The English regulator has fined a university over its handling of franchised partnerships for the first time, criticising the institution’s oversight and its decision to lower the language requirements for students.

Leeds Trinity University will have to pay the Office for Students £115,000 as part of the terms of a settlement agreed following an investigation into the way it worked with external partners.

Student numbers taught via franchising arrangements at Leeds Trinity ballooned from 3,600 in 2020-21 to 9,400 in 2022-23 and the OfS said the university “did not have effective arrangements in place to consider, and appropriately respond to, risks associated” with this.

Looking at the period October 2022 to February 2024, the OfS highlighted that it felt the resources the university made available to monitor how partner providers were conducting assessment were “insufficient”.

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Staff that were in place were described as being “overwhelmed” and “struggled to keep on top of the issues arising”.

This meant that key risks such as potential student academic misconduct were not escalated to the university’s governing body.

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Investigators said that the impact of a decision to temporarily lower English language requirements for students who were applying to study with some of the university’s partners was also not properly considered and there were no arrangements in place that enabled these students to succeed.

The fine – which the regulator said had been reduced from more than £1 million owing to the university’s acceptance of the breaches – is further evidence of a regulatory crackdown on poor franchised provision, after concerns about some of the arrangements have been consistently raised by politicians and in the media.

Leeds Trinity will also be subject to a series of other measures including restrictions on its future partnership activity.

The OfS said the university was also aware of an “increased risk of a future breach of OfS regulatory requirements relating to quality for students on subcontracted courses”. 

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Philippa Pickford, director of regulation at the OfS, said the “inadequate oversight” at Leeds Trinity “increased the likelihood that the university would not be able to effectively manage any risks relating to quality, academic misconduct and student support”.

This risk for students and taxpayers had been increased, she said, by the rapid expansion of courses.

“Today’s settlement reflects the seriousness of these issues. It also reflects the university’s commitment to making improvements,” Pickford added.

“The university has fully cooperated with our investigation, has agreed that it breached our regulatory requirements and has already taken steps which will ensure better protection for students in the future.”

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The vice-chancellor of Leeds Trinity, Charles Egbu, said that the institution had been “unwavering in our long-held commitment to widening participation and increasing access to higher education”.

“We fully accept the conclusions of this investigation, and we recognise that the rapid growth in our subcontractual partnerships created pressures that our systems and oversight processes were not fully equipped to manage at the time.

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“We welcome the OfS’ acknowledgement of the proactive steps we have taken and the significant progress that Leeds Trinity has made to strengthen the oversight of our subcontractual arrangements. This was a key factor in their decision to lower the financial penalty, and the improvements we have made should give partners and students confidence about the high quality of our courses.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com