Recommendation 3

Protections for students, in the event of providers facing financial distress, are not strong enough. The OfS requires providers to have a student protection plan in place to address the risk of continuity of study for its students, but it has identified common weaknesses in them – including over-optimism about risks and weak refund and compensation policies. When initially registering providers, the OfS approved a number of student protection plans that it considered inadequate, so as not to delay registrations. During the pandemic, it found that it needed greater powers to intervene more quickly, and introduced a new condition of registration from April 2021 allowing it to issue directions to universities it considers at material risk of failure. However, the process of implementing a student protection plan, which the OfS described to us, appears to be reactive. Recommendation: The OfS should prioritise ensuring that all providers’ published student protection plans are fit for purpose and sufficiently clear for students to make confident, well-informed decisions about the protections universities are promising them.