66 Virtual Brochure – March 2025 Higher Education Corporate Governance & Compliance The ongoing conditions of registration set by the OfS are designed to ensure that higher education providers in England maintain high standards and operate in the best interests of students. In the last four years, these conditions have been revised and strengthened, in the case of academic quality and standards and student outcomes (the B Conditions) and new conditions have been introduced (for example, Condition E6 on harassment and sexual misconduct). During COVID-19, the regulator also introduced and modified several conditions to address the unique challenges faced by higher education providers and students. These included Consumer Protection (Condition C1) and student protection plans (Condition C3). Some institutions may have been requested to update their plans to reflect the potential impacts of the pandemic, including planning for scenarios such as campus closures3. More recently, the regulator has made several changes to the data collection4 underpinning its financial conditions of registration to ensure higher education providers can demonstrate that they remain financially sustainable and can continue to support their students effectively. This has included: • Enhanced Monitoring: Providers are now required to submit more detailed financial data and forecasts to help the OfS identify potential financial risks earlier. • Financial Viability (Condition D): This includes more specific criteria for assessing a provider’s financial performance and covers requirements for liquidity, financial performance, and the ability to meet ongoing financial commitments. A registration condition which the OfS has not amened nor sought to strengthen yet (barring the addition of new condition E6 on harassment and sexual misconduct) is Condition E Good Governance and, within this, the Public Interest Governance Principles. However, recent statements from the OfS include that it is increasingly intervening with providers where there are potential risks to students’ studies, to drive improvements in financial management and governance. The OfS Chief Executive, Susan Lapworth, referenced the OfS focus on enabling improvement in governance across the sector in her recent speech at the September 2024 Universities' UK Conference.5 While OfS (and government) focus is necessarily on the immediate concerns of the financial sustainability of the sector, emerging observations on corporate governance failures arising from recent public inquiries indicate some deeper and more fundamental corporate governance concerns. These highlight not just what needs to be achieved but how this is achieved and who is accountable for the decisions and the actions. 3 guidance-for-providers-about-student-and-consumer-protection-duringcoronavirus.pdf (officeforstudents.org.uk) 4 Improving the financial data we collect - Office for Students 5 Transcript of Susan Lapworth's speech at UUK conference - Office for Students
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