The Westminster government is expected to initiate the introduction of student number controls in England to bear down on courses deemed substandard, potentially using quality metrics including controversial graduate employment measures.
But ministers are expected to drop the idea of setting a sector minimum entry requirement, using GCSE or A-level grades, when it finally publishes a response to its higher education reform consultation, which was issued in February 2022. The response is likely to come in the next month, some in the sector expect.
The Department for Education is likely to back the idea of capping student numbers on courses falling short on the Office for Students’ controversial new B3 condition on quality, sector sources suggest. The condition sets numerical baselines for institutions and courses to meet, on student continuation and completion rates and on graduate employment, a metric that measures “progression to professional jobs”.
According to the OfS’ annual report, the most recent figures showed that 5.2 per cent of all providers were below baseline on continuation, 6.7 per cent below baseline on completion, and 1.6 per cent below baseline on employment progression, though that was up from 0.7 per cent two years earlier.
