We welcome the recommendations of the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee report into the work of the Office for Students: ‘Must do better: the Office for Students and the looming crisis facing higher education’. 

GuildHE CEO Gordon McKenzie responds:

“The Committee’s report draws on a wealth of evidence and clearly shows that the OfS requires improvement to deliver effective regulation on behalf of students and regain the trust of key stakeholders.

GuildHE has strongly advocated for regulatory improvement during the past year. We are pleased to see the Committee’s recommendations align with the view of our 60 member institutions that the OfS must have a greater focus on strategic issues, align its quality framework to international standards, reconvene the HE Data taskforce to prevent regulatory duplication and – critically – the OfS must ensure greater student involvement in its decision making.

We also welcome the overarching point that it is vital the Government urgently puts in place a stable, long-term funding model for the sector.

We recognise that the OfS has recently worked to improve relationships with key stakeholders and we look forward to working together to deliver better outcomes for students. The UK’s diverse higher education sector is a national asset. It deserves excellent regulation.”