The OfS draft scheme with ‘student’ and ‘students unions’ crossed out
Worth explaining that students can have FoS complaints examined by the OIA (it was a muddle how an OfS scheme would overlap). Question now is how does OfS reactivate the scheme that was supposed to start two years ago.
From Section C of the proposed rules on Complaints we will not review: We will dismiss a free speech complaint at any time if, in our judgement, it is frivolous or vexatious. The following non-exhaustive list illustrates when we may determine that a free speech complaint is frivolous or vexatious: a. The free speech complaint provides no new information to that set out in a free speech complaint previously submitted by you and considered under this scheme. b. You continually change the substance of a free speech complaint. c. You have acted aggressively, or offensively, or abusively, or have made unreasonable demands on us. d. Your free speech complaint does not clearly identify issues or matters that are the subject of the complaint. e. You have not complied with our information requirements (section L) on several occasions. f. Your free speech complaint concerns matters which in the OfS's judgment are trivial.
Presumably with some adjustments to the ‘who can complain’ section (plus excluding students’ unions) OfS can just dust off the scheme. It did give itself a particularly robust set of rules to dismiss frivolous or vexatious complaints.
www.officeforstudents.org.uk/consultation...
Ahead of questions in Parliament, DfE confirms that they will commence some more parts of the HE(FoS) Act - allowing staff, visiting speakers etc to complain to OfS. A scheme was consulted on before by OfS so presumably they exhume that.
questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...
The Charity Commission should take a view on whether a charity should be allowed to sell its operating arm. There are particular issues about C&G, but this has implications for the conversion of charitable HE providers into for-profit variants.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Maps of the Technical Excellence Colleges. There’s a big gap at the bottom.
An afterthought on the limitations of planning by region. If you are on the South Coast, the SE’s TECs are in Milton Keynes & Gravesend. Yeovil & Lambeth are closer, but that’s not much comfort.
Do we plan new higher education provision properly? I found a presentation from my first visit to UWE in 2009 which highlights various schemes with a spatial planning theme - some more successful than others. How will the newly announced TECs fare?
moremeansbetter.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/m...
From DfE info updated today: Next steps We are working to: confirm the residual entitlement calculation for learners with prior study lay secondary legislation in Parliament to implement the LLE fee limits and funding system issue a second expression of interest process for the approval of modular provision in 2026 publish our consultation on break points in degree programmes publish guidance on standardised transcripts distribute an asset pack to providers that will help them communicate about the LLE
People who start courses from 1 January 2027 will be funded via LLE. There are still parts of the system that haven’t been announced and even are subject to formal consultation. These ‘next steps’ need to come very fast.
www.gov.uk/government/p...
It’s a mistake for DfE to render the LLE into a cash figure rather than credits. Every year the LLE will change and modules taken in the past will have weird values.
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/degree-...
Do ‘Bible Colleges’ meet the public interest governance principles on academic freedom and freedom of speech as required in OfS Condition E1? @natsecsoc.bsky.social writes to @houseoflords.parliament.uk Industry & Regulators Committee.
committees.parliament.uk/publications...
I look forward to the explanation of how a take-away pizza place works when there’s no parking near it.
Morris dancers outside Trinity College
Morris dancers outside Balliol
A weekend of celebrations of pedestrianisation and low traffic neighbourhoods in Oxford (masquerading as a folk festival). Even has proper April showers.
Muller Museum at Ashley Down - the orphanage housed 2500 kids.
Ashley Down
There’s a good view of Ashley Down from inside the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. Fieldwork for the former sites of HEIs providers is tiring and exacting work with few benefits…
Former sites of HE providers: a series. The former orphan houses at Ashley Down founded by George Müller were used by the college that split becoming Bath University and Bristol Polytechnic. Part of West of England College of Art was also here. Now used as housing & City of Bristol College.
Extract from the administrators report about regulation and records.
As an academic registrar, I have a genuine question: where do the records go? Spurgeon’s admitted people to degrees - who verifies those, how does a graduate get a replacement certificate?
Student Transfer & Support Office ('STASO') Creditors will recall that the Joint Administrators retained certain Spurgeon's employees to staff the STASO and facilitate the Student Protection Plan ('SPP') of Spurgeon's with the view this would likely to lead to an improvement in outcome for creditors. The Joint Administrators negotiated an agreement with a third-party holding similar denominational interests whereby the third party funded the wages of the five retained employees in the STASO and contributed 50% of certain ancillary costs e.g. IT support, for a period of one month. In accordance with the SPP, the objective of the STASO was to: • Engage with students to provide them with alternative individual means of continuing their studies outside of Spurgeon's; ... Provide students with evidence of academic achievement; Ensuring any academic or course issues were promptly resolved; Mark outstanding unmarked work from the academic year to 31 July 2025 where it was possible that the marking of work could lead to degrees being awarded whilst Spurgeon's retained its degree awarding powers; and • Address any student complaints. By supporting a transfer to an alternative provider to achieve educational continuity, student claims for breach of contract have been mitigated in whole or in part, thereby reducing unsecured creditor claims in the insolvent estate. In addition, the finalisation of degree awards and certifications, where appropriately evidenced, should deliver a better outcome for creditors in the form of improved debtor realisations for completed courses. The STASO closed on 31 August 2025. Prior to the closure of the STASO final communication was made to all students yet to engage, encouraging them to make use of the STASO for any queries prior to it being disbanded. In total, the STASO was successful in assisting 132 students to transfer and continue their qualification with alternative providers. €25,018 was received as a third-party contribution to the STA…
This is a live test case on what happens when a degree awarding body goes into administration. Retaining some staff allowed much better outcomes for students to complete/transfer. Issues remain, ie what happens to restricted funds.
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/0441...
This is new territory: where DAPs have stopped being used, there’s been a successor body. The latest update from the administrators confirms offers made to buy Spurgeon’s DAPs - but it was concluded as trading had ceased they could not be restarted.
moremeansbetter.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/w...
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 2026 No. 394 EDUCATION, ENGLAND The Power to Award Degrees etc. (Spurgeon's College) (Revocation) Order 2026 Made 7th April 2026 Coming into force 27th April 2026 section 48 of that Act. Citation and commencement 1. This Order may be cited as the Power to Award Degrees etc. (Spurgeon's College Revocation) Order 2026 and comes into force on 27th April 2026 Revocation 2. The Power to Award Degrees etc. (Spurgeon's College) Order 2022(2) is revoked. 3. The Power to Award Degrees etc. (Spurgeon's College) (Amendment) Order 2025(3) is revoked. 7th April 2026 David Smy Deputy Director of Enabling Regulation Office for Students
OfS degree awarding powers news: two orders for Spurgeon’s College will be revoked from 27 April 2026. Spurgeon’s is in administration, it had facilitated 132 students to transfer after its sudden closure, but has left the register.
A bell curve. Not the way to classify degrees.
Norm-referencing degree classifications by course and/or university would hugely undermine confidence in standards. That’s not to say Hons classifications are perfect (and I have said that), but you are right - this is bonkers.
A bell curve. This is exactly how not to classify degrees.
This is an interesting set of responses from @tom-richmond.com to the charge that some HE providers are taking excessive risks. Some suggested interventions are targeted and proportional, others just provoking. Good to have the debate though…
www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/a-de...
Plaque: Peterscourt formerly St Peter's College, was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott as a teacher training college for men. It was completed in 1859 and closed in 1914. From 1921 to 1938 it was a teacher training college for women.- Since then its main use has been as oflices, notably by Perkins Engines and by Peterborough Development Corporation It wasthelatter's headquarters from 1969 to 1975. The building wasrestored and refurbished in 1985
St Peter’s College in the sunshine
St Peter’s with the cathedral behind.
Sites of former HE providers: a series. The building for St Peter’s College was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The Church of England closed it twice; it was reopened by the ministry in 1945 as an emergency teacher training college but closed again. The site is just outside the Close.
Peterborough skies (yes, it’s mostly a picture of a former HEI)
Stamford College in the sunshine
New College Stamford is no longer registered with the OfS
Sites of former HE providers: a series. In 2022 New College Stamford surrendered its registration to the regulator (OfS). It traded as University College Stamford, but merged with Inspire Education which trades as University College Peterborough.
moremeansbetter.wordpress.com/2022/09/27/s...
Gateway to supposed site of Brazenose Hall in Stamford.
Plaque by gate. Reads: GATEWAY OF BRAZENOSE HALL. DEMOLISHED IN 1688. THE PRISENT DOOR AND KNOCKER WERE GIVEN BY A FELLOW OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD TO RECORD THE SECESSION OF STUDENTS OF BRASENOSI HALL, OXFORD IO THIS PLACE 1333 - 5. THE ORIGINAL KNOCKER, OI WHICH THIS IS A REPLICA, WAS HERE UNTIL 1890 AND IS NOW IN BRASENOSE COLLEGE HALL.
Slide of the Oath. This is from a presentation I gave at UWE in 2009. (1) to keep and observe the statutes, priviledges, customs and liberties of the University. (2) You also swear that in the Faculty to which you are now admitted Graduate, you shall not solemnly perform your readings as in a University anywhere in this Kingdom but here in Oxford or in Cambridge; not shall you take degrees, as in a University, in any Faculty whatsoever, nor shall you consent that any person who hath taken his degree elsewhere shall be admitted as a master here in the said faculty, to which he shall be elsewhere admitted. (3) You shall also swear that you will not read lectures, or hear them read, at Stamford, as in a University study, or college general. Parker I, 1914,Dissenting Academies in England, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p66
Sites of former HE providers: a series. In 1335 the regulator (Edward III) suppressed the University of Stamford. Masters of Arts at Oxford continued to swear not to teach at any other university in England except Cambridge and specifically not Stamford until 1827. #Histed
While it’s possible for a government to do two things at once, it does seem extraordinary that the US government has turned its attention to the money being spent on College football.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
And, with friends like its former vice-chancellor, the University of Buckingham needs no enemies.
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/why-...
More on the potential sale of the University of Buckingham’s operation to a for-profit company. There’s a fine piece of mischief in here - the picture used is of the former Crewe campus - an utterly disastrous initiative.
thecritic.co.uk/asset-stripp...
Has someone tried to put belief in a flat earth through the Grainger test yet?
www.doyleclayton.co.uk/resources/in...
Our biggest concern must be for genuine students caught in this problem. But, as Jim notes, have DfE/SLC made an assumption that many aren’t genuine? They have the numbers from cases such as ABA, Brit & OBC - is that why?
And then, what happens when the college goes bust?
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...
Westbury College gatehouse
Plaque. It reads: THE NATIONAL TRUST WESTBURY COLLEGE ORIGINALLY AN IMPOSING STRUSTURE AROUND A QUADRANGLE (WITH TOWERS, TURRETS AND BATTLEMENTS, THE COLLEGE WAS BUILT 1459-1469 A.D. AS A RESIDENCE FOR THE DEAN AND SANONS OF WESTBURY CHURCH, BY JOHN CARPENTER, BISHOP OF WORCESTER AND WESTSURY. IN 1544 WITH THE DISSOLUTION OF THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES, IT WAS CONVERTED INTO A PRIVATE DWELLING. FIRED BY PRINCE RUPERT IN 1643 TO PREVENT ITS OCCUPATION 3Y THE PARLIAMENTARY FORCES, ONLY THE GAFEHOUSE, THO ROUND TOWERS AND THE BOUNDARY HALLS OF THE TRIN NOW REMAIN BY 1771 THE GEORGIAN HOUSE WAS BUILT ON PART OF THE SITE, THE WHOLE PROPERTY WAS PURCHASED BY SUBSCRIPTION IN 1894 AND VESTED IN THE NATIONAL TRUST IN 1907.
Holy Trinity Church, Westbury on Trym
There are many ‘College Roads’ which mark former education providers, but in this corner of Bristol that marks a much older former clergy college. The remains of Westbury College include this gatehouse near the church.
Website archive
College Park Drive sign
College as seen from drive (it’s a retirement home - says ‘private’ on sign.
Sites of former HEIs: Wesley College, Bristol. An example of planned consolidation, the Methodist Church bought a new site in 1946, selling other colleges and amalgamating them. But costs were too high and the college was closed (see archived website) now a retirement home.
