The Office for Students (OfS) has today published further information about the areas it will prioritise to select courses and higher education providers for assessment of student outcomes in relation to its revised condition B3.
Following an extensive consultation, the OfS set numerical thresholds for continuation, completion and progression rates and will use these, together with an assessment of a provider’s context (including reasons for, or actions to address, its performance), to inform our judgements about whether students have positive outcomes.
Each year, the OfS will publish the criteria it will use to select universities and colleges with course continuation, completion and/or progression rates below these thresholds for assessment.
In 2022, the OfS will assess student outcomes in up to 20 higher education providers. It will consider the continuation, completion and progression rates of full-time first degree and postgraduate taught masters’ courses across seven subjects.
The OfS has also made a provisional decision to focus on the outcomes for full-time 'other undergraduate' and first degree courses in 2023, and to confirm this next year alongside any other categories for prioritisation.
The OfS will now use these prioritisation criteria to identify the individual providers to be assessed, considering additional criteria such as the number of students affected. (See our statement and paragraph 36 of Regulatory advice 20 for more information.)