Regulatory framework

Securing student success: Regulatory framework for higher education in England

Last updated: 24 November 2022

In this section:

The Register

56.

The OfS will regulate individual providers to help ensure the delivery of its four primary regulatory objectives. The OfS will impose conditions that higher education providers must meet to join, and remain on, its Register. The initial and ongoing conditions of registration are set out in Annex A.

57.

Section 3 of HERA says that the OfS must establish a Register. The Register is a list of all higher education providers officially recognised by the

58.

A higher education provider in England will be required to register with the OfS if it wishes to:

Access public grant funding, and/or student support.

Apply to the Home Office for a Tier 4 licence, or to maintain an existing licence.

Apply for degree awarding powers (DAPs) and/or university title (UT).

Registration categories and the benefits of registration

59.

The OfS Register will contain two registration categories:

Approved
Approved (fee cap).

59.

Each provider is able to choose the registration category it wishes to apply for. A provider may subsequently choose to apply to change its registration category. Each registration category provides a set of benefits, as set out below.

		Approved (fee cap)	Approved
Public grant funding	Eligibility for direct grant funding provided by UKRI through Research England under section 97 of HERA.	Yes	No
	Eligibility for OfS teaching grant funding or any other OfS payments under sections 39 or 40 of HERA.	Yes	No
	Ability to apply for research council funding.	Yes	Yes²
Access to the student support system	Ability for eligible students studying on eligible undergraduate courses to apply for support under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended).	Yes Up to the higher amount with an access and participation plan.	Yes Up to lower fee amount with uncapped fees.
	Ability for eligible students studying on eligible postgraduate courses to apply for support under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended).	Yes	Yes
	Ability for eligible students studying on eligible courses to apply for Disabled Students’ Allowance under the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended).	Yes	Yes
Tier 4 sponsorship licence	Eligibility to make an application to the Home Office to recruit international students with a Tier 4 sponsorship licence.³	Yes	Yes
Degree awarding powers and university title	Eligibility to apply for authorisation to grant one or more of the following awards: a. Foundation degrees b. Awards in specific subjects c. Awards at bachelor-level d. Any taught awards	Yes	Yes
Degree awarding powers and university title	Eligibility to apply to use ‘university’ or ‘university college’ in a provider’s title.	Yes	Yes

Which providers are required to register?

61.

A provider that wishes to access the benefits of registration must register with the OfS. A provider that does not wish to access any of these benefits may choose to apply to register, or not, in either of the categories.

62.

A provider that offers higher education courses directly to students (i.e. it registers its own students and receives payment directly from students or directly from the student support system on behalf of its students) must register in its own right if it wishes to access the benefits. This requirement for a provider to register in its own right is unaffected by whether or not:

The provider has its own awarding powers.

The provider’s courses are validated by another provider or awarding body.

The provider validates another provider’s courses.

The provider delivers subcontracted courses (where the subcontracting lead provider is receiving payment from, or on behalf of, students), if it also delivers its own or validated courses directly to its own students.

The provider is delivering some of its own courses through a subcontractual agreement with another delivery partner.

Providers in subcontractual arrangements

63.

Where all of a provider’s higher education courses are being delivered on behalf of another provider (the lead provider) under a subcontractual arrangement, the provider delivering the courses (the delivery provider) will not normally be required to register in its own right, although it may do so if it wishes. A delivery provider will be required to register in its own right if it wishes to apply to the Home Office for a Tier 4 licence, or to maintain an existing licence. In a subcontractual arrangement, the students studying with a delivery provider are students of the lead provider and the lead provider has responsibility for the higher education provision, including its quality and costs. The OfS will ensure, through its routine monitoring of lead providers, that this responsibility is fully exercised in practice.

64.

A course is considered to be part of a subcontractual arrangement if, typically:

There is a written, legally binding agreement in place between the lead provider and the delivery provider that sets out the conditions of the arrangement.

The student has a contractual relationship with the lead provider.

The fee and/or fee loan is paid to the lead provider.

The student is registered as a student of the lead provider and is included in its data returns.

65.

Lead providers subcontracting all or part of a course to a delivery provider retain responsibility for the students on those courses and the quality and standards of provision. In complying with the general ongoing conditions of registration relating to quality and standards, a lead provider must demonstrate that it has reliable accountability mechanisms in place to protect the quality of provision across all delivery providers, and to support the collection of reliable data to allow the lead provider to meet its regulatory obligations.

66.

Where an embedded college delivers higher education courses in partnership with a higher education provider, the college and the provider will need to consider the nature of the arrangement between them and consider whether one organisation or both are required to register. An embedded college will, in addition, need to consider whether it will qualify as an ‘English higher education provider’ under the definition in section 83 of HERA and be required to register in its own right for the purpose of being eligible to apply for and maintain a Tier 4 sponsorship licence from the Home Office.

66A.

For the avoidance of doubt, the guidance about subcontractual arrangements in this section is subject to the effect of any condition of registration.

Providers of initial teacher training

67.

Providers of School-centred initial teacher training courses (SCITTs) will not be required to register with the OfS to enable their trainees to access the student support system. SCITTs will continue to be regulated by the Department for Education, and required to comply with the criteria for charging fees. SCITTs and other initial teacher training (ITT) providers that offer other higher education courses will be required to register with the OfS if they wish to receive any of the benefits of registration.

Tier 4 sponsorship without access to public grant funding or the student support system

68.

A provider seeking only eligibility to apply for a Tier 4 sponsorship licence will be required to register in the Approved category, even if it does not wish to access the other benefits available from registration. Such a provider will be subject to the same initial and general ongoing conditions of registration as other providers registered in the same category.

69.

A provider that is required to obtain, and maintain, a Tier 4 sponsorship licence, but does not qualify as an ‘English higher education provider’ under the definition in HERA, will not be eligible to register with the OfS and will be subject to the existing oversight arrangements as defined by the Home Office.

Providers with, or seeking, degree awarding powers and/or university title

70.

A provider that currently holds degree awarding powers and/or university title will normally be expected to register. In the future, only providers registered with the OfS will be eligible to apply for degree awarding powers or university title.

Content of the Register

71.

The Register will provide a single, authoritative reference for students, businesses, providers, other regulators, and members of the public about a provider’s regulatory status.

72.

The Secretary of State for Education has laid regulations under section 3(6) of HERA⁴ to set out the information that must be contained in a provider’s entry in the Register. In addition, the OfS has decided that further information should also be published for each provider in the interests of transparency. Both categories of information are set out in the table below, with those items required by statute identified by an asterisk. The OfS has published a general policy in relation to the publication of information about individual providers.^4A

The provider’s name*	The legal name and any trading names of the registered higher education provider, including any names granted by, or by virtue of, any Act or Royal Charter.
The provider’s unique identifier	The UK Register of Learning Providers assigns a unique UKPRN number to a provider to support the sharing of information about learning providers with government departments, agencies, learners, and employers. This number helps to identify individual providers correctly and will be included on a provider’s Register entry.
The provider’s contact details*	An address, email address, and telephone number at which the provider may be contacted. An address at which the provider carries on its activities, or which is the provider’s principal place of business or which is otherwise suitable for the service of documents on the provider.
The address of the provider’s website*	The address of the principal website maintained by, or on behalf of, the provider. A link between the OfS Register and the provider’s website will enable Register users to check that they are looking at the correct provider and to find further information about a provider’s activities.
The provider’s legal form	The provider’s legal form, for example whether it was created by Royal Charter, Act of Parliament, or as a company limited by shares or by guarantee. Whether the provider is an exempt or registered charity.
The category in which the provider is registered*	This information allows users of the Register to understand the regulatory requirements placed on a provider and the provider’s eligibility for public grant funding, student support funding, and a student sponsor licence.
The general ongoing conditions of registration applied to the provider	The general ongoing conditions of registration that apply to the provider will be listed, together with information that shows any current breach of any of these conditions. Any general ongoing conditions of registration that have been dis-applied for the provider under section 5(6) of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 will be listed. A link to explanatory text for each condition will be included.
A link to the provider’s access and participation plan, where a plan is in place*	The Register will state whether the provider has an access and participation plan in place and the period for which the plan is in place. Such plans should be easily accessible to students and prospective students on the provider’s own website. The Register will include a link to the plan on the provider’s website.
A link to the provider’s access and participation statement, where a statement is in place	The Register will state whether the provider has an access and participation statement in place. Such statements should be easily accessible to students and prospective students on the provider’s own website. The Register will include a link to the statement on the provider’s website.
The fee limits that apply to the provider*	Section 11 of HERA requires the OfS to publish annually a list of registered providers that have a fee limit condition and the level of that limit. The provider’s Register entry will contain information about the fee limits applicable to the provider.
The provider’s access to the student support system for its initial teacher training courses	Providers accredited by the Department for Education are able to deliver initial teacher training courses and their students are able to access the student support system. The provider’s Register entry will confirm whether this is the case.
A list of the provider’s courses that provide access to the student support system, where the OfS has determined that approval on a course-by- course basis is desirable for that provider	The OfS may determine that access to the student support system should operate on a course-by-course basis for a provider. In these circumstances, the Register entry for the provider will contain the list of approved courses.
The outcome of any assessment of quality and standards undertaken for the provider	The OfS may assess, or make arrangements for an assessment of, the quality and standards of the provider. The outcome of such assessments will be published on the Register.
The provider’s TEF eligibility and outcome	The Register will state whether the provider has met the eligibility criteria to take part in The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), and will contain the provider’s TEF outcome.
Any specific ongoing conditions of registration applied to the provider	Any specific ongoing conditions of registration that have been applied to the provider will be listed, together with an explanation of the reasons that these have been applied unless the OfS considers it inappropriate to do so.
Any sanctions applied to the provider	Any decision to impose a sanction on a provider, including information about a provisional decision to impose a sanction in circumstances where the OfS has published information about an investigation that led to a provisional decision. A monetary penalty – including the amount of the penalty and the reason for it. Suspension of registration* – section 16 of HERA requires the Register to state that a provider’s registration is suspended during any suspension, to show the limits of that suspension, and the end date for the suspension. The reason for the suspension will also be included. De-registration of the provider* – section 18 of HERA requires the OfS to maintain a list of deregistered providers and to publish this, together with any transitional and savings provisions. This list of deregistered providers does not have to be on the Register. In most cases, information about a provider’s de-registration and reason for this will be published in the OfS’s historic records, after a final decision has been made and any appeal process has concluded.
Any transitional provisions to ‘teach out’ a provider’s students after the provider has been deregistered	When the OfS deregisters a provider, it may make a transitional or saving provision, which means treating the provider as though it were registered for a transitional period. Transitional and savings provisions may include any arrangements to teach out students registered with the provider at the date of its deregistration and to allow such students to continue to access the student support system until the end of their course. In these circumstances, the provider’s deregistration and reason for this will be published on the Register for the duration of the teach out period.
Any authorisation for the provider to grant degrees*	The Register will include information about whether the provider has degree awarding powers and, if so, what type of powers it has and, where relevant, the period for which they have been granted.
Variation of authorisation to grant degrees*	The OfS has powers to vary a provider’s authorisation to grant taught awards and research awards. The OfS will publish information on the Register about any variation in the provider’s authorisation to grant degrees and the reason for this.
Revocation of authorisation to grant degrees	The OfS has powers to revoke a provider’s authorisation to grant taught awards and research awards. When a provider remains registered after the revocation of such powers, the OfS will publish the timing and reasons for the revocation on the provider’s entry on the Register. When a provider is deregistered after the revocation of such powers, it will no longer appear on the Register and information about the revocation will be recorded in the OfS’s historic records.
Recognised awards*	The Register will identify whether awards granted by the provider have been designated by the Secretary of State or the OfS under section 214(2)(c) of the Education Reform Act 1988 (c).
The provider’s validation arrangements*	The Register will identify where a provider has entered into validation agreements, which is where the courses of a provider without degree awarding powers are awarded by another provider with degree awarding powers.
The provider’s subcontractual arrangements	The Register will include information relating to a provider’s subcontractual arrangements. A lead provider may subcontract teaching of some or all of a course to a delivery provider or to another organisation. The lead provider remains responsible for the students studying at the delivery provider (subject to the effect of any condition of registration). The Register entry for the lead provider will include information about those providers delivering its courses under subcontractual arrangements.
The provider’s right to use ‘university’ in its title*	The OfS has powers to authorise the use of ‘university’ or ‘university college’ in a provider’s title. The OfS Register will state whether the provider has this right and, if so, when and how the right was granted.
Revocation of authorisation to use ‘university’ or ‘university college’ in the provider’s title	The OfS has powers to revoke authorisation to use ‘university’ or ‘university college’ in a provider’s title. When a provider remains registered after the revocation of such authorisation, the OfS will publish the timing and reasons for the revocation on the provider’s entry on the Register. When a provider is deregistered after the revocation of such authorisation, it will no longer appear on the Register and information about the revocation will be recorded in the OfS’s historic records.
Information about any Home Office student sponsor licence	The Register will confirm whether the provider holds a Home Office student sponsor licence to recruit students from outside the UK.
Information about the provider’s primary regulator, where this is not the OfS	The Register will include information about the provider’s primary regulator where this is not the OfS (for example the ESFA for further education and sixth form colleges).
A link to information designed to support prospective and current students to make informed study choices	The Register is not intended to be the primary place for students to find information about higher education providers and courses. Instead the Register will link to the provider’s entry on the Discover Uni website so that users can find further information about a provider and its courses.

[2] To access research council funding, providers registered in the Approved category will need to meet criteria specified for ‘Independent Research Organisations’ (IRO) by UKRI). This will involve a separate validation process, although the OfS and UKRI will seek to coordinate and reduce duplication wherever possible, and the OfS will work with UKRI as it develops its process to minimise any burden on providers. A provider's ability to access these sources of funding does not depend on its registration status, as the criteria for IRO status is set separately by UKRI.

[3] The Home Office has proposed that registered providers in the Approved or Approved (fee cap) categories will be assessed as having met the necessary higher education educational oversight requirements for an application for a Tier 4 sponsor licence. A registered provider is one which meets the OfS eligibility requirements to register, i.e. it is an English higher education provider, and is registered with the OfS and satisfies all its conditions of registration. The ability of a registered provider to sponsor students under Tier 4 will be conditional on remaining on the OfS Register. If a provider is not eligible to register with the OfS, it may continue with its current Tier 4 educational oversight arrangements.

The Home Office remains responsible for setting the eligibility and suitability criteria for a Tier 4 licence, and decisions on Tier 4 licences will remain solely with the Home Secretary. The provisions of the OfS’s regulatory framework do not constrain the ability of the Home Office to determine the requirements for educational oversight as part of the process for obtaining a Tier 4 licence. If a provider also delivers courses that are not regulated by the OfS, for example, further education courses, it will also need to obtain and maintain educational oversight for those courses from the relevant body.

[4] See The Office for Students (Register of English Higher Education Providers) Regulations 2017.

[4A] See Regulatory advice 21: Publication of information.

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