strategy for 2025 to 2030. The OfS published its last strategy in 2022 for the period 2022 to 2025. Their focus was on ensuring higher education institutions comply with minimum requirements, while continuing to incentivise excellence above those requirements.
They are now proposing to prioritise the student interest in an uncertain environment by:
- regulating to deliver continuous improvement in the quality of higher education courses
- extending the focus to areas of the student interest that affect students’ ability to engage with and benefit from high quality higher education
- supporting a resilient sector that is equipped to meet students’ needs, now and in the future.
The strategy responds to the conclusions of Sir David Behan’s Independent Review of the Office for Students, which presents recommendations for ensuring the effective regulation of higher education against a backdrop of change. David Behan’s report argued that the regulator needed to be more focused on core objectives, shifting from a “safety net” regulator to a regulator that enables improvement.
The consultation will close on 20th February. The EPC EES committee proposes an Executive response. If you would like to offer your thoughts to the committee, please contact us by Friday 31 January. Please see the EPC’s consultations policy for details of how the EPC responds to public consultations.
