OfS sets out guidelines for university names

The Office for Students has released guidance on how institutions can apply for a university or university college title.

The OfS was given powers to grant the use of “university” in a higher education provider’s name through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. In guidance published on 11 April, the regulator warned that an institution that did not meet all conditions of registration or had problems with finance or governance would unlikely be allowed to call itself a university or university college.

“Where a provider is subject to enhanced monitoring, or has one or more specific ongoing conditions of registration, and the OfS considers these to be relevant, for example because they have been imposed to mitigate increased risk of a breach of an ongoing condition relating to quality, standards, financial viability and sustainability, and management or governance, an application for university college or university title may be less likely to succeed,” the OfS said in the guidance.