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Internationally renowned experts relinquish quality role just as English regulator steps up interventions
England’s higher education regulator has been warned that the departure of its designated quality body (DQB) means it faces losing expertise and credibility just as it attempts to take a more interventionist approach.
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education’s (QAA) decision to relinquish its long-standing rolein the English system has raised “fundamental questions” about whether the Office for Students (OfS) can continue with its new strategy for regulation, according to Paul Ashwin, professor of higher education at Lancaster University.
He said the move by the QAA – taken because aspects of the OfS’ approach did not comply with European standards – has “very worrying consequences” for the regulator as it “represents a further and significant loss of expertise in its role”.
The OfS has announced it is switching...