Recommendation 28

The current Student Protection Plans are inadequate. They would not provide sufficient protection were a large provider to become insolvent, something acknowledged by the Office for Students. Moreover, the plans do not cover the interests of staff, the impact on research or harm insolvency would do to the local economy and community. We therefore welcome the Office for Students’ openness to reform in this area, but believe those changes need to be more far-reaching, to ensure robust protection when a higher education provider is at risk of insolvency and ceasing to operate, and to include the interests of staff, the impact on research, and the harm that insolvency would do to the local economy and community. (Conclusion, Paragraph 156)