London Higher has responded to the Office for Students’ decisions on the future approach to quality regulation, welcoming a number of important changes secured through the consultation process whilst highlighting significant remaining concerns.
London Higher, which represents over 70 higher education providers across the capital, responded to the OfS consultation in autumn 2025. Its members range from large multi-faculty universities and research-intensive institutions to specialist conservatoires, creative arts colleges, postgraduate-only providers and teaching-focused institutions. Together they serve over half a million students from London, the UK and around the world.
London Higher secured a number of important concessions for its members. The OfS has dropped its proposal for overall provider ratings, a position London Higher argued for strongly. The regulator has also agreed that providers can submit evidence of improvement actions where these have had a measurable impact.
It has also made modest but welcome changes to the contextualisation providers can offer alongside outcomes data, allowing institutions to highlight factors specific to their mission and student cohort that benchmarking alone cannot fully capture. This is particularly significant for London’s diverse sector, from specialist and creative providers to institutions serving high proportions of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
On postgraduate provision, the OfS has confirmed it will be included from the second cycle of assessments. Whilst London Higher had pushed for a longer lead-in time, the OfS has acknowledged that a new survey must be developed and further consultation undertaken before inclusion. London Higher’s response was cited in the independent analysis of consultation responses and the weakness in current postgraduate data has been formally recognised.
But significant concerns remain. London Higher is calling on the OfS to reconsider its redefinition of Bronze as meeting minimum requirements rather than reflecting high quality, warning this risks damaging the reputation of providers that are delivering to the required standard. The organisation is also engaging actively in the forthcoming Strategic Priorities Grant review, where the link between TEF ratings and access to key funding streams, such as World Leading Specialist Funding, will be decided.
Commenting, Liz Hutchinson, Chief Executive of London Higher, said:
“London is the higher education capital of the world, educating talent, driving innovation and supporting growth across the UK. That strength comes from the extraordinary range and diversity of providers that make up our sector.
We are pleased to see a number of the concerns raised by London Higher and its members reflected in the OfS’s latest decisions. Today’s announcement demonstrates the value of constructive, evidence-based engagement between the sector and its regulator.
But important questions remain. We will continue to advocate on issues that matter most to London’s providers, including the treatment of postgraduate provision and the funding for world-leading specialist institutions.
If London is to continue delivering the skills, research and opportunity that underpin national growth, the regulatory framework must work for every part of our distinctive and world-leading higher education sector.”
Image credit: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
