Consultation
Published 06 February 2025
Part 1: Proposals for new initial condition C5 - Treating students fairly
Published 06 February 2025
Proposal 3: Test fairness with reference to unfairness
What are we proposing?
We propose to assess whether a provider treats students fairly through a requirement that identifies when a provider does not treat students fairly.
- While proposing a broad overarching requirement that a provider seeking registration ‘must, if registered, treat each student fairly,’ our initial view is that the condition should also set out explicit criteria for this test. This is to provide clarity for providers about our expectations when they apply for registration and to help students understand what they can expect from their provider.
- Our initial view is that focusing on problematic behaviours would address the poor practices we have identified, focusing the efforts of providers and the OfS on the areas that are the most important from a consumer protection perspective. We suggest that negative behaviours, if left unchecked, risk a detrimental impact on students.
- When assessing registration applications, the outcome of our assessment is either that an initial condition is satisfied and the provider may be registered (if all other relevant initial conditions are also satisfied) or that the condition is not satisfied and the provider may not be registered. In focusing on negative behaviours (or their absence where applicable), the proposed initial condition should allow for a streamlined registration assessment that leads more directly to a straightforward ‘satisfied’ or ‘not satisfied’ outcome. We want to ensure there is an appropriate mechanism for refusing registration to a provider exhibiting negative behaviours while maintaining an efficient assessment for providers that do not.
- Based on the requirements set out under Proposal 4, we are proposing that, if the OfS deems that a provider does not treat students fairly (based on evidence of behaviour that is unfair), we would conclude that initial condition C5 was not satisfied. This would allow us to protect the interests of students by refusing registration where a provider fails to treat students fairly and therefore fails to satisfy the condition.
- If we do not observe behaviours that constitute unfair treatment of students, we propose to conclude that the provider satisfies the condition.
- We have included an alternative option to this proposal in Annex B. This is to consider fair treatment as well as unfair treatment.
Question
Question 3: Do you agree or disagree with our proposal to focus on negative indicators (or the absence of negative indicators)? (I.e., if there is evidence that a provider does not treat students fairly, it would not satisfy proposed initial condition C5. If there is no such evidence, the provider would satisfy the condition). If you disagree, please give reasons for your answer.
Published 06 February 2025
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