Whatever you think about the way the higher education “market” works in England and the clear position of not bailing out failing providers, we can all surely agree that students in the system must not be collateral damage.
Back in 2020 the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) put provider closure forward as a wicked problem, having recently seen the closure of GSM London after it was placed into administration in July 2019. As part of the taskforce we heard first hand the impact on staff both at GSM and the validator, and saw through the subsequent complaints the impact on individual students’ wellbeing, mental health and finances. We published our reflections on the closure as well as a briefing note on dealing with complaints where there is a provider, course or campus closure.
Since 2020 there has been another closure of a small provider, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA), which was unable to go into administration and went straight into liquidation, closing doors with immediate effect leaving students and staff without any recourse at all to the provider.
There have also been other cases where the Office for Students (OfS) has used its powers to intervene and subsequently the providers’ financial positions have improved.
