OfS crack down on ‘poor quality courses’

New consultation launched today.

The new proposals that have been put out for consultation today have the potential to have far reaching consequences for the sector. The three main ‘triggers’ of poor quality are as follows

1. 80% of students need to continue into a second year of study
2. 75% of students to complete their qualification
3. 60% of students to go into professional employment or further study

These proposals have all sorts of inherent risks and complexities …..

Courses that have enrolled low numbers or a niche markets would be particularly vulnerable to the first proposal (including many HE in FE courses which often are delivered to small cohorts).And does this mean that drop out in the second and third year isn’t important? Presumably the aim of this proposal is actually looking at appropriate recruitment processes, rather than poor quality courses.

The second proposal is strangely worded, as this would mean potentially mean that provided 75% of the cohort pass with a third then this would escape scrutiny. What is the base-line, 75% for those who go to Award Boards?

The use of the term ‘professional employment’ is open to wide interpretation, and it is hard too imagine a definitive guide of which jobs would (or would not) fall into this category. Freelances for example would be hard to categorise, and what would this mean for graduating students who find work in ‘non-professional’ jobs to begin with to start their careers. How could the employment of all these students be tracked and what cut-off would there be? Would regional variation in job opportunities be taken into account (i.e. students graduating in big cities c.f. students graduating in rural regions)?

Lots to consider and question. The consultation is open until Thursday March 17th.