The Office for Students is at pains to be clear it is a risk-based regulator.
This is a common regulatory approach in a mature sector – the assumption is that the majority of participants are of good quality and act in good faith. Autonomy is granted, and the regulator would not step in unless clearly identified minimum standards are not achieved.
However, the lived reality of this regulation – in the registrar’s offices and boardrooms of English universities – is quite different.
