Today, the Office for Students (OfS) publishes a new strategy that explains how it will strive to deliver exemplary regulation in the interest of students.
The strategy sets out four attitudes to guide the OfS’s approach to risk-based regulation and drive the delivery of its objectives:
- Ambitious for students from all backgrounds.
- Collaborative in pursuit of our priorities and in our stewardship of the sector.
- Vigilant about safeguarding public money and student fees.
- Vocal that higher education is a force for good, for individuals, communities and the country.
In developing the strategy, the OfS considered the views of students, institutions, and other stakeholders through a public consultation and feedback events.
The OfS will focus on three areas of priority: quality, student experience and support, and sector resilience. This includes making sure students receive a high quality education and get the experiences they have been promised.
The OfS will also prioritise sector resilience, with an aim for all institutions to have the effective governance needed to navigate increased financial and strategic risk successfully. Equality of opportunity will be embedded at every level of the OfS’s work, with an aim that students from all backgrounds can reap the benefits higher education can bring.
OfS chair, Edward Peck, said:
‘Delivering our strategy in the interests of students will be as much about how we regulate as what we regulate. That’s why we’re setting out four attitudes that will drive our stewardship of this important sector in a period of change as we work to become an exemplary regulator.
‘The interests of students remain at the core of everything we do. They told us that they want high quality teaching, resources, and support, to be treated fairly, and for their time in higher education to give them the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
‘I’d like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation. Your views have been instrumental in helping us develop our new approach for the benefit of past, present, and future students.’
Notes
- The Office for Students is the independent regulator for higher education in England. We are striving to deliver exemplary regulation in the interests of students.
- Read the consultation response.