We have responded to the Department for Education’s (DfE) consultation ‘Strengthening oversight of partnership delivery in higher education’.
We welcome the opportunity to support efforts to improve and increase accountability of franchised provision and protect public money and have signalled our support for the proposal to require franchised providers with over 300 students to register with the Office for Students (OfS).
The consultation proposes:
- Providers with 300 or more ‘franchised students’ are required to register with the OfS
- Specified groups of franchised delivery partners that are regulated by an alternative body will be exempt from the requirement to register with the OfS
- A phased implementation including a two year transition period in which appeals for can be made
- Consequences for exceeding the 300+ franchised student threshold without being registered with the OfS