The Office for Students “hasn’t always got everything right” but has “done a decent job in difficult circumstances” and there have been no “inappropriate” conversations with ministers, its chief executive has insisted.
Susan Lapworth also said that a continuation of the current financial environment will make things “exceptionally difficult” for an increasing number of institutions, when she spoke at the Higher Education Policy Institute’s annual conference.
Interviewing Ms Lapworth, Hepi director Nick Hillman asked her about criticisms from the sector of a perceived failure by the OfS to maintain independence from government.
He quoted a comment from Universities UK chief executive Vivienne Stern, who, in a Times Higher Education article, described the OfS, set up five years ago, as “a bit of a teenage regulator, occasionally rude and a lot of hard work, but also being leaned on really hard by its parent”.
