England’s higher education regulator is more concerned with satisfying the demands of government ministers than addressing the genuine concerns of students, the vice-president of the National Union of Students has claimed.
Chloe Field, the NUS’ vice-president for higher education, told a House of Lords inquiry that she did not feel there had been “strong and consistent” student engagement since the foundation of the Office for Students in 2018 despite initiatives such as its student panel and the National Student Survey.
Ms Field, who has been the de facto leader of the organisation since the dismissal of its president last year, said gathering student opinions often felt like an afterthought across the higher education sector.
“I wouldn’t say that it is not necessarily that they don’t care, but I think that often student input…can become a tick-box exercise,” she said, adding that there was a sense that certain policy directions were decided upon before students were even consulted.
