External regulation and monitoring

The government created the Office for Students (OfS) in January 2018 to act as a non-departmental public body of the Department of Education. The OfS formally acts as the regulator and competition authority for all Higher Education Institutions and Providers in England. The Higher Education Research Act 2017 (HERA) outlines the statutory provisions for quality and standards:

• The OfS has the power to determine conditions of registration for quality and standards. The OfS have done this recently and produced revised the ‘B conditions’.

• Section 23 of HERA 2017 states that the OfS must assess, or make arrangements for the assessment of, quality and standards for providers seeking registration or those already registered as providers with degree awarding powers (DAPs). This duty is linked directly to the conditions of registration – the purpose of the assessment is to allow the OfS to determine whether the conditions are satisfied.

• The OfS has powers to decide whether conditions have been satisfied as part of a registration decision or for a registered provider. The OfS have the powers to refuse registration or take further regulatory action where a provider is considered to have breached an ongoing condition.

• The OfS is required by HERA to hold a designated body to account for the performance of the assessment functions. The OfS’s Quality Assessment Committee (QAC) is required to provide advice about how a designated body performs the assessment functions in practice.

• In relation to Section 23, when there is a designated body, only the DQB may assess standards. However, both the OfS and the DQB can assess quality, utilising a mixed model of assessment.

• None of the OfS’s other functions can be performed by a DQB. This means that determining the scope of conditions of registration, identifying providers for investigation, deciding breaches and further regulatory action, always sits with the OfS and cannot be delegated.

• HERA also gives the OfS the power to give general directions to a DQB about the performance of any of the assessment functions. In issuing a general direction the OfS is required to have regard to the need to protect the expertise of the DQB, and the ability of the DQB to undertake an impartial assessment of quality or standards for an individual provider.

• The OfS is also required to make a triennial report to the Secretary of State on matters including how the DQB has performed the assessment functions and whether it should continue to be designated.

• The OfS’s approach to its oversight functions flows from the way the statutory framework is structured in HERA and this limits the ability of a DQB to decide, independently of the OfS, how it performs the assessment functions.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was designated to carry out assessment functions for the OfS in 2018.

In July 2022 the QAA asked the Secretary of State for Education to remove its designation to perform the assessment functions in England from the end of March 2023.

The University of Essex continues to be a member of the QAA. The QAA continues to provide complementary guidance and common practice to support higher education providers with ensuring students are provided with the best possible learning experience. The QAA is the educational oversight body only for those providers not eligible to register with the OfS.

From 1 April 2023 the OfS became responsible for all quality and standards assessments for an interim period. During this period the OfS are considering options for longer-term arrangements. The OfS will continue to discuss a range of options with sector representative groups and updates will be provided to registered providers.

Arrangements from 1 April 2023

The OfS currently undertake the following assessment activities as the interim DQB

1. Quality and standards review (QSRs) for providers seeking registration (available for providers that applied for registration before 1 May 2022).
2. Standards assessments for the purpose of assessing initial condition B8 for providers that applied for registration after 1 May 2022.
3. Assessments for DAPs.
4. External Quality Assurance (EQA) of end-point assessments for integrated higher and degree apprenticeships.
5. In addition, the OfS will continue to undertake quality assessments as part of its programme of investigations arising from concerns about compliance with ongoing conditions of registration relating to quality.

The University is registered with the OfS as a provider with degree-awarding powers (DAPs). This means the University must meet the requirements as set out in the conditions of registration.

The University's academic policies, procedures and guidance are also written with due regard to good practice as outlined in the Quality Code published by the QAA. Quality and Academic Development (QUAD) team members continue to attend QAA events to ensure our quality assurance and enhancement activity and guidance is continuously developed. The UK Quality Code for Higher Education (the Quality Code) is a key element of the guidance produced by the QAA.

The University of Essex delivers “very high quality education”, according to the UK Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and received a Silver rating overall in September 2023. The rating will last four years, subject to Essex remaining eligible to retain its rating.

The student experience and outcomes at Essex are both rated Silver by the TEF panel as they are also rated as “typically very high quality”, with the judges stating there were “numerous examples of very high quality practices related to teaching, learning and assessment”.

The panel report said the University “fosters a supportive learning environment, and its students have access to a readily available range of very high-quality academic support”.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s system for assessing the excellence of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The REF outcomes are used to inform the allocation of around £2 billion per year of public funding for universities’ research. The REF is a process of expert review, carried out by sub-panels focused on subject-based units of assessment (UoAs), under the guidance of overarching main panels and advisory panels. For the purposes of the REF, research is defined as a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared.

The REF first took place in 2014 and 2021. The next exercise is planned for 2029.

Our ranking REF 2021

Our performance in specific areas of assessment in REF 2021 shows Essex's strengths as a centre of research excellence.

Essex was ranked 1st for research impact in modern languages and linguistics, 1st for research environment in sociology and 2nd for research output in politics and international studies.

We had five subjects in the UK top 10 for research power across the social sciences, arts and humanities, and science and health – sociology, law, economics and econometrics, politics and international studies and computer science.