The challenging financial picture facing the higher education sector is well known. Almost every university and college in England is thinking about how to cut costs and generate sustainable income. Some are making significant changes to ensure they will thrive into the future. This means difficult decisions and risks to manage, with a backdrop of ongoing uncertainty as the sector¡¯s leaders plan for the future.

It¡¯s the job of the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure students¡¯ interests are understood and protected during these difficult times, and our ¨C published today ¨C explains the work we will do to achieve this.??

Our three priority areas of focus are quality, the wider student interest, and sector resilience. These priorities were signalled in the draft strategy we published earlier this year so will not come as a surprise.?

These priorities take forward many of the recommendations from the independent review of our work, published and endorsed by ministers last year. To appropriately fund this agenda for change, the Department for Education has increased the OfS¡¯ operating budget. That includes an increase of 3.9 per cent in OfS registration fees payable by institutions.

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That decision was rightly one for ministers. But we are acutely aware that when times are tough, any increase in costs for universities and colleges is difficult to swallow. And that means it¡¯s particularly important this year to explain how we plan to invest that extra funding to deliver benefit for students, universities and colleges, and taxpayers.??

The plan we have set out today will make a real, lasting and positive difference to students and to the overall health of the sector. We¡¯ll transform our approach to quality, continuing to discuss proposals for change with students and institutions. By taking action to protect students¡¯ consumer rights and the public purse, our regulation will help protect the hard-earned reputation of the sector. And we¡¯ll retain a strong focus on financial sustainability, with early, meaningful and collaborative discussions with individual institutions about their finances well ahead of any potential crisis.?

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We are already preparing to reopen and improve how we work on applications for registration, degree-awarding powers and university title. And we¡¯ll be ready to manage increasing numbers of applications to join the OfS register as a result of expected changes to government higher education policy.

Effective regulation ensures students continue to thrive in higher education and have the best possible platform for their future. As we focus on the interests of students, we also need to remain vigilant about the burden experienced by institutions as a result of our regulation ¨C where this does not impede delivery of good regulatory outcomes for students.??

The called for an ongoing, constructive dialogue between the OfS and the sector on regulatory burden. Embedding this dialogue will be a priority in 2025-26 ¨C we¡¯re starting with how we approach data collection.??

We have already changed our approach to data for transnational education and partnerships, to minimise burden as we move to in-year collection of the main student data return. This year we¡¯ll go further ¨C reducing the complexity of our student data collection even more, making some data fields optional.

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We will also promote meaningful data sharing and data collaboration between regulatory bodies to avoid unnecessary duplication. And we¡¯ll expand use of our new data collection portal, which makes important submissions such as the annual financial return easier and more streamlined for us and for institutions.

Taken together, we intend these steps to result in meaningful reductions in data burden, and we want to continue building on that in the coming years. We also want to talk about how burden is experienced for individual universities and colleges to ensure we¡¯re getting it right. Look out for workshops with Jisc and data professionals over the summer. And we are identifying ways to minimise burden for further education colleges ¨C they work with multiple regulators and we think we can remove duplication for them.??

Like all public bodies, the OfS must continue to demonstrate that it¡¯s efficient and effective. We will continue to improve how we work, seeking out efficiencies and delivering even more effectively. OfS colleagues are enjoying grappling with the possibilities of AI and automation. And a structured efficiency programme will deliver savings through and beyond the spending review period. We will report transparently on progress through our performance indicators as we deploy our resources effectively to make a real and positive difference to students.

The business plan we have published today will ensure we remain focused on our priorities: ensuring students have a high-quality education and an excellent wider experience delivered by an increasingly resilient sector.??

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All of us at the OfS look forward to working with students, institutions and everybody who cares about the importance of universities and colleges for the country¡¯s success to achieve these goals.

Susan Lapworth is chief executive of the Office for Students.

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