A year in the OfS

In the last Playbook of the year, we look at the Office for Students’ annual review

When Playbook attended a briefing on the Teaching Excellence Framework by the Office for Students back in June, only one other journalist was present, also from the specialist press. Yesterday, the OfS delivered a briefing, ahead of the publication today of its annual review, to a packed room—and it is easy to guess why.

While the TEF results are seemingly of borderline relevance to the daily papers (probably fair enough), the OfS review mentions many of the sticks with which our predominantly right-leaning national media likes (sometimes rightly) to beat universities: unconditional offers, grade inflation, widening participation targets, perceived low-quality courses and value for money.