The Office for Students (OfS), which will regulate UK universities, has been officially launched at an event in Westminster earlier today.
The OfS, created under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, also revealed its regulatory framework at the launch, which includes ensuring value for money for students and protecting their academic experience in the event of campus closures.
In a foreword, OfS Chair Sir Michael Barber said the regulator and its framework are ‘innovative’.
He said: “Our intention is that our world- leading higher education sector will be monitored by a world-leading regulator. That is the standard to which we aspire.
“While creating the conditions that enable the sector to deliver an excellent education to all students, we will simultaneously work to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden. Indeed, the two go hand in hand.”
Meanwhile, Sam Gyimah, Minister of State for Universities and Science, tweeted that the launch represented ‘the biggest shake-up in the regulation of Higher Education in 30 years and one that puts students at its heart’.
The Office for Students legally came into force earlier in the year to merge the functions of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Office for Fair Access.
The regulator attracted controversy last month after appointing journalist Toby Young to its panel, who eventually resigned after tweets he had made before his appointment emerged.
The watchdog will officially begin its work in April and the full list of OfS board members can be found on the GOV.UK website.