Securing student success: Regulatory framework for higher education in England

Under section 9 of HERA, the OfS must impose an ongoing condition of registration requiring the governing bodies of certain registered providers, prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State, to provide to the OfS, and to publish, such information as the OfS requests in relation to one or more of the types of data set out in sections 9(2) and 9(3) of HERA.

‘The transparency information’ means such information as the OfS requests in relation to the following:

In each case, the information that the OfS may request includes those numbers by reference to the following:

• the gender of the individuals to which they relate
• their ethnicity
• their socio-economic background.

In judging whether a provider has provided to the OfS, and published, in the manner and form specified by the OfS, the transparency information set out in section 9 of HERA, material that the OfS may consider includes:

The OfS will not ask for the transparency information when a provider first registers. After its initial registration, a provider must provide and publish its most recent transparency information on an annual basis. The OfS will publish technical guidance about the specification of information and the timing and format for its publication.

In order to satisfy this condition on an ongoing basis, a provider will need to ensure that the transparency information is published on its website so that it is easily accessible for students and for anyone who might be seeking this information.

While the condition requires that individual providers publish this information, and share the data with the OfS, the OfS may also make the data returned to it available through a central service and/or as an open dataset for use by other information providers.

The OfS will monitor the quality, reliability and timeliness of a provider’s transparency information. It will also monitor the clarity and accessibility of the transparency information on the provider’s website.

In order to determine whether or not a provider is complying with this condition on an ongoing basis, the OfS’s judgement will be informed by the provider’s behaviour, as well as information submitted by the provider or available to the OfS.

The following are non-exhaustive examples of behaviours that may indicate compliance with this general ongoing condition. The transparency information:

• is provided to the OfS in the required format and by the published deadline
• is published on the provider’s website in the required form in an accessible place.

The following are non-exhaustive examples of behaviours that may indicate non-compliance with these general ongoing conditions. The transparency information:

• is not provided to the OfS in the required format or on time
• is not published in line with the guidance in an accessible place on the provider’s website
• is inaccurate or incomplete.