The Office for Students (OfS) has today confirmed the criteria it will use to select higher education providers for assessment of student outcomes for the second cycle of condition B3 assessments to commence in 2024.
The criteria were provisionally published last year and have now been updated and finalised. The OfS is prioritising the areas it considers create the greatest risk to student outcomes, based on a review of the most recent data.
Following a consultation in 2022, the OfS set minimum numerical thresholds for continuation, completion, and progression rates. These are used, together with an assessment of a university or college’s context, to judge whether students have positive outcomes.
As set out in the criteria published today, in 2023-24 the OfS will select providers by considering the continuation, completion and progression rates of full-time first degree courses, including those with an integrated foundation year, and other undergraduate courses. It will also consider business and management courses and courses delivered through subcontractual partnerships. Additional criteria, such as the number of students affected, will be used to identify the final group of selected providers.
Jean Arnold, Deputy Director of Quality at the OfS, said:
‘Each year we decide the criteria we will use to select universities and colleges for assessment of student outcomes. We are publishing the criteria today to increase transparency in this important area of the OfS’s work and give universities and colleges advance notice of the particular areas we will be focusing on this year.’
Providers selected under the criteria published today will be contacted in the new year.
Further information about the assessment process is set out in Regulatory advice 20.
Notes
- The assessments are made under condition B3 of the OfS’s regulatory framework, which requires universities and colleges registered by the OfS to deliver positive outcomes for students.
- ‘Continuation’ refers to the proportion of students continuing their course into a second year. ‘Completion’ refers to the proportion of students completing their studies. ‘Progression’ refers to the proportion of students who go on to further study, professional work, or other positive outcomes, within 15 months of graduating. Please see Regulatory advice 20 for the full definitions of these terms.
- Read the statement to higher education providers.