OfS has published board papers from December. Think partnership not punishment

If you prefer your regulatory updates in short-form video with a distorted mic, this is your moment.

For those of us who still cling to the written word, the accompanying papers offer the usual mixed bag of shards of insight and widespread redaction. Of the twelve substantive agenda items, we are graciously permitted to read six.

The white paper assessment, the communications and engagement strategy (that Peck discusses at length in his vlog), the risk report, the market exit update, the People Committee report and the annual plan are all somehow exempt.

The CEO report confirms what we learned from the budget – OfS will be collecting the new international student levy from 2028-29. The details are now firmer – a flat rate of £925 per student, with the first 220 international students at each provider exempt. The proceeds will fund means-tested maintenance grants for students studying courses aligned with the government’s missions and Industrial Strategy.

The operating environment paper adds a useful bit of context – the government has also announced that from April 2029 it will charge employer and employee National Insurance contributions on pension contributions above £2,000 made via salary sacrifice. Early analysis from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association suggests this could cost the sector around £50 million per year in aggregate. A line item for finance directors to contemplate.

Buried in the operating environment paper is a significant development. Following disclosures about alleged suppression of research at Sheffield Hallam University due to pressure from the Chinese government, counter-terrorism police are now “assessing the allegations to determine any possible offences.” The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has also announced it will expand its China Audit to include a review of Chinese state influence in higher education.

OfS notes that its free speech guidance “is clear that suppression of research because of the disapproval of a foreign (or domestic) government is unacceptable in practically any circumstances.” The rest of the paragraph is, inevitably, exempt from publication.

The October minutes also note that “the sector is watching” the progress of the merger between Kent and Greenwich, and observes that:

…research intensive institutions have revised their offer-making practices and recruited students who may otherwise have joined teaching intensive providers.

The board acknowledges “consequences elsewhere in the sector”, but calls this “an indication of agility in a competitive market”. Agility is one word for it.

On forecasting, there’s a glimmer of good news – the gap between providers’ forecasts and outturn is narrowing and there is evidence that the increased realism and improved forecasting is related to OfS’ interventions.

The operating environment paper notes that OfS research shows industrial action:

…can significantly disrupt students’ academic experience, progression through their course, and ability to achieve their qualifications.

It also notes that the regulator has referred providers to National Trading Standards in relation to student contracts with terms that limit an institution’s liability to students affected by industrial action or other circumstances within its control, but hasn’t yet heard back – which was weirdly the subject of a whole press release before Chriustmas.

Peck’s governance letter to chairs of governing bodies on 12 November flagged five areas of concern – financial pressures, significant change programmes, third-party and off-campus delivery, misuse of public funding, and free speech duty compliance. The October minutes tell us that the Student Interest Board’s suggestion that expectations of providers could be written from the perspective of students, making clear how students’ experiences are directly affected by poor governance.

The SIB also reflected that “change processes in providers can have a negative impact on current students” – an orphaned observation that appears to have no other impact on the student regulator’s work.

The vlog delivers one quotable line on all this –

regulation should feel more like partnership and less like punishment.

The February board meeting will consider the business plan for 2026 onwards, which will apparently position resources “clearly and rigorously behind what adds value.”

The Risk and Audit Committee report has the Data Futures update that dedicated followers of this saga have been waiting for. The annual student data collection for 2024-25 is “progressing as planned”, and the final data is expected to be “at least as robust” as last year’s collection.

The transition to in-year data collection is also progressing as planned, but it is still in its early stages, and the transition will be a “major effort”. The critical dependencies remain Jisc, provider readiness, and providers’ software suppliers – and while these structural dependencies result in significant risk, “we are currently on track to deliver.”

A statement of OfS’s expectations for Jisc’s delivery of its duties as the designated data body has been shared with Jisc, “to which Jisc has raised no concerns or objections.” The committee considered this statement “essential.” There’s also a DDB Oversight group meeting quarterly with a Jisc trustee present, and the tone is apparently “collaborative.”

The challenge, as always, is “effectively communicating the value add of in-year data collection to providers.”

Fans of continuity will note that Chris Millward is back as Interim Director for Fair Access and Participation, following the secretary of state’s announcement on 10 November. Millward was the first DFAP at the OfS. He’s been appointed on an interim basis while DfE runs a recruitment process for a longer-term appointment in the new year.

The QAC report runs to exactly one page. The committee discussed one degree awarding powers case and three temporary extension cases, and provided positive advice on all four.

The Renters’ Rights Bill has received royal assent and is now law. Commentary is apparently “mixed” – some worry it will drain the supply of student homes in the private rented sector, others welcome the flexibility it offers students. OfS is keeping an eye on developments.

There’s a “student heartbeats” survey that is “currently used internally” and the OfS is “considering whether publication would be useful for students, providers and others.” Watch this space as I (attempt to) FOI it.

The provider panel has been recruited and will be announced in the new year, with its first meeting in February. And four new board member positions are being recruited, with interviews throughout January 2026.

Peck closes his vlog by noting that OfS produces “almost daily publications” but these aren’t always “presented in a thematic or cumulative manner.” The new communications strategy will apparently remedy this by making more work “thematic where the themes and the stories build over time.”

Maybe that means we’ll get a box set on OfS’ almost decade-long failure to do anything about student consumer rights awareness or enforcement other than write letters to NTS while the cuts rain down. Maybe not.