The Office for Students (OfS) opened a consultation in December 2024 to seek views on their proposed strategy for 2025 to 2030. In developing the strategy, the OfS built on the conclusions of Sir David Behan's Independent Review of the Office for Students, which presented recommendations for ensuring the effective regulation of higher education against a backdrop of change.
The consultation ran from 13 December 2024 to 20 February 2025. A summary of responses to the consultation is expected in spring 2025.
Our response
In our response we welcomed the OfS’s engagement during the consultation period, in particular with students (including IHE’s Student Advisory Board), recognising the importance of the student voice in setting the strategic priorities that will shape their experience of higher education.
Our response makes clear that this strategy presents a significant opportunity for the OfS to establish a direction for regulation that will empower all providers to meet the needs of students and of industry, thereby contributing to the overall growth of the UK economy. It is also a critical moment for the OfS to restore confidence and strengthen its relationship with the higher education sector and beyond.
We emphasise that in order to do this, the OfS must firstly focus on its core functions by reinstating registration and DAPs processes and ensuring its communication and engagement with providers is responsive and timely.
Our response expresses concern that neither the OfS, nor the sector, has the resource necessary to make a success of the wider proposals in the strategy. We call for an assessment of impact and burden before any new streams of activity are commenced.
A central message in our response is that the strategy should demonstrate how the OfS will prioritise innovation, investment and growth. This includes recognising and supporting the diversity of the sector through a regulatory model that works for all providers and every type of provision. This is critical to enable true student choice and equality of opportunity by empowering providers to continue developing diverse and flexible models of higher education that attract and support learners from all backgrounds.
We also argue that the strategy needs to reflect future change – including the impact of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) and the DfE’s proposals for franchised provision – and demonstrate how the OfS will regulate differently to adapt to an even more diverse register of providers.
Other points we raised in our response include:
- That in principle we support an integrated approach to quality, but that it must enable all providers to engage - and TEF would require significant change if it were to be at the centre of such a model.
- That we support the prioritisation of the student interest and centrality of equality of opportunity in the strategy, but that the OfS should not act outside of its remit as a regulator and instead focus on how it can advance these through existing mechanisms and collaborative efforts with the sector.
- That the OfS should prioritise a differentiated model for engagement with the sector on financial sustainability, based on a fair and accurate assessment of risk, and work with the sector to understand what information is most helpful to collect.
- That the purpose of the 'I Statements' and how they are intended to be used remains unclear, and that there needs to be a much stronger link between these and the objectives outlined in the strategy.
Read our full response using the download link below.