How to register with the Office for Students
Published 21 August 2025
Introduction
Please only apply to register with us if you:
- have read this guidance
- have all the evidence needed to apply for registration
- will be able to meet our requirements on an ongoing basis.
- This guidance applies to providers that make an application for registration with the Office for Students (OfS) on or after 28 August 2025.1 Providers should read it alongside:
- The aim of this guidance is to help you:
- understand registration with the OfS, including the categories, benefits and conditions of registration
- check whether your provider is eligible to register
- decide which benefits your provider wants to access and so which category of the OfS Register your provider should join
- compile and submit the required evidence
- understand how we assess applications and communicate the outcomes of the registration process.
The application requirements notice
In this guidance we describe the requirements for registration applications. These requirements come from our powers under section 3(5) of the Higher Education Research Act 2017 (HERA).4
Under this section of HERA, we have published a formal notice which explains our requirements. We refer to this notice as the ‘application requirements notice’. It can be found at Annex A in the list of supporting documents.
The application requirements notice sets out:
- the information a provider must include with its registration application
- and throughout the assessment process
- the timeframe in which this information must be submitted
- the way the information must be provided.
If you do not submit the information according to the application requirements notice, we will normally refuse your provider’s application for registration.
What to check before applying
Before you submit your application, check that you:
- have read and understood the requirements for registration as set out in this guidance and the application requirements notice
- have ready all the information and evidence we require at the point you apply and submit this in full
- are prepared to submit additional evidence throughout the application process as set out at Annex A: ‘Application requirements notice’
- understand the costs associated with the quality and standards assessment during the application process and understand when you will be required to make this payment
- understand the ongoing obligations of a registered provider, and the likely associated costs, and have the expertise and resources to meet them on an ongoing basis
- understand that we collect and process personal data about people, including students and staff at higher education providers. This is so we can perform our statutory functions (including registration of higher education providers), operate as a public body.5
Notes
[1] See the Notice of Determination of initial and general ongoing conditions of registration at Regulatory framework for higher education in England.
[2] See Annex A: Application requirements notice at Supporting documents.
[3] The regulatory framework is available at ‘Securing student success: Regulatory framework for higher education in England: Regulatory framework for higher education in England’. If there are any inconsistencies between the regulatory framework and this document, then the regulatory framework will prevail.
[4] See Higher Education and Research Act 2017.
[5] We have published further information about how we process personal data in our privacy notice.
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