English higher education 2021: The Office for Students annual review

• Admissions
• Mental health
• Case study: University of Nottingham, The International Student Mental Health project
• Suicide prevention
• Harassment and sexual misconduct
• The IHRA definition of antisemitism
• Student hardship
• Student engagement
• Case study: Birkbeck, University of London

This last year has continued to present enormous challenges to students and providers. In the early part of the year, the national lockdowns meant that students were still learning predominantly online, with anything approximating a normal student campus experience entirely upended. Students have now largely returned to campus this autumn, but the disruption of the last two years will have a long-lasting impact, and existing challenges such as mental health and harassment still remain. This chapter focuses on our work to address some of these challenges over the last year.

Admissions

The 2021 cohort of school leavers applying to university faced a different set of challenges from those in 2020, for whom the effects of the pandemic, though severe, applied only during the final months of their schooling. The 2021 leavers had experienced more than a year of unpredictability and disruption to their teaching, including the loss of many hours of classroom time.

The summer saw students receive A-level and equivalent grades, which were awarded through a process of teacher assessment. Students had endured an enormously difficult 18 months, and this method sought to ensure that they were fairly judged on their attainment. We were explicit in March 2021 that the sector should not admit more students than it could effectively teach, despite an increase in entrance grades. On the eve of A-level results, we made it clear that, while providers needed to honour places to students who had met the terms of their offer, there must be no compromise on the quality of provision.

A record 211,000 UK 18-year-olds were accepted into university four weeks after results day in 2021, representing a 5.7 per cent rise since 2020. In 2021, 6.1 per cent of students from the communities most underrepresented in higher education gained places at the most selective universities; proportionally this was a 12.7 per cent increase to the rate in 2020. But this was accompanied by a similar increase in the proportion of students entering these universities from the areas with the highest representation.¹ Since the former numbers are still small in absolute terms, this means that, while opportunity has improved, equality of opportunity has not. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate these changes.

Figure 2: Entry rates to high-tariff providers by POLAR4 quintile for 2017 to 2021 UCAS cycles

Source: UCAS day 28 release data 2021-22.

Figure 3: Comparison of POLAR4 quintile 1 and quintile 5 acceptances for 2019, 2020 and 2021 UCAS cycles

Source: UCAS day 28 release data 2021-22.

Applications to study nursing in England were up 24 per cent at the June application deadline. Four weeks after results day there were 27,720 students accepted to study nursing, 4 per cent more than in 2020 and 28 per cent more than in 2019. They represent the largest cohort of nursing students entering higher education in England in the past decade.

These figures attest to the resilience and ambition of students who remain determined to develop their lives and careers. Higher education admissions processes have worked to support them, to make informed choices and during their subsequent applications, and this should continue for the coming cohorts of applicants whose schooling has also been disrupted.

Although our 2020 consultation on university and college admissions was paused to stabilise the admissions system during the pandemic, the OfS responded to concerns about the use of unconditional offers during the pandemic with a temporary condition of registration for 2020 and 2021. This banned ‘conditional unconditional’ offers – offers which only become unconditional once an applicant accepts them as their firm choice, instead of offers from other institutions – and restricted unconditional offers in other circumstances. This helped to ensure that students were not put under unfair pressure to accept offers that might not have been in their best interests.

Fair admissions have continued to feature prominently in public debate this year, with UCAS and Universities UK putting forward proposals for admissions to take place after exam qualifications are awarded.⁴ In January 2021 the government published a consultation on moving to a system of post-qualification admissions.⁵ We continue to work with UCAS, Universities UK and the Department for Education on this agenda, considering the impact of the emerging proposals on different groups of students and helping to develop an evidence base and options.

Mental health

A survey commissioned by the Office for National Statistics showed that 29 per cent of students had engaged with mental health and wellbeing services since the start of the autumn term 2020.⁶ Only 42.1 per cent of respondents in England to the covid-related National Student Survey questions agreed that their university or college had taken sufficient steps to support their mental wellbeing during the pandemic.⁷

The Mental Health Challenge Competition, launched in 2018, aims to achieve a step change in mental health outcomes for all students. An interim evaluation report published in August 2021 found evidence that the programme is helping to strengthen the prioritisation of mental health in the universities and colleges it funds, supporting early intervention and collaboration with external agencies including the NHS, and involving students in co-creating activities to shape and inform universities’ strategies and approaches.⁸

Also in August, the OfS (with investment from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education) announced £3 million for 18 new projects under a new competition to support students with characteristics identified as increasing the risk of poor mental health, and those who may experience barriers to accessing support due to their course, mode of study or other characteristics.

During the course of the year, the OfS extended to the duration of the new platform, Student Space, to support students’ mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. The platform offers a range of relevant self-help resources and free access to a dedicated phone, text and web-chat service which is available to all students in England and Wales. We also announced a £12 million premium for student transition and mental health through formula allocation, following the outcomes of the consultation on recurrent funding for 2021-22.⁹

Suicide prevention

In September we published a briefing to assist with suicide prevention at universities and colleges, including examples of approaches by universities and colleges, and links to resources and training materials.

As well as a tragedy for bereaved family and friends, the death of a student by suicide is likely to have a profound impact on a university or college community, as well as on their family and friends. Various factors have been identified that may increase student mental distress, including difficulties with academic studies and key transition points, along with other general risk factors particularly associated with suicide such as serious self-harm, and alcohol and substance misuse.¹⁰ Fewer than one in three people who die by suicide in the general UK population have been in contact with mental health services during the previous 12 months.¹¹

The OfS’s suicide prevention briefing recommends taking a whole-provider approach, involving all parts of the institution including students, staff, welfare teams, academic departments and student services. Active and effective leadership at a senior level, partnership work with the wider community, taking an evidence-led approach, centring the needs of students and developing postvention plans and support are all identified as priorities.¹²

Harassment and sexual misconduct

Experiences of harassment and sexual misconduct are disturbingly common in higher education.¹³ Full-time students are more likely to experience sexual assault than any other occupational group, nearly a quarter of ethnic minority students experience racial harassment on campus and more than one in five LGBT+ students have said that they would not feel confident reporting any homophobic bullying to university staff.

In April 2021, the OfS published a statement of expectations for preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct affecting students in higher education. The statement provides a consistent set of standards that all universities and colleges should follow to:

• minimise potential barriers to reporting and disclosing instances of harassment and sexual misconduct
• ensure that investigatory procedures are fair and independent
• ensure all students involved receive appropriate support
• clearly set out behavioural expectations for all students.

We expect universities and colleges to comply with the standards set out in the statement.

Over the course of the next months we will review the impact that the statement has had and examine how universities and colleges have responded. If the statement has not had the impact we expect, then we will consider how to deliver the change needed in this area in the most effective way.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism

The OfS has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism as a guide to interpreting and understanding antisemitism. The definition does not affect the legal definition of racial or religious discrimination, so does not change our approach to performing our regulatory functions, including in the way we regulate registered providers. Nonetheless, we have adopted the definition because we believe that it is a useful tool for understanding how antisemitism manifests itself in the 21st century.

Following guidance the Secretary of State for Education earlier this year, we investigated and compiled a list of providers that have adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, and published the list in November.

Student hardship

Students have faced particular financial challenges over the course of the last year as many lost the ability to undertake part-time work during the pandemic. There were particular challenges in relation to accommodation that they have not been able to access because of national and local lockdowns.

Some students staged rent strikes to secure rebates.¹⁴ Some landlords mitigated this by offering discounts or extending contracts into the summer holidays.¹⁵ We encouraged universities and colleges to engage with their private accommodation providers to support those of their students not able to access their accommodation.

The OfS has no specific statutory duty in relation to student accommodation. However, in February 2021, we distributed £50 million in hardship funding to help mitigate the challenges of the pandemic, including for students who had not been able to occupy their termtime rented accommodation and had incurred additional costs. Of the £50 million distributed, £40 million was prioritised for rent-related hardship, while £10 million was used to boost the £20 million hardship fund previously announced in December 2020. The funding was targeted towards providers that recruit high numbers of disadvantaged students.

We ensured that the funding for rent-related hardship was allocated so that those students renting student accommodation away from home had the maximum opportunity to benefit.¹⁶

Student engagement

Throughout the pandemic, we have emphasised the importance of universities and colleges engaging closely with their students to explain how teaching was being adjusted. One of the most frequent complaints we received from students through our system of notifications was that students had not be told or consulted about changes. However, we also saw examples of excellent engagement, with students fully involved and contributing to pandemic responses.

Meanwhile, the members of the OfS student panel have continued to contribute throughout the year, informing significant areas of the OfS’s regulatory work, including the quality of courses, information from students and prospective students, and the review of the NSS.