OfS propose to set minimum thresholds for student progression and outcomes - AoC responds

Responding to the Office for Students' proposals to set minimum thresholds on student progression and outcomes that it would expect higher education courses to meet in efforts to identify 'poor quality' courses, Chief Executive of Association of Colleges, David Hughes said:

“OfS will publish a very large number of targets, indicators and traffic light warnings for each provider and they will follow up a sample in the months that follow so it is impossible to say now whether and what the impact will be on colleges beyond knowing that it will be a lot of extra work and we hope it is worth it. Colleges have a lot of experience in dealing with data-driven targets in their further education provision and already work hard to improve retention, completion and progression in cases where this is identified as a problem in the data. We welcome OfS’s plan to look at the context for the numbers before taking enforcement action and we will work with their staff on ensuring that the context within which colleges operate is fully understood.”

Details on all the consultations are available here.