Financial sustainability of the higher education sector in England

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 12 Jan 2022 Closed: 2 Sep 2022 Parliament page
Higher education providers can have a fundamental influence on the future lives of graduates, with consequences for the national economy. Providers are independent bodies, and the sector’s financial sustainability is heavily dependent on student fee income, top-up grant funding, and government research funding. Providers face a range of financial pressures, … Read more
9 Recommendations
17 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 6 events
8 Sep
2022
Correspondence
2 Sep
2022
Report published
15 Jun
2022
Report published
21 Apr
2022
Correspondence
21 Mar
2022
Oral evidence
21 Mar
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
21 Mar 2022
View on parliament.uk
Financial sustainability of the higher education sector in England
Anne Spinali · Department for Education Nicola Dandridge · Office for Students Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Eighth Report - Financial sustainability of the higher education… HC 257 15 Jun 2022 26 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
9 results
Clear
3 Recommendation Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
Protections for students, in the event of providers facing financial distress, are not strong enough.
Protections for students, in the event of providers facing financial distress, are not strong enough. The OfS requires providers to have a student protection plan in place to address the risk of continuity of study for its students, but it … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees that the OfS should prioritize ensuring that all providers’ published student protection plans are fit for purpose and sufficiently clear, highlighting the OfS's risk-based approach, the introduction of Registration condition C4, and intentions to begin discussions with the sector to update and revise requirements, with a target implementation date of March 2023.
HM Treasury
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5 Recommendation Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
Student satisfaction with the value for money of their courses is at a worryingly low...
Student satisfaction with the value for money of their courses is at a worryingly low level. One of the OfS’s four regulatory objectives is that students receive value for money. OfS says that students should receive the academic experience they … Read more
Government Response
The OfS is introducing an enhanced quality regulatory regime including student outcome thresholds and new registration conditions covering students’ academic experience; it is also considering how it measures value for money and is reviewing blended learning.
HM Treasury
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8 Recommendation Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
We asked the OfS whether satisfaction rates among students had changed as a result of...
We asked the OfS whether satisfaction rates among students had changed as a result of the pandemic, and what the impact of hybrid learning had been on students. The OfS told us that, following the widespread use of online provision … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to improve the quality of higher education provision and ensure students are satisfied with value for money, with the OfS introducing an enhanced quality regulatory regime and reviewing blended learning, with a target implementation date of Autumn 2022.
HM Treasury
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11 Recommendation Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
The National Audit Office reported that the OfS does not yet have a complete and...
The National Audit Office reported that the OfS does not yet have a complete and transparent set of performance measures to demonstrate its own performance as a regulator.21 Of the 26 performance indicators the OfS sets out on its website, … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to work with the OfS to establish a complete set of robust, published performance measures and targets, including structured feedback from providers, to hold the OfS to account for its effectiveness, with a target implementation date of September 2022.
HM Treasury
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12 Recommendation Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
The OfS assured us that it consulted widely on changes to its regulatory framework and...
The OfS assured us that it consulted widely on changes to its regulatory framework and holds meetings and workshops with stakeholder groups. However, there is no routine way in which it captures structured stakeholder feedback through which it can gather … Read more
Government Response
The OfS is in the process of concluding the review of its key performance measures, with a view to these being published by September 2022 and the Department for Education is working with the OfS to agree an aligned suite of internal performance measures which will help the department to hold the OfS to account better.
HM Treasury
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13 Recommendation Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
Publicly funded teaching and research make a loss across the sector once the full economic...
Publicly funded teaching and research make a loss across the sector once the full economic costs of those activities are taken into account. Providers’ financial viability depends on subsidising these activities from the surplus generated by non-publicly funded teaching – … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees to set out the risks to achieving continued forecast growth in overseas student numbers and explain how it is mitigating those risks, noting the importance of the International Education Strategy (IES) and diversification of international student recruitment.
HM Treasury
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22 Conclusion Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
The OfS told us that one of the things it became very aware of during...
The OfS told us that one of the things it became very aware of during the early days of the pandemic was that it did not have the tools needed to intervene quickly if facing a provider failure. It said … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and the OfS focus has been ensuring that protections are as robust as possible in those providers which might face financial distress.
HM Treasury
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24 Conclusion Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
The results of the National Student Survey show that overall student satisfaction was stable at...
The results of the National Student Survey show that overall student satisfaction was stable at 82–83% between 2017 and 2020, falling to 75% in 2021.44 The OfS measures students’ perception of value for money in a separate survey, which, unlike … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, with the OfS introducing an enhanced quality regulatory regime to tackle the pockets of low-quality provision.
HM Treasury
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26 Conclusion Accepted
Eighth Report - Financial sustaina…
The OfS suggested to us that students’ satisfaction with their courses and assessments of value...
The OfS suggested to us that students’ satisfaction with their courses and assessments of value for money were also related to their perceptions of what they were getting for the tuition fee. During the pandemic, there were calls for higher … Read more
Government Response
The OfS is introducing an enhanced quality regulatory regime including student outcome thresholds and new registration conditions covering students’ academic experience; it is also considering how it measures value for money and is reviewing blended learning.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 24 of 9 classified
Accepted 9
Acknowledged 9
Not Addressed 6
Total 9 recs + 17 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
8 Sep 2022 Correspondence from Susan Lapworth, Interim Chief Executive, Office for Students, re Financial sustainability of the higher education sector in England, dated 27 July 2022
Parliament page
21 Apr 2022 Correspondence from Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, re PAC hearing on the financial sustainability of higher education providers 21 March 2022, dated 4 April 2022
Parliament page