Universities’ reputations ‘at risk’ from OfS focus on compliance

Vice-chancellors say Office for Students’ proposed three-year strategy should focus more on the positives

England’s regulator risks accidentally damaging higher education’s reputation by focusing too much on compliance and not enough on positive examples, vice-chancellors have warned.

In its response to the Office for Students’ consultation on a three-year strategy, Universities UK said that focusing too much on cases where universities had breached OfS regulations risked “misrepresenting the sector as problematic” in the eyes of the public.