Recommendation 26

The OfS suggested to us that students’ satisfaction with their courses and assessments of value for money were also related to their perceptions of what they were getting for the tuition fee. During the pandemic, there were calls for higher education providers to refund a proportion of tuition fees in recognition of the shift to online learning required by lockdown restrictions, and restricted access to laboratories, libraries and other learning resources. Student satisfaction with learning resources had the greatest fall of factors measured between 2020 and 2021. The government’s position was that students ordinarily should not expect any fee refund if they were receiving adequate online learning and support. The government did not define what it meant by ‘adequate’, and students were not consulted on this decision nor on how it affected the value for money they were getting. The NAO found that it was likely, however, that the government’s position reduced financial stress on providers.49 44 Q 69; C&AG’s Report, para 4.7 45 Qq 33, 69, 71; C&AG’s Report, para 4.8 46 Qq 69, 71 47 Qq 29, 70, 83; C&AG’s Report, para 4.8 48 Qq 69, 83, 95 49 Q69; C&AG’s Report, paras 4.19–4.20 and Figure 11 16 Financial sustainability of the higher education sector in England