England’s higher education regulator is failing to meet the needs of students and is “not trusted” by many universities, peers have warned.
A report by the House of Lords’ industry and regulators committee has accused the Office for Students (OfS), England’s universities watchdog, of lacking independence from the Government.
The Government should consider making it a requirement that serving politicians resign any party political whip they hold before becoming chairs of independent regulators, the Lords committee says.
Lord Wharton, chair of the OfS, is a Conservative peer. His appointment to the independent regulator in 2021 sparked criticism from the Labour Party.
The report suggests that the OfS’ own actions “often appear driven by political priorities” and too often the watchdog “translates ministerial and media attitudes into regulatory burdens”.
It adds: “There have been too many examples of the OfS acting like an instrument of the Government’s policy agenda rather than an independent regulator. It is vital that regulators have both real and perceived independence from Government, and the OfS has a lot of work to do on this.”
The Lords committee report – which has been published following an inquiry into the OfS – concludes: “It is not trusted by and does not have the confidence of many of the providers it regulates. But it has arguably not acted in the real interests of students either.”
“Students often feel their views are not acted upon, especially where they were not aligned with what the OfS wants to do,” it adds.
