The HEFCE has introduced a number of changes to the Financial Memorandum with institutions, including reserving the right to reject the nomination of an 'accountable officer'; adding to the list of responsibilities of governors; introducing an engagement letter for chairs of governing bodies; adding a requirement for governing bodies to be able to assure themselves about the institution's academic standards and tightening the responsibility for data quality.
There has been a debate in the press about the alleged “dumbing down” of standards in higher education, which has also been taken up by a parliamentary select committee. This impacts on the effectiveness and style of the “academic” regulatory bodies, in particular the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).
There is increasing use of accountability reviews to assess the impact of various processes on the higher education sector. An example is the study assessing the accountability burden of the 2008 RAE.
The role of professional bodies in the regulation of higher education and the differing approaches that they take to their relationships with higher education institutions is likely to continue to generate debate in the future. The HEBRG has begun a review of higher education's relationship with PSRBs.
The 2011 White Paper Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System includes a chapter on regulation, which introduces a new regulatory role for HEFCE, to promote the interests of students; new controls based on access to student support; and an intention to streamline the reporting requirements of TRAC. The planned new role for the HEFCE is reviewed in an article in the THE. The use of a risk-based approach to regulation is reviewed in an article by Roger King (published by HEPI), The Risks of Risk-based Regulation: The Regulatory Challenges of the Higher Education White Paper for England.
HEFCE has published its response to the technical consultation on the new regulatory framework
The Interim Regulatory Partnership Group (IRPG) has been set up by the HEFCE and the Student Loans Company to advise on the transition to the new regulatory and funding systems.
The Information Landscape project has been launched by the Government to look at reducing the costs of data collection
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