Proposals for reforms to OfS registration requirements

Executive summary

One of the OfS’s roles is to decide which higher education providers should and should not join our Register. Providers on our Register gain access to significant public funding through various mechanisms.

There are and will be many high quality, innovative providers that want to enter the regulated higher education sector in England. We want to make the entry process as smooth as possible for these providers because they enrich the system and offer choice and value for students. There are also some providers that should not be registered. This might be because the quality of their education is too low, we cannot be confident that they will treat students fairly, or they lack institutional resilience. For these providers we want to make the rejection process as quick and clear as possible.

We are proposing changes to our entry tests for registration relating to consumer protection and governance, as well as to our registration process. These proposals are intended to:

• make our registration assessments more efficient to allow well-prepared providers to register as quickly as possible
• ensure that the process for registering well-prepared providers is not overly burdensome, by asking them for information they already have
• ensure our registration requirements are clear
• make our refusal process quicker and more effective at identifying and refusing applications from providers that are not ready to join the Register.

Consultation proposals

To achieve our aims, we propose to replace four of our initial conditions of registration with two new initial conditions, setting out requirements for a provider to treat students fairly and have effective governance arrangements in place. ‘Initial conditions’ are used to assess providers when they first register with the OfS. The proposed new conditions are:

• Proposed new initial condition C5: Treating students fairly: this condition would require a provider to treat students fairly, for example, in relation to the terms and conditions attached to the provision of higher education. This new initial condition would replace initial condition C1 (guidance on consumer protection law) and initial and ongoing condition C3 (student protection plan). This means a provider would no longer need to demonstrate at registration how it has considered consumer law in developing its policies. Instead, it would submit the policies and processes which it would use to manage its relationships with students for assessment by the OfS. Taken together, this suite of student-facing documents would constitute a provider’s student protection plan and it would be expected to publish these on its website after it is registered.
• Proposed new initial condition E7: Effective governance: this condition would require a provider to have effective governance arrangements in place for the purposes of being a higher education provider, including specific arrangements to prevent fraud and the inappropriate use of public funds, and a business plan that covers key parts of its operation. Relevant documents would be assessed directly by the OfS as part of the application process, removing the need for a provider to carry out a self-assessment. The condition would also set out requirements to ensure that the leaders of a provider have appropriate knowledge and expertise and are fit to carry out their role. This condition would replace the existing initial conditions E1 (public interest governance) and E2 (management and governance).

We have also identified some ways in which the efficiency of our registration processes could be improved. We frequently see registration applications that are not complete or lack the detail we require. We want to make changes to our registration process to ensure our requirements are clear, that they incentivise submission of complete, high quality applications, and avoid inefficiencies and delays in our processes. We also want to gain further assurance over providers’ financial viability and sustainability at registration.

We propose to make some changes to the information that a provider must submit as part of a registration application, which includes collection of more detailed financial information. The proposals would also enable us to make quicker decisions to refuse registration applications that do not contain all the required information. We are not proposing to make any significant changes to the assessment stages and sequence of the registration process.

We are also consulting on the changes to our guidance and the OfS regulatory framework that would be needed to implement our wider proposals.

Reasons for this consultation

There have been changes in the context for higher education as well as the types of providers seeking registration that we think mean it is appropriate for us to make changes to our entry tests and registration processes now. Our financial sustainability report (May 2024) and financial analysis (November 2004) highlight the significant financial challenges currently facing the sector.¹ These reports emphasise the importance of effective management and governance in ensuring that providers manage these risks appropriately and in a way that delivers good student outcomes.

The National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into student finance for study at franchised higher education providers, emphasised the increased risks to students and public funds that have arisen where management and governance are weak.² This report looked into concerns relating to subcontractual partnership arrangements where lead providers do not have sufficient oversight of their delivery partners and where delivery partners are not effective in managing these risks.

The financial challenges facing the sector increase risks of students not being treated fairly by their providers. Where providers are making tough financial decisions, they must continue to meet the commitments they have made to students. Our engagement with students shows that being treated fairly is very important to them and too often this does not happen. This is why our draft strategy includes our intention to work with providers to ensure that students receive the higher education experiences they were promised.³

There have also been changes in the types of providers seeking registration. Providers that are registering now are less likely to have a strong track record of providing higher education compared with those registered when our registration processes were first established. We want to make sure that new entrants are able to manage the increased risk the sector is facing. The government is now consulting on proposals to require delivery providers with more than 300 students to register with the OfS. If this change is made, we would expect an increase in registration applications to the OfS. Some providers that this would affect will be delivering high quality higher education in a well-governed institution. However, others may be delivering higher education within the partnership models where concerns have been flagged by the NAO. We also anticipate that the sector will expand when the government introduces the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).⁴

What we want to achieve

In this context it is essential that providers can only join the OfS Register if they:

• treat their students fairly
• have effective management and governance arrangements in place
• appropriately manage public funds and ensure value for money for taxpayers.

Our view is that these things are necessary for students to have a high quality academic experience and to maintain an effective approach to equality of opportunity.

We consider our proposals, if implemented, would give students, the public and the sector confidence that we are efficiently registering providers that can navigate the current challenges. They would also ensure students benefit from higher education and give taxpayers confidence that public funding is used appropriately.

Next steps

Students, staff at universities and colleges, and sector bodies are invited to join us at one of our consultation events to hear more about our proposals, ask questions and give feedback.

The consultation will close on 23 April 2025. We will then analyse and consider the consultation responses and make decisions about our proposals.

We are proposing that the new initial conditions would come into force immediately when we publish our final decisions. We expect this to be in August 2025.

1 See Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: 2024 and Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: November 2024 update.

2 See Investigation into student finance for study at franchised higher education providers.

3 See Consultation on OfS strategy for 2025 to 2030.

4 See Lifelong Learning Entitlement.