OfS gives sector more time for access reboot after feedback

The Office for Students is planning to shift the timetable for higher education providers in England to submit new access and participation plans (APPs), with most being given an extra year to do so.

In a possible hint of the English regulator’s promised more reconciliatory approach to working with the sector, John Blake, the director for fair access and participation, has written to institutions informing them of the likely changes being made after a consultation.

Mr Blake is in the midst of a major reboot of the way universities are expected to ensure that as many people as possible participate and succeed in higher education, which will eventually see the publication of a “national risk register” that identifies sector-wide circumstances that might hold back progress.

It had originally been intended that universities would have to formulate new APPs based on how to mitigate the risks in this register – and site-specific issues – and submit them to the OfS in 2023.

But the regulator said its “current intention” is that only 30 to 50 providers will be required to submit plans by summer 2023 as part of a first tranche of APPs, which will take effect at the start of the 2024-25 academic year. The rest will submit plans in spring or summer 2024 for the 2025-26 academic year.

Mr Blake said all types of providers would be encouraged to take part in wave one, and he was confident that many would do so because they are further along in this work than others.

But, he said, he had been persuaded that those providers less confident in evaluating their work – one of the cornerstones of the new approach – could use more time to get it right.

“I could see a genuine desire to do better evaluation but a genuine concern the timelines would not allow them to do so, and that deserves to be listened to and put forward,” he said.

Equally, Mr Blake said, he has heard concerns about the burden placed on smaller, more specialist providers.

“We often get burden raised with us, and sometimes we have to impose it regardless. But I think in this case I was persuaded that we were asking a lot and some changes in timing would be appropriate,” he said.

“If the sector is telling me a bit more time will increase the quality of what they do, I am happy to take them at their word. But correspondingly, we will be expecting that real improvement in quality of evaluation when we make it through both waves.”

The OfS has faced calls from the sector for a review into its role and function after it was previously criticised for carrying on with its plans, regardless of the feedback given in consultations. In response, the organisation’s chief executive, Susan Lapworth, recently signalled in a blog that it wants to reset relations.

Mr Blake said the changes to the access plans were not being done “because we’ve told everyone we are going to have a new relationship”.

“But it is a good opportunity for us to do a bit of that working with the sector on an area where they have been clear about what would be useful for them to better meet our regulatory expectations,” he said.

The OfS has said more details will be released in March, when it also expects to respond to other issues raised by responses to its equality of opportunity consultation.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com