The Office for Students frequently takes great pains to let you know that it is a regulator.
It is less often you see OfS thinking about its parallel role as a funding council – but it hands out around £1.5bn each year.
Unlike the continued excitement of responsive regulatoritude, the actual handing out of money hasn’t changed much since 2012-13. The Strategic Priorities Grant is the new name for an old high cost subjects funding stream, London weighting has disappeared, and funding for small and specialist providers has been tweaked, but the aims and purposes of government funding hasn’t shifted since the days of HEFCE.
It is with this in mind that OfS has issued a “call for evidence” – less a formal consultation, more a chance for the sector and others to wade into these big strategic issues in the hope of developing something that is right for the current sector.
First up, let’s take a look at how things are currently done.
