Office for Students discovered reports of ‘widespread of academic misconduct’ and concerns with hiring agencies.
Higher education regulators in England have cautioned against “serious risks to public money” in college franchise arrangements, with accusations that recruiters use language tests to enrol students in courses without the required level of English.
A study by the Office for Students (OfS) raised multiple issues concerning the growing interest in franchise partnerships in higher education, where colleges hire an organization to teach part or all of a course on their behalf.
The OfS stated that entry requirements were dropped at some universities to meet targets, and the university staff managing partnerships were “incentivized” to prioritize student recruitment over course quality.
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There are also issues about providers taking public funds for students studying the courses and covering their tuition fees. In some instances, the OfS stated it had “seen or received accusations of students being encouraged to take classes they have no intentions of studying to access maintenance loans.
The briefing study also points to multiple instances of concerning behaviour by recruitment agents. The OfS stated, “Students have paid agents or other third parties to falsify English language tests to allow them to enter courses without attaining the required standard of English.” Some students had to pay “excessive” charges to the recruitment agents as part of the recruitment process.
The OfS report released on Tuesday also contained reports of “widespread academic misconduct”, including accusations of delivery partners assisting students to cheat by accessing essay mills and contract cheating services.
Franchised provision is a vast growth zone in higher education, with student numbers multiplying in the previous three years to 138,000 and now accounting for more than 5% of the sector’s students.
It also provides another way for less privileged and underrepresented students to access higher education and a cheaper option for cash-strapped universities. However, the OfS stated it desires more robust governance and has promised to intervene if the interests of students or taxpayers are put in danger.
The OfS stated, “Without appropriate oversight of these arrangements, the arm’s-length nature of delivery presents significant risks to students, taxpayers and the higher education sector.”
The OfS started a query into franchised provision at Leeds Trinity University in February after discovering possible concerns. At that time, it stated, “The decision to open an investigation does not mean that any form of non-compliance or wrongdoing has taken place.”
David Smy, the OfS deputy director for enabling regulation, stated, “In these financially challenging times for higher education providers, it’s more important than ever that they recognize that business models that rely heavily on subcontractual partnerships carry additional risks, and these risks must be effectively managed.
“There are also serious risks to public money where these arrangements are not managed properly. Lead universities should seriously consider whether they should offer courses in this way if they cannot manage partners and public money effectively while ensuring that courses are delivering positive outcomes for students.”
A spokesperson for Universities UK, representing 142 institutions, stated, “Universities are committed to offering high-quality higher education. Franchised provision is one-way universities do this. Franchised provision plays an important role in supporting growth and opportunity.
“However, we are not complacent about the concerns raised recently and we have in place our own franchise governance framework which promotes greater controls in the management of franchised provision.”
The National Audit Office has previously stated that loan fraud among franchise students amounted to half of the student fraud disclosed in 2023.
