Office for Fair Access
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The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) was an independent public body in England that supported the Director of Fair Access to Higher Education in his or her work that was intended to safeguard and promote fair access to
higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
. It approved and monitored higher education institutions in England through 'access agreements'. All
English universities , there were 106 universities in England and 5 university colleges out of a total of around 130 in the United Kingdom. This includes private universities but does not include other Higher Education Institutions that have not been given the right ...
and
colleges A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
that wanted to charge higher fees must have had 'access agreements' approved by the Director of Fair Access to Higher Education. The first Director, appointed in 2004, was
Sir Martin Harris Sir Martin Best Harris, (born 28 June 1944) is a British academic and former University Vice-Chancellor. Life and career He was born at Ruabon, Wales, the son of William Best Harris, afterwards City Librarian of Plymouth, and educated at Dev ...
. He was followed by
Les Ebdon Sir Leslie Colin Ebdon CBE DL (born 26 January 1947 in Edmonton, London) is the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and Director of Fair Access to Higher Education (head of the Office for Fair Access). Education Ebdon atten ...
, whose appointment was confirmed in February 2012. As a consequence of the
Higher Education and Research Act 2017 The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (c. 29) was enacted into law in the United Kingdom by the Houses of Parliament on 27 April 2017. It is intended to create a new regulatory framework for higher education, increase competition and student ...
, OFFA and the
Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engla ...
were replaced by the new
Office for Students The Office for Students (OfS) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education, acting as the regulator and competition authority for the higher education sector in England. In February 2021, James Wharton, Baron Wharton of Yarm ...
. OFFA's responsibilities officially ceased on the 31 March 2018.


Background

The
Higher Education Act 2004 The Higher Education Act 2004 (c 8) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced several changes to the higher education system in the United Kingdom, the most important and controversial being a major change to the fundin ...
introduced the concept of variable tuition fees for the first time. Whilst some parts of the United Kingdom, most notably
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, did not implement top-up fees, most universities and higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom in England and sought to implement the new funding regime. That regime allowed HEIs to charge tuition fees of any amount from £0 to £3,000. (These caps were raised in 2010.) At the time this policy was being debated there was considerable concern that the amount of
debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
new graduates would be faced with could dissuade some potential students from entering higher education altogether. Thus, as part of the debate, the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
decided to institute a regulator to ensure that HEIs took steps to ensure that such dissuasion did not occur. The Act established the post of Director of Fair Access to Higher Education and the supporting body OFFA, and gave the Director the power to prevent a HEI charging fees above £1,200 if it could not satisfy the regulator that it would make adequate provision for widening access and encouraging participation. For the academic year starting September 2012, the amount that institutions could charge increased to £9,000, subject to approval by the Director of Fair Access to Higher Education.


Structure

It was headquartered in
Stoke Gifford Stoke Gifford is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England, in the northern suburbs of Bristol. It had around 11,000 residents at the 2001 census, increasing to 15,494 at the 2011 census. It is home to Bristol Parkway station an ...
in
South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...
in the offices of the
Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engla ...
(HEFCE).


Aims

OFFA stated that it had two core aims: # To increase the proportion of learners from under-represented and disadvantaged groups who enter, succeed in and are well prepared to progress from higher education to employment or postgraduate study. # To make faster progress in improving access to the most selective higher education institutions by students from under-represented and disadvantaged groups. These aims were primarily delivered through implementation of approved access agreements, and OFFA's work in monitoring access agreements and disseminating their view of good practice.


Access agreements

An access agreement was a document setting out how a university or college charging higher fees intends to safeguard and promote fair access to higher education through its outreach work, financial support etc. It also includes targets and milestones, set by the university/college itself. Many access agreements remained in force following OFFA's closure and continued to be regulated by the
Office for Students The Office for Students (OfS) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education, acting as the regulator and competition authority for the higher education sector in England. In February 2021, James Wharton, Baron Wharton of Yarm ...
.


Bursaries

OFFA defined a bursary as a cash award where the student's eligibility is either wholly or partially dependent on their assessed household income. This is separate from a scholarship which it defined as an award where eligibility is not dependent on the recipient's assessed household income. For example, some universities and colleges offer scholarships based on academic criteria or whether the student lives in the local area.


Criticism

Charges often made against OFFA were that it levelled down standards rather than raising them and that it replaced one form of unfairness with another as reforms were being achieved by "disadvantaging" the brightest children.Media criticism: 'Disadvantaging the brightest'
/ref> At the time of its foundation, one member of the then shadow cabinet called OFFA “an interfering, manipulative, corrosive emblem of political correctness. At the time of its closure, the outgoing director rebuked this criticism and noted that for the period of OFFA's existence, there had been an 82% increase in the higher education participation of disadvantaged areas.


See also

* Variable tuition fees (also known, inaccurately, as 'top-up fees') *
Higher Education Funding Council for Wales The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) is the Welsh Government Sponsored Body responsible for funding the higher education sector. Functions HEFCW distributes funds for education, research and related activities at Wales's hig ...
*
British universities Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by royal charter, papal bull, Act of Parliament, or an instrument of government under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. De ...
*
Higher Education Act 2004 The Higher Education Act 2004 (c 8) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced several changes to the higher education system in the United Kingdom, the most important and controversial being a major change to the fundin ...
*
Tuition fees (UK) Tuition fees were first introduced across the entire United Kingdom in September 1998 under the Labour government of Tony Blair to fund tuition for undergraduate and postgraduate certificate students at universities; students were required to p ...


References


External links


OFFA's website
{{Widening Participation in the United Kingdom 2004 establishments in England Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Education enrollment Education in South Gloucestershire District Government agencies established in 2004 Higher education in England Higher education organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Gloucestershire