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Universities required by English regulator to “improve or sustain performance” on student outcomes
Five universities in England have received improvement notices from the Office for Students over their performance against student outcomes thresholds in some course provision.
In reports published on 23 July, the English sector regulator said that Arden University, the University of Cumbria, London Metropolitan University, Leeds Beckett University and Richmond, the American International University in London would have improvement notices imposed on them following inspections.
The OfS reports published as a result of the inspections look at a university compliance with conditions relating to student outcomes, including continuation and completion rates.
OfS comments
In the case of Arden, the OfS said steps had been taken to “improve the quality of its provision and to support the delivery of improved outcomes”, but that the institution was still at risk of breaching its continuation rate conditions.
Its report on Cumbria states that while the university is not in breach of conditions, it must “improve outcomes for continuation for part-time, postgraduate taught masters’ students”.
Leeds Beckett was also deemed to be at “increased risk of breach”, London Met has been told to “review its performance” and Richmond has been told to “comprehensively review its performance” on completion rates and “take targeted action to ensure it delivers or sustains performance at or above the relevant OfS numerical thresholds by spring 2027”.
‘Students deserve high-quality courses’
Jean Arnold, deputy director of quality at the OfS, said the assessments demonstrated the OfS’ “continuing commitment to drive improvements in student outcomes”.
“The quality of higher education in England is generally excellent. All students, whatever their background, deserve to study on high-quality courses which lead to successful outcomes after graduation,” she said.
“We have carefully considered student outcomes against a range of indicators for each of the 11 providers assessed. At three of these providers, we have found that students’ outcomes could be explained given the additional context we considered. At eight other providers [five universities and three colleges], we have decided to issue improvement notices. These require each university or college to take action to improve or sustain its performance.”
Research Professional News has approached the institutions named for comment.
University responses
Carl Lygo, vice-chancellor at Arden University, said the institution would “take on board the findings from the OfS assessment and, while we are disappointed by the overall outcome of the report, we do in fact take a number of positives from it”.
“The assessment was based on a dataset from 2016-20 applying new thresholds which OfS released in 2022,” Lygo said. “More recent analysis shows we are on a clear upward trajectory and the OfS has acknowledged this, stating that our actions planned for this year and beyond demonstrate a continued commitment to, and investment in, improving student outcomes.”
A spokesperson for Leeds Beckett said the university had “implemented an action plan” following the OfS findings. “The university takes all aspects of quality assurance seriously and we will continue to focus on enhancing outcomes for all our students,” the spokesperson said.