Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted in Part
High tuition fee deductions by lead providers impact student spending, quality, and support access.
Recommendation
We challenged DfE whether this level of deduction from tuition fees was acceptable. DfE emphasised that the fee taken by the lead provider should represent the value added by that lead provider.27 While noting that there is a range, OfS described some of the tuition fee amounts retained by lead providers as “quite shocking”. It told us it is concerned about quality since, if the lead provider is taking percentage from tuition fees, and the delivery 16 Q49 17 Q29 18 Universities UK (ISL0002) 19 Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (ISL0003) 20 C&AG’s Report, para 1.17 21 Q34 22 Qq30, 36 23 Q34, Universities UK (ISL0002) 24 Q36 25 C&AG’s Report, para 1.7, second bullet 26 Qq48–50 27 Q47 Student loans issued to those studying at franchised higher education providers 11 provider is generating a profit or surplus, this reduces the amount spent on students.28 The Office of the Independent Adjudicator told us, in written evidence, that it has seen instances where students are not clear that the provider they are studying at, and the awarding organisation, differ. It had also seen that students and sometimes providers are not always clear what access they have to their lead provider’s students’ union and support.29 Providers’ financial sustainability
Government Response Summary
The government will ask the OfS to consider requiring providers to publish details on the proportion of tuition fees they retain and for what purposes when the OfS next makes changes to ongoing conditions of registration.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
1.2 The government agrees that greater transparency from lead providers on their franchised arrangements would help to provide greater assurance to government over the use of public money and would make more information available to students to support informed decision making. 1.3 The Department for Education (the department) has been clear that it is also expecting a sector-led response. On 24 July 2024, Universities UK (UUK) published governance framework for lead providers to support senior leaders in universities to spot and manage risk in franchised partnerships. The framework aims to support universities to improve governance of franchised provision, identify and reduce risk from the start to the end of a franchised partnership, and deliver value for money by being able to identify risk to public funds through stronger oversight. 1.4 The government agrees that there is a strong case for greater transparency over franchising arrangements. The government will ask the Office for Students (OfS) to consider requiring providers to publish details on the proportion of tuition fees they retain and for what purposes when the OfS next makes changes to ongoing conditions of registration.