Registration with the OfS
Benefits of registration
Under the 2017 Higher Education and Research Act (HERA), a higher education provider in England is required to register with the OfS if it wishes to:
- access public grant funding (such as funding to support teaching), and/or student support funding (such as enabling students at a provider to access student finance)
- apply to the Home Office for a student sponsor licence to recruit international students, or to maintain an existing licence. From 4 January 2021, the student sponsor licence has replaced the Tier 4 Sponsor licence as the route for providers to sponsor students who wish to study in the UK
- apply for degree awarding powers in order to award their own degrees, and/or university title.
Providers can choose to apply to register in one of two categories:
- Approved (fee cap)
- Approved.
A provider may subsequently choose to apply to change its registration category.
Registering in each category enables providers to do different things, as shown in the table below.
All registered providers are regulated by the OfS and must meet regulatory requirements that are proportionate to the risks to student and taxpayer interests.
| Approved (fee cap) | Approved | ||
| Public grant funding | Eligibility for direct grant funding provided by UKRI through Research England under section 97 of HERA | Yes | No |
| Eligibility for OfS teaching grant funding or any other OfS payments under sections 39 or 40 of HERA | Yes | No | |
| Ability to apply for research council funding | Yes | Yes | |
| Ability for eligible students studying on eligible undergraduate courses to apply for support under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) | Yes | Yes | |
| Ability for eligible students studying on eligible postgraduate courses to apply for support under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) | Yes | Yes | |
| Ability for eligible students studying on eligible courses to apply for Disabled Students’ Allowance under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) | Yes | Yes | |
| Student sponsor licence |
Eligibility to make an application to the Home Office to recruit international students with a student sponsor licence | Yes | Yes |
| Degree awarding powers and university title |
Eligibility to apply for authorisation to grant one or more of the following a. Foundation degrees |
Yes | Yes |
| Eligibility to apply to use ‘university’ or ‘university college’ in a provider’s title | Yes | Yes |
Last updated 26 April 2021 + show all updates
26 April 2021 - Updated to reflect student sponsor licence replacing Tier 4 sponsor licence
16 December 2020 - Update to the latest information about applying to register with the OfS.
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