Bedfordshire faces monitoring after OfS registration breach

The English regulator has announced that it will subject the University of Bedfordshire to “enhanced monitoring” after ruling that the institution had breached its terms of registration.

The Office for Students’ decision follows a quality assessment last year into Bedfordshire’s business and management courses which found the university had fallen short on the watchdog’s requirements to offer flexibility for working students, to monitor student engagement with courses, and to take action to address “low continuation rates”.

The English watchdog said that “the university had not taken all reasonable steps to ensure that students received the resources and support they needed for a high-quality academic experience”, making it in breach of its “B2 requirements” to offer students appropriate resources, support and engagement.

The measures will require the university to periodically report to the OfS about the changes that it is implementing, and the OfS said it will only lift the provisions “once it is satisfied that the remaining risks have been resolved”. It may consider “further action” if the risks persist.

The initial quality assessment found that between 2016-17 to 2019-20, the non-continuation rate for students on Bedfordshire’s undergraduate business and management courses stood at 40.7 per cent. 

Since then, the OfS said that the university has worked “collaboratively” with the watchdog to construct a set of plans and initiatives designed to address the concerns. 

But it outlined that it does “not yet consider that all risk of non-compliance has been mitigated”, and noted the university has only implemented some of these initiatives “relatively recently”.

The report says: “We also do not have strong evidence that it has implemented its initiatives effectively and that they are producing positive impacts for students. 

“Using our risk-based approach to regulation, we have determined that it is appropriate that the OfS has a role in monitoring the implementation of the provider’s actions, and ensuring the provider demonstrates the impact these actions are having on performance.”

Jean Arnold, deputy director of quality at the OfS, said universities must take steps to ensure that they “understand and take account of the needs of their particular students providing them with the resources and support that help them to succeed” to meet OfS requirements. 

“An important step in providing effective resources and support is taking steps to address gaps where they are found. We are now content that the University of Bedfordshire has a set of initiatives in place to deal with these issues and our monitoring seeks to ensure that these will be implemented effectively,” she continued.

“Since the assessment report was published, the OfS has continued to work with the University of Bedfordshire, and we are grateful for the university’s positive response. We will continue to work with it as we monitor compliance with the condition.”

The quality assessment formed one of eight announced by the OfS in May 2022, in what ministers dubbed “boots-on-the-ground” investigations on university campuses. 

Previous OfS reports on business and management investigations found four “areas of concern” at the University of Bolton, no concerns at London South Bank University and no concerns at the University of East London.

The University of Bedfordshire has been approached for comment.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com