The Higher Education and Research Act (2017) is intended to be transformative. It introduces a risk based approach to quality oversight which is data informed and balanced with reviews where appropriate. Its ambition is to protect student interests and the reputation of the sector, whilst also allowing the number of providers to grow. Its intention was to also reduce regulatory burden on those institutions that meet threshold criteria.
At LSBU, we have been supportive of a risk based approach so when, in May last year, the Office for Students (OfS) said we would be one of eight providers whose business and management subject area would be reviewed, we were not too perturbed. We were confident of our offering and today’s announcement from the OfS shows this confidence was not misplaced.
We are delighted that the report says there were no concerns about the quality of our provision. It highlighted many areas of good practice, and how we meet the needs of our diverse student body.
The academic experts who made up the review team saw, first-hand, the ‘good rapport that our academics have with our students’ and the way that our teaching staff have ‘created a supportive environment for our learners’. Furthermore, the OfS review team recognised the long-term impact of our teaching, with up-to-date teaching and learning alongside a ‘conscious and coordinated approach to integrating employability into the curriculum’.
