By Vivienne Russell | 9 October 2013
Higher education in England needs strong and coherent regulation as the sector moves in a more diverse and increasingly market-driven direction, an expert commission has said.
Following an eight-month long inquiry, the Higher Education Commission today issued a set of recommendations on HE supervision.
Chief among these was a call for the government to legislate ‘urgently’ to create a new regulatory framework designed to provide students with greater financial protection and encourage investment and innovation in universities and colleges.
Inquiry co-chair Lord Norton said: ‘Regulation is fundamental to the health and success of our HE sector and will make or break the effectiveness of the institutions that have made the UK a world leader in higher education.
‘In the context of current reforms, the absence of legislation to provide a coherent regulatory architecture for the rapidly changing and increasingly dynamic sector is creating major headaches for its players. It is a situation crying out for urgent rectification by government.’
Specifically, a new and over-arching HE regulator, called the Council for Higher Education (CHE) should be established. This should build on the remit of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and also incorporate the functions of the Office for Fair Access, the Student Loans Company and the newly-established Office for Competition and Institutional Diversity.
Universities and colleges should also be required to pay into a ‘protection’ or ‘insurance’ scheme co-ordinated by the CHE. This would insulate institutions against possible future financial difficulties or failures.
Inquiry co-chair Professor Roger King said: ‘The continuation of pluralism rather than centralisation features in our recommendations although we recognise the need for some element of consolidation in these fiscally challenged times.
‘Above all, however, we need to urgently address the outstanding requirement for a more systematic and less piecemeal approach to the external regulation of the sector.’
Responding to the report’s recommendation, Professor Les Ebdon, director of fair access to HE, said the work of Offa should not be incorporated into a larger regulatory body.
‘Fair access is too important to be rolled up within the wider concerns of a multi-focused regulatory body. An independent director, with a sole focus on access, can challenge institutions to set themselves stretching widening participation targets and ensure that fair access remains high on the agenda, both for institutions and policymakers,’ he said.
