OfS launches survey to determine the impact of its regulation on the quality of education for students

We have commissioned independent research consultancy Ecorys to run the survey, which is open from today until 12 October 2026. To ensure the findings capture the diversity of the higher education sector, it will be open to staff with oversight of curriculum development and strategic decision making relating to academic quality at every registered university and college.

We expect to publish the findings of the survey alongside case studies we have recently conducted with teaching staff and student representatives at ten institutions in spring 2027.

The survey and case studies will provide the baseline findings for a multi-year evaluation of how our regulation of quality affects policies and processes, how courses are designed, delivered and assessed, the ultimate impact for students, how this changes over time, and how our quality requirements influence universities and colleges. We will use these findings to help continually improve our approach for the benefit of students and institutions as we embark on wider reforms to the quality assessment system.

Interim Director of Quality and Access at the OfS, Jean Arnold, said:

‘Students care deeply about the quality of their courses, and we know that universities and colleges across the country are working hard to provide excellent teaching and learning experiences.

‘We’re launching today’s survey because we want to measure the impact of the OfS’s quality regulation on these efforts and the other factors that might influence institutions to make changes to their approach. It is intended to help us better understand how the current system is working in practice and identify areas for improvement as we develop our proposed new approach to quality assessment through the revised Teaching Excellence Framework.

‘We’ve spoken before about our commitment to work collaboratively with the sector as we take forward this important work, and we are particularly interested in finding out how the impact of our regulation differs at institutions of all types, sizes, student demographics, specialisms, and location. Your views will help us ensure our findings are an accurate reflection of our diverse sector as we strive to drive up the quality of education for students now and in the future.’