HEFCE concerned new role could lead to ‘tensions’

The Higher Education Funding Council for England has said it anticipates “tensions” between different objectives, duties and powers in its role of lead regulator in the new framework for higher education. In a response to a government consultation on its future role, the council suggests that legislation should give it a duty to balance its commitments to promote competition between universities and to levy fines if institutions flout the conditions needed to make them eligible for student loans and grants.