All students should expect a good quality experience of higher
education, the Office for Students (OfS) says in its annual
review, published today. The review makes clear that most higher
education courses in England are high quality, with the majority
of universities and colleges expected to comfortably meet the
OfS’s requirements in this area. It argues that a minority of
providers are letting students down with poor quality and
uninspiring courses. The regulator has warned that poor quality
courses – even in otherwise highly performing universities – are
not acceptable.
The review looks at the state of the English higher education
landscape, as well as the work the OfS has carried out in the
last year, and what it expects to prioritise in the next.
English universities and colleges continued to be tested
throughout 2021, with the ongoing impact of the pandemic
reverberating across the sector and increasing numbers of
students seeing their experiences of higher education shaped by
coronavirus. The review finds that English universities and
colleges have, for the most part, risen to the challenge.
In her commentary, Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the OfS,
argues that good quality higher education goes hand in hand with
improved equality of opportunity. She says:
“We have, over this year, been engaged in a range of consultative
work on the future regulation of quality and standards. Some of
this has provoked quite a debate, and we have adjusted our plans
as a result of feedback we have received. It is important to
emphasise again that we expect the majority of registered
providers to comfortably outperform the requirements we set in
our quality conditions: there will not be armies of OfS
inspectors assessing teaching quality, creating rafts of
additional bureaucracy. Many providers that we regulate already
offer good or outstanding higher education and will be left to
get on with what they are already doing well.
“What we cannot do is tolerate the minority of providers that are
letting students down. Nobody embarks on a higher education
course expecting to find it uninspiring and of poor quality, so
that they end up dropping out, or to be unable to find employment
afterwards. Universities and colleges heavily promote the quality
of their courses and the employment prospects of their graduates
in their marketing; they know how important these are to their
students. So courses that offer little to students will have to
change, or they will have to close. We are also clear that we
will not accept pockets of poor provision in otherwise
high-performing providers, nor lower expectations for certain
groups of students.
“Improving equality of opportunity without maintaining quality
and standards will not lead to positive student outcomes.
Likewise, maintaining quality and standards without improving
equality of opportunity means excluding students who would stand
to benefit in a fairer system. We will always take context into
account in our regulation, but not if that involves embedding
disadvantage into our regulatory system.”
This year has seen anger over harassment, racism and other
systemic inequalities on campus, and the OfS will be prioritising
these issues next year, to ensure that all students are safe and
supported during their time at university. Tackling harassment –
alongside improved quality and equality of opportunity – is a
priority for 2022, Nicola Dandridge says:
“That universities and colleges tackle and respond effectively to
harassment and sexual misconduct is fundamental to ensuring that
students are successful in their studies. Our statement of
expectations on harassment and sexual misconduct, published in
April this year, set out the policies and procedures universities
and colleges should have in place to prevent harassment from
occurring in the first place, and to ensure an appropriate and
effective response if it does happen. We will be reviewing
providers’ and students’ responses in 2022, and then determine
how to deliver the change needed in this area most effectively.”
Writing in his foreword for the review, OfS chair Lord Wharton
praises the work of universities and colleges through 2021, and
highlights the need for them to equip students with skills which
will help them succeed through their studies and after
graduation. He says:
“Since beginning my role as chair of the OfS, I have been struck
by the higher education sector’s response to the challenges of
the coronavirus pandemic. In a difficult and unprecedented period
for the entire country, many universities and colleges, and their
students and staff, have truly gone above and beyond. From the
medicine and healthcare students serving on the frontline, to the
researchers who have developed life-saving vaccines, there is
much of which the sector can be proud.
“It is crucial that universities and colleges deliver the student
experience that is promised, and that students leave higher
education equipped with the skills they need to thrive. One
course that fails to deliver positive outcomes for students is
one course too many. Similarly, universities and colleges where
there is rapid and unjustified grade inflation must be challenged
to provide, instead, meaningful and long-lasting positive
outcomes for students through high-quality provision.”
