Office for Students

Peck’s picks: FE leaders join OfS’ ‘critical friend’ panel

Two current and one former principal selected to alert higher education regulator to emerging risks

Walking the freedom of speech tightrope without falling over

Freedom of speech has been a major issue for FE colleges lately, and now those that are also providers of higher education (HE) must adapt to new legislation that came into force this month

Office for Students slammed for lack of political independence

HE regulator ‘driven by the ebb and flow of short-term political priorities and media headlines’

The OfS is – mostly – correct to say colleges should work closely with schools

The benefits run both ways – but the OfS should not expect colleges to drive school improvement, writes Marion Plant “Universities and colleges have a moral duty to put their shoulder to the wheel of improving that wider community they sit within, and as both educational and civic institutions, improving attainment in our schools is […]

Crack down on ‘poor quality’ courses announced by Office for Students

Plans for tougher outcome measures and ‘intrusive sanctions’ announced

Colleges fail to win any OfS mental health funding

All three college bids for a £6 million fund to help reduce student mental health problems have been rejected. Instead, ten universities have been chosen to share the cash on offer from the Office for Students, along with co-funding of £8.5 million to develop “innovative” projects. The call was open to both universities and colleges, […]

It is easy to conclude that the DfE are not serious about apprenticeship quality

This week we report that the Department for Education will announce that the Office for Students, not Ofsted, will inspect the quality of all level 6 and 7 apprenticeships. It comes after FE Week exposed the fact that thousands of apprentices were at providers where Ofsted had to exclude them from inspection because they were […]