Consultation on the future approach to quality regulation

Section 4: Published outputs of the overall system

Proposal 14: Published outputs

We propose to continue publishing the outputs and outcomes of our quality assessments, aimed at providing clear information to students about the level of quality delivered by different providers, and incentivising and supporting providers’ efforts to enhance quality.

212. We would continue to publish the outputs and outcomes of our quality assessments, to provide clear information to students about what quality they can expect at different providers, and to incentivise and support providers in their efforts to enhance quality. The intended effect of publishing TEF ratings is to create a reputational incentive for providers to deliver the highest quality experience and outcomes they can for their students.
213. The OfS’s general policy on the publication of information about individual providers is set out in Regulatory advice 21.^[16] The proposals in this consultation would require some amendments to the regulatory advice, for example to reflect the integration of B3 and TEF assessments, and to remove references to TEF participation being voluntary for some providers.
214. As we explain in Regulatory advice 21, our general view is that it is appropriate for us to publish information about our regulatory activities, including information relating to investigations into a provider’s potential non-compliance with a condition of registration, and information relating to a provider’s participation in the TEF. We consider it to be strongly in the interests of the public, current and potential students, and providers, for the OfS’s approach to regulating quality to be transparent, with the outcomes of assessments – and the reasons for those outcomes – published in an accessible and timely way.

TEF outcomes

215. A provider’s TEF assessment outcome would comprise the following elements, all of which would be published:
     • a rating for each aspect and the overall rating
     • a report setting out the TEF assessors’ findings and reasoning for their decisions, along with highlighted areas of good practice and areas for further improvement.

216. Alongside a provider’s TEF outcome we would normally expect to publish the provider and student evidence, along with a link to the particular year of OfS indicators that informed the assessment., along with a link to the particular year of OfS indicators that informed the assessment.
217. As well as TEF outcomes being made publicly available by the OfS, we would expect each provider to display its own outcome, for example on the home and course pages of its website. We would expect the provider to display its overall rating as well as its aspect ratings. This is for transparency and to ensure that the assessment outcomes are visible to students.

Investigation reports

218. Published reports from detailed compliance investigations would explain the assessment findings in detail, highlighting issues that other providers could learn from. We would also publish the risk monitoring tool to highlight areas for providers to pay attention to and make our approach to selecting providers for compliance assessments more transparent.
219. Our proposed approach to the monitoring tool and compliance assessments can be found in Section 3.

Annual indicators

220. We would continue to publish updated quality indicators for all providers annually, based on the NSS and student outcomes data. We intend that the indicators would be useful to providers to benchmark their performance and inform their own ongoing improvement activity, and they would be used as evidence in the OfS’s quality assessments.
221. We propose some improvements to the published indicators including consolidating the TEF and student outcomes indicators (see Proposal 6), and broadening the range of post-study or employment indicators (see Proposal 7).

Improving the usefulness of published information for providers and students

222. In the 2023 TEF we provided a detailed assessment report to each provider, and published a summary version aimed at a more general audience. We received positive feedback from providers about the usefulness of the detailed reports and we would intend to continue to provide useful feedback to each provider on its TEF assessment. However, to reduce burden on assessors and OfS staff, and to improve transparency, we envisage the reports in future would be more succinct and would normally be published in full. Publication in full would also align more closely with European standards and guidelines.
223. As well as publishing information about individual provider assessments, we are considering whether it would be appropriate and useful for the OfS to work to identify broader themes, insights and areas of good practice from across a range of assessments, and to share these with the sector. We would welcome views on whether the sector would welcome the OfS taking on more of a role in sharing good practice, and how useful this would be alongside the work of other agencies and resources that already exist.
224. We would consider how best to present the TEF ratings and the student experience and outcomes indicators to student audiences. We would take into account the research we have already conducted with applicants on their use of TEF information, and develop our approach as part of our review of student information that is currently underway.
225. We consider that the data dashboards we would produce for providers and TEF assessors are unlikely to be presented in the most useful way for students, and we are therefore likely to develop simplified presentations of the data for this audience.
226. We consider our proposed changes to the descriptions of the TEF rating categories set out under Proposal 4 would serve to more clearly communicate the level of quality delivered by different providers. We would also consider whether any further detail should be published alongside the TEF ratings, to both strengthen the incentives for providers and provide more useful information to students. For example, the published outcome could draw out some of the key areas of good practice or areas for improvement identified by the TEF assessors, or could detail the specific elements of the student experience and outcomes covered by the ratings.
227. Where a provider does not have a student outcomes rating, we will consider how to present this neutrally. We expect to commission research with prospective students to inform how we would do this. We would consider the findings of the research alongside any views received through this consultation, before developing a preferred approach to be set out in our planned second stage consultation (see ‘Next steps’).

Notes

[16] See OfS, ‘Regulatory advice 21: Publication of information’.