OfS strategy 2025 to 2030 – guide to proposals

Quality is central to what students want. They want high quality teaching, support and access to resources. They also expect that their study will lead to credible qualifications that enrich their lives and lead to good jobs and other types of future opportunities.

Among other things, we plan to:

• transform the way we assess quality at universities and colleges, working with institutions to develop an integrated approach that drives continuous improvement
• use the full range of our powers to protect students where universities and colleges do not meet our requirements
• continue our work with universities and colleges to reduce risks to equality of opportunity, including by holding institutions to account for the experience they offer to underrepresented students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• publish a Quality Risk Register that will help us focus our activity on the most significant risks
• fold transnational education courses into our integrated approach to quality
• safeguard quality in the context of rapid technological change
• deepen our understanding of what shapes student choices and how students use the information available to them
• work with government to develop a shared understanding of how far higher education delivers the skills that will support economic growth.

Most students benefit from high quality higher education experiences, but our research has found some areas where the system serves them less well.

We have seen a growing number of complaints to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. We also know that some students have been subject to unclear or unfair contractual terms and conditions.

Accommodation, the cost of living, mental health and wellbeing, and harassment and sexual misconduct featured prominently in our discussions with students and representatives from institutions. We know that these non-academic features of higher education can have a significant impact on students’ experiences  

So, we will:

• gather and analyse data and insights from students to understand how far their experiences meet their expectations
• enhance and protect students' rights by developing a model consumer contract, while also sharing cases that potentially breach consumer protection law with National Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority
• explore the barriers that prevent students from making the most of their time in higher education – with a focus on students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups
• work with the sector to embed evidence-led practice and evaluation in areas such as mental health
• enforce our regulations to prevent harassment and sexual misconduct
• consider placing a greater focus on the way universities and colleges are governed to make sure they discharge their responsibilities to their students.

Financial sustainability is the most significant challenge that universities and colleges face. Many need to make changes to their funding models in the near future. This requires effective leadership.

As the real-terms income from UK undergraduates has declined, more institutions are relying on income from international students. But this exposes them to geopolitical uncertainty.

Students may not take an active interest in the financial challenges of a university or college. But financial pressures could have a profound effect on the experience they have.

In this area, we will:

• work with universities and colleges to understand their financial challenges, as well as the challenges facing the sector overall
• collect financial data from universities and colleges more frequently and flexibly
• as more universities and colleges become affected, increase our engagement with them
• make sure credible plans are in place that will protect students and minimise disruption where institutions are at risk of exiting the market
• make sure that our tests for registration are appropriately set to protect students and taxpayers and help universities and colleges to assess and improve the way they are managed and governed
• increase our requirements where universities and colleges deliver significant programmes through partners
• expand our data audit process to identify and address areas of concern
• seek formal powers that will mean we can give assurance and protection to whistleblowers.

Equality of opportunity will remain central to our work and is integrated throughout all our priority areas:

• Quality: improving equality of opportunity without ensuring quality will not lead to positive student outcomes. Protecting quality without improving equality of opportunity prevents students who could have benefited from higher education from doing so.
• Wider student interest: our work to promote the wider student interest will help create environments that support all students to succeed, with our attention focused on those most exposed to risks to equality of opportunity.
• Sector resilience: a resilient sector underpins the ability of universities and colleges to deliver quality higher education that students from all backgrounds can benefit from. In the face of financial pressures, we will make sure choice and opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups continue to expand rather than reduce.

In this context we will:

• continue to hold institutions to account for the academic experiences and outcomes of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups, putting equality at the heart of our regulation of quality 
• promote positive wider experiences of higher education, recognising that the challenges facing students are often most pronounced among particular student groups. This may include drawing attention to the issues that matter to students, publishing information and supporting effective practice
• maintain an up-to-date assessment of market exit risk for individual institutions and require those facing material risks to have plans in place to protect students, with a particular focus on students from disadvantaged backgrounds.