Key performance measure 6

‘We will deliver our work in collaboration with students and the institutions we regulate. We will work with student bodies, sector agencies and other partners that share responsibility for stewardship of this important sector to support a cohesive regulatory environment and foster a thriving ecosystem equipped to create opportunity and drive growth.’ (The OfS strategy 2025 to 2030)

Events and visits are two important ways we engage with institutions, students and others. They help us learn more about institutions and their students, and they help institutions to better understand the OfS. They also help to cultivate strong working relationships.

Tracking attendance at our events suggests how effectively we are engaging with the groups that are important to our work. Tracking non-regulatory visits highlights the work we are doing to deepen our understanding of the institutions and the sector we regulate.

A high or increasing number of attendees - including students and attendees from different types of institutions – alongside non-regulatory visits, suggests continued work to build strong relationships with those who share responsibility for stewardship of the higher education sector.

The number of attendees at OfS events varied over time. Having risen to 1,260 between October and December 2025, the number then fell to 188 between January and March 2026. This reduction reflects the fact that the OfS held fewer events over the quarter.

Representatives from institutions have consistently been the largest group attending OfS events.

In total, we conducted 87 non-regulatory visits between October 2024 and March 2026. The periods with the highest number of non-regulatory visits were October–December 2024 and October–December 2025, and the periods with the fewest were July–September 2025 and January–March 2026.

Our events and non-regulatory visits programmes will vary over the course of a year and we expect that annual trends will provide the clearest indication of organisational performance. In 2025, we had 3,840 attendees at our events and conducted 57 non-regulatory visits.

This KPM draws on internal OfS data on events and non-regulatory visits. It presents the number of event attendees and non-regulatory visits in each quarter of the year, backdated to October 2024, and will be updated quarterly.

KPM 6A shows the total number of attendees at events hosted by the OfS. We define an event as a structured gathering with external attendees where the content and format are owned (or co-owned) and delivered by the OfS. Open-ended conversations, research groups and regular meetings are excluded. The data shows attendance by providers, students and student representatives, and others, of which most are members of sector bodies.

KPM 6B shows the total number of non-regulatory visits conducted each quarter as part of the OfS's annual programme of non-regulatory visits.

Download the data for KPM 6