Consultation on the future approach to quality regulation

Executive summary

1. The Office for Students (OfS) is consulting on changes to our regulation of the quality of higher education. These proposals aim to integrate our targeted assessment activity with the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The proposed system would see the TEF assess the level of quality delivered by all higher education providers, and whether they meet or exceed our minimum quality requirements. The proposed system would run on a cyclical basis, with the frequency dependent on a provider’s rating and ongoing risk monitoring.
2. Quality is at the heart of what students expect from higher education. They want high quality teaching, strong academic support, access to the resources they need and tailored learning experiences. They want to acquire knowledge and skills that lead to good jobs and other opportunities. High quality higher education also contributes to skills that support the future economy, and provides long-lasting value on public investment.
3. The proposals focus on securing positive higher education experiences for all students. Every student – regardless of their background, circumstances or pathway – should benefit from high quality education that meets their needs and equips them to succeed. We want a system that helps to drive quality improvement across the sector. While much provision is already excellent, there is room to improve further and where quality falls short the system will hold institutions to account.
4. We currently assess quality through two separate streams of activity: 
   1. Targeted assessments where we have concerns about a provider meeting our requirements on course quality, assessment, resources, academic support and student outcomes (our B conditions of registration).
   2. Recognition of excellence through the TEF, which rates a provider’s undergraduate provision, looking at the student experience and student outcomes.
5. The independent public bodies review of the OfS recommended that our quality assessment activity should be brought together to form a more integrated assessment system. It also recommended a stronger focus on driving improvements in quality across all providers.
6. Independent evaluations of our approach to regulating student outcomes and the early impact of the 2023 TEF also highlighted areas that we could build on to develop a system that delivers more value and complements and strengthens providers’ work to enhance student experiences and outcomes.
7. We also want students to have clearer information and to have confidence in their expectations of the quality of education and outcomes they receive.
8. Since early 2025, we have engaged with sector and student groups to discuss options for a more integrated approach that would drive continuous improvement for the benefit of students across all providers in England’s diverse sector. For this reason, rather than an open call for evidence, we are consulting initially on proposals for the principles, scope and structure of a revised system. We expect to consult further next year on the detailed content, methods, data and guidance.

Proposals

9. The initial proposals involve the following:
   1. A more integrated overall system 
   2. Modifying the TEF
   3. Revising our minimum requirements for student outcomes
   4. Managing risks and incentivising improvement
   5. Implementation and ongoing development of the system.

A more integrated overall system 

10. We propose to modify the overall quality regulatory system to ensure that it is coherent, that assessment activities are more integrated, to reduce burden where possible, and to provide a clear view of the quality delivered by different providers.
11. Equality of opportunity would be embedded in the new approach, to ensure that students from all backgrounds can experience high quality education and achieve positive outcomes.

Modifying the TEF

12. As a central part of the future integrated system, we propose to assess and rate all providers registered with us through a modified TEF. This would be done on a cyclical basis, with rolling assessment cycles focusing on undergraduate provision in the first cycle of assessments. It would expand to include postgraduate taught provision from the second cycle onwards.
13. We propose to continue to assess and rate the quality of the student experience and of student outcomes. The ratings would show whether a provider meets or exceeds our minimum requirements on quality.
14. We would assess and rate the student experience based on submissions from providers, National Student Survey (NSS) responses and further input from students. We are interested in alternative means of gathering student input from providers where the NSS data is limited, or it is impractical for students to make their own submission.
15. We propose to assess and rate student outcomes in an efficient way, using available data to measure how far students succeed in and beyond their studies. We are interested in a more rounded set of measures of what students do after they graduate, and how to make sure the measures take different contexts into account. Where a provider’s data is too limited, we propose not to rate its student outcomes.

Revising our minimum requirements for student outcomes

16. We propose to simplify our minimum requirements for students achieving positive outcomes, and to test that each provider is meeting these as part of its TEF assessment, rather than through a separate assessment.

Managing risks and incentivising improvement

17. The overarching aim of the new system is that every provider registered with the OfS delivers high quality education and outcomes for its students, and seeks to continually improve its offering.
18. To support this, we propose published ratings and a set of strengthened incentives and interventions that would drive improvement across the sector. Providers that deliver the highest quality would be rewarded and encouraged to continue their work. Those that are just meeting our minimum quality requirements would be pushed to improve through stronger incentives and regulatory interventions. Where quality falls short of the minimum requirements we would intervene as appropriate to ensure improvements are made.
19. Our proposed approach to the assessment seeks to minimise cost and burden on providers that deliver high quality, with increased scrutiny where the risks to students are greater.
20. We propose to monitor risks to quality in between a provider’s TEF assessments, in a timely and transparent way. This is so providers understand why they might face more scrutiny, and so we can respond more rapidly if students are at increased risk of receiving poor quality.

Implementation and ongoing development of the system

21. We propose further consultation on the details of the approach during 2026-27, and to carry out the first full cycle of assessments under the new scheme over three years starting in 2027-28. Providers with existing TEF awards (from the 2023 exercise) would retain them until replaced by ratings from the new scheme.
22. We propose that the new system would provide clear information for students about the level of quality delivered by different providers. We would develop and test how to communicate future TEF ratings as part of a wider package of student information.

This consultation

23. We are consulting initially on proposals for the principles, scope and structure of the future system, until 11 December 2025. We welcome views from all types and sizes of higher education provider, including those that have previously participated in the TEF and those that have not. We are also interested in the views of students and their representatives, awarding bodies, third sector organisations, policy bodies, and others with an interest in the quality of higher education. Respondents are also encouraged to consider the potential for any unintended consequences of the proposals on particular types of provider or students, on the basis of their protected characteristics. Respondents do not need to add a response to every question, and can just comment on the areas of specific interest. We will continue to engage with sector and student groups and listen to their views throughout the consultation period, including through feedback sessions.
24. We plan to publish our decisions on the broad approach after considering consultation responses, in spring 2026. We then plan in autumn 2026 to consult in more detail on the methodologies, guidance, data issues and how the assessments would work in practice, and on the detail of changes to the relevant conditions of registration.