Key performance measure 10

Engagement with non-regulatory OfS materials

This KPM measures the number of engagements with OfS non-regulatory materials such as blogs, insight briefs and independent research.

Why are we measuring this?

‘We will identify and celebrate achievements, helping institutions to learn from and build on the success of others, alongside highlighting concerns, empowering universities and colleges to drive positive change.’ (The OfS strategy 2025 to 2030)

Through the data, information, research and analysis that we publish, we will help to shape the debate around higher education, contributing to a flourishing sector that continues to improve.

Levels of engagement with these publications help us to understand their usefulness and relevance, as well as the extent to which the OfS is trusted as a credible source of information and insight.

This KPM therefore tracks the number of engaged sessions with non-regulatory publications via our website. A high or rising number of engagements suggests we are engaging a wide audience and helping to foster high quality dialogue and debate.

What does this show?

Data suggests the number of engaged sessions is cyclical. In the July–September quarters in 2024 and 2025, non-regulatory OfS publications received between 250,000 and 300,000 views, compared with between 100,000 and 200,000 views in other quarters. Summer increases were primarily driven by visits to the National Student Survey webpages which were published in July each year. Between October and December 2025, there was a decrease in engaged sessions of 7 per cent against the same period the previous year, but there is no evidence of a clear upward or downward trend over the two-year period.

How is this calculated?

This KPM counts the number of online engagements with a distinct category of publications over a three month period. It tracks the number of engaged sessions with non-regulatory publications, which are those intended to shape people's views on the higher education sector as whole. It includes the following:

It excludes output which is purely regulatory or informative.

The KPM measures the number of engaged sessions as defined by Google Analytics. Engaged sessions are those where a user spends more than 10 seconds on the OfS website or viewed two or more screens or pages.

It should be noted that this measure is imperfect and may not always indicate a user is engaged. A session may last longer than needed because the user is struggling to find the information they need. Alternatively, a session may last less than 10 seconds because a webpage is clear and information is easy to find, and so would not be counted in our data even though the user was engaged and the webpage served its purpose. Despite this, we expect that in most cases, the measure effectively reports cases where a page was useful to a user.

The data has been backdated to October–December 2023.

The number of publications of interest published each quarter varies over the reporting period.