The Office for Students (OfS) is a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

of the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Departme ...

, acting as the regulator and competition authority for the

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 compl ...

sector in England. In February 2021, James Wharton, Baron Wharton of Yarm was made the new chair.

History

The regulator was established by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, coming into existence on 1 January 2018. It merged 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 ...

and the Office for Fair Access, and formally inherited their responsibilities, while 'working in the interests of students and prospective students' and having 'a wider remit ... taking charge of the granting of degree awarding powers and university title.' The OfS inherited HEFCE's funding responsibilities (aside from those for research which passed to

United Kingdom Research and Innovation UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial St ...

), and OFFA's responsibility for promoting fair access to higher education.

Responsibilities

The OfS website lists its main areas of work as: # Helping students to get into and succeed in higher education. # Helping students stay informed. # Making sure that students get a high-quality education that prepares them for the future. # Protecting students’ interests. It notes that it is not responsible for tuition fees, students loans or other aspects of individual student funding, and that it cannot usually get involved in individual complaints about universities and colleges. The OfS's other functions include the administration of the

Teaching Excellence Framework The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a controversial government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England, which may be used from 2020 to determin ...

and the Register of higher education providers. It is responsible both for administering the prevent duty and for ensuring that universities allow

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for controversial guest speakers.

Leadership

The current OfS Chair is Lord Wharton and its Chief Executive is Susan Lapworth. They both serve on the OfS board, along with: * Martin Coleman (deputy chair), formerly Norton Rose Fulbright * Gurpreet Dehal, formerly Credit Suisse *

Elizabeth Fagan Elizabeth Fagan (born August 1957) is a Scottish businesswoman, chair of D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, and the former managing director of Boots UK. Early life and education She was born in August 1957, one of eleven children and grew up in ...

, managing director of Boots * Katja Hall, formerly of

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* Verity Hancock, Principal and Chief Executive of Leicester College * Kathryn King, former Chief Legal

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

for England and Wales * Kate Lander, Eukleia Training * Simon Levine, CEO of DLA Piper * Martha Longdon, student representative * John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation * David Palfreyman, Director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies * Steve West, vice-chancellor of UWE The board is advised by a panel of students.

Controversy

The appointment of Toby Young to the board, announced on 1 January 2018, generated controversy over his suitability for the post. As at 8 January 2018, over 200,000 people had signed an online petition protesting his appointment. In response to questioning the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

declared herself comfortable with his appointment, while the Universities minister defended him in the House of Commons. After criticism from leading Tory MPs, Young resigned on that day, claiming he had been turned into a caricature.

References

External links