Higher Education Policy Briefing – February 2016 Business, Innovation & Skills Select Committee Report - TEF 1. On 29 February, the House of Commons Business, Innovation & Skills Select Committee published a report1 on the TEF and assessing quality in higher education, the result of an enquiry launched in September 2015. The Committee supports the Government’s aim of raising teaching quality and also that the Level 1 TEF be linked to a successful QAA response. It also supports in principle the link between teaching quality and fee level, but notes that there have been several concerns raised about the proposed metrics for assessing the higher levels of TEF, both in terms of relevance to teaching quality and in perverse incentives. It recommends further consultation on the metrics, and notes that it is more important to develop a good system than to act quickly. Launch of EU Referendum and Universities’ responses 2. On 20 February, the Prime Minister announced the date of the EU referendum as 23 June. The following day, 103 UK Vice-Chancellors (including Professor Snowden) put their name to a letter2 in the Sunday Times, highlighting the importance of the EU to UK universities. UUK has developed a series of activities under the “Universities for Europe3” banner. Many universities are organising debates (one is planned in Southampton in April). Public Policy@Southampton has also launch a blog site called Views of Europe4, with contributions from staff, students, politicians and others. Consultation on integration of Innovate UK with the Research Councils 3. From 1-19 February, BIS ran a short consultation on the proposal to integrate Innovate UK with the new Research UK (a new body recommended by the Nurse Review and accepted by Government which brings together the 7 existing Research Councils). Details of the consultation, and the University of Southampton’s response, can be found on the responses to consultations5 page. Guidance from BIS to OFFA

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http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-andskills/news-parliament-2015/quality-of-higher-education-report-published-15-16/ 2

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/UniversityleadershighlightvitalroleofEUinSundayTimesl etter.aspx#.Vtl0wuavO_k 3 http://www.universitiesforeurope.com/Pages/Home.aspx#.Vtl2buavO_k 4 http://www.southampton.ac.uk/publicpolicy/what-we-do/blogs/voe-section-home.page 5 http://www.southampton.ac.uk/about/impact/responses-to-consultations.page

4. For the first time since 2011, the Secretary of State for BIS has issued guidance6 to the Director of Fair Access. The most significant change is in target groups. The previous guidance had the broad groups of students from less advantaged backgrounds, students with disabilities, students from some minority ethnic groups, and care leavers. Whilst these remain, the new guidance asks for specific attention on:   

access for young white males from disadvantaged backgrounds; outcomes for students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds; and access, retention and outcomes for students with specific learning difficulties or mental health needs

5. The Guidance also highlights the decline in part time working, the evidence which universities include in their access agreements, raising aspirations in schools, and student retention and outcomes. There is a specific section of the guidance on highly selective institutions (paras 7.1 to 7.6), which acknowledges the work already being done but suggests more is needed and looks to OFFA to see that “more progress is made”. UUK Working Group on Sector Agencies 6. Universities UK has established a new working group to provide advice on the current landscape of higher education and the role of the different sector agencies in the light of the recent changes to the HE funding and operating landscape. The working group is chaired by Sir David Bell (VC, University of Reading) and is due to report in the Autumn. The membership and draft terms of reference for the working group can be found here7. BIS Single Departmental Plan 2015-2020 7. The Department of Business, Innovation & Skills has published the BIS Single Departmental Plan: 2015-20208. In the plan, BIS commits to making 30-40% operating expenditure savings by 2020 (£350M), reduce its locations from more than 80 to 7 or 8, and reduce its 45 partner bodies (which include several HE-related bodies such as the Research Councils, Innovate UK, HECFE, OFFA, QAA) by more than half. Student Loan Repayment Strategy 8. The Government has published a Joint Repayment Strategy9 for student loans. It sets out how BIS, the Student Loans Company, HMRC and the devolved administrations will work together to improve their ability to pursue student loan debt, better forecast future repayments, reduce operational costs and improve customer service.

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https://www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/11-02-2016-OFFA-Guidance.pdf http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/SectorAgenciesReview.aspx#.VtmtBOavO_k 8 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bis-single-departmental-plan-2015-to-2020/bis-singledepartmental-plan-2015-to-2020 9 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-loan-repayment-strategy 7

Designing a TEF: Lessons from other sectors 9. On 25 February, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) published a report10 on learning lessons from other sectors in designing the Teaching Excellence Framework. Some of the key areas considered included:     

Stability in the organisation delivering the ratings The use of a wide range of evidence, including good outcomes data and visits The role of experts in developing ratings Disaggregation, and comprehensive coverage, of ratings Inclusion of ratings in league tables and alongside a wider set of data

10. The report goes on to make two recommendations:  

The TEF should be integrated with the quality assurance and external examining system. It should be postponed to allow the findings from the technical consultation to feed into it.

Gavin Costigan Director of Public Policy@Southampton

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http://www.hepi.ac.uk/2016/02/25/designing-a-teaching-excellence-framework-lessons-from-other-sectors2/