Ofqual has fined the awarding organisation University
of West London (UWL) £150,000 for serious rule breaches
which affected thousands of students
taking its graded music qualifications.
From January 2020 to November 2022, UWL
failed to exercise proper control over one of its
third-party centres. As a result, the centre designed,
delivered and awarded music
theory qualifications
to 224 students which had not been
through UWL's usual approval process – and
issued certificates to students.
An Ofqual investigation also found
that 4,300 students taking the
Ofqual-regulated Theory of
Music qualifications did not receive their certificates
promptly after completing assessments.
In addition, it found that UWL had
no appeals process for students for nearly
3 years.
While 224 students were directly affected by the third-party
centre's decision to use its own unauthorised test papers, UWL,
as the awarding organisation responsible, had no assurance at the
time that the assessments the centre used were fit for
purpose.
Approximately 40,000 students received certificates via the
centre for nearly 3 years when it was not adequately supervised,
posing a risk to students and to public confidence in
exams.
No evidence was found by an independent auditor, commissioned by
UWL under instruction from Ofqual, to suggest that any other
assessment had been delivered without going through UWL's
approval process.
The third-party centre* was initially contracted to
provide online assessments during the COVID-19
lockdown for the London College of Music
Examinations (LCME), a trading name of UWL.
When Ofqual imposed special conditions requiring UWL to
commission an independent audit, UWL initially failed
to properly comply with the requirements. Ofqual found
this breach was due to negligence.
Amanda Swann, Ofqual's Executive Director of
Delivery, said:
This fine reflects the serious nature of UWL's failures as well
as our commitment to protecting students' interests and
maintaining public confidence in our qualifications system.
Students must be able to trust that awarding organisations are
properly overseeing how their qualifications are
delivered. These failures by UWL also had a real
impact on thousands of students who were left waiting for
certificates they had earned and would have
been unable to appeal their results.
This action is necessary to deter UWL and other awarding
organisations from similar failings in future.”
Ofqual's enforcement panel also took into account the extent
to which UWL admitted the breaches
and its previously good regulatory history.
Ofqual has today published the Final Notice
document which has more details about the case.
Background information
*Ofqual considers it would be inappropriate for Ofqual to name
the third-party centre. The centre was not regulated by
Ofqual. Ofqual's Supporting compliance and
taking regulatory action guidance sets out how it will use
its powers to take regulatory action.
Previous cases and fines can be viewed in Regulatory actions and
interventions by Ofqual - GOV.UK.
