Thursday 11-12-2025 - 10:14

On Wednesday 10th December, the Students' Union responded to the Office for Students' consultation on the future approach to quality regulation.

 

 

The Office for Students (OfS) is the primary regulator of universities in England. One of the main tools it uses to assure the quality of teaching and learning is the Teaching Excellence Framework. Up to now, the score the University achieved (Gold in 2023) has predominantly served as a advertising tool and aid for undergraduate applicants. 

 
 “The OFS's proposal for TEF lacks overall clarity. We have some concerns about the value of TEF and the link to rises in tuition fees. We are also concerned by the proposed reduction the student submission part, which we believe should be high priority when assessing quality and standards.” - Liz Gillett, Education Officer 
 

You can read our full consultation response here.

  
Despite broad misgivings about the validity of the Teaching Excellence Framework, and the OfS’ intentions to link outcomes to tuition fee increases. Our response focused on:

a) lack of clarity and transparency in the proposals, and 

b) an attempt to water-down the student submission part of TEF assessments.

 
In 2023, every Students’ Union (LUSU included) was invited to submit a 10-page statement to the OfS, independent from the University. These are a critical opportunity to communicate directly with the regulator. They give Students’ Unions the opportunity, independent of the institution, to provide healthy criticism and praise. 
You can read more about Lancaster’s TEF 2023 outcome (including LUSU’s student submission here). 
 
In creating our response, we would like to thank Simon Allan for his openness and support. We would also like to thank Prof. Paul Ashwin for his continued writing on the TEF and quality assessment in UK HE.