Further education - in a hell of a mess!!!

------- Forwarded message ------- From: "Simon Ball" To: "enquiries@offa.org.uk" Cc: Subject: Re: The chaos that is Further Education - july 2015! Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 11:00:48 +0100 Hi Lizzie, The colleges are not even on the Office of the Independent Ajudicators list! Also the time limit appears to of been breached. Its all going very, very wrong for FE! You heard it here first! Simon On Tue, 28 Jul 2015 10:47:35 +0100, enquiries@offa.org.uk wrote: > Dear Mr Ball, > > Thank you for your email - I'm very sorry to hear of the on-going > problems you seem to have been experiencing. > > However, I am afraid these issues fall outside OFFA's remit. To explain > further, The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, > non-departmental public body that acts as regulator within the higher > education (HE) sector. Our role is to promote and safeguard fair access > to higher education for lower income and other under-represented groups > following the introduction of higher tuition fees in 2006-07. The way in > which we do this is by approving and monitoring access agreements > (https://www.offa.org.uk/access-agreements/) - documents in which > universities and colleges set out their tuition fee limits and the > access measures they intend to put in place to support these students > e.g. financial support for students and outreach work such as summer > schools. Any university or college that wants to charge higher tuition > fees for home/EU undergraduates must have an access agreement approved > by the Director of Fair Access. > > I'm afraid we can only enforce measures set out in an institution's > access agreement, and neither Barnfield College or Central Bedfordshire > College are currently required to have an agreement, as neither is > charging above minimum tuition fees. > > From your email I am unsure what action you are currently seeking, but > all can I recommend you complete the institutions' complaint procedures > that you have begun. Should you take on a course with an institution in > the future it is useful noting the Office of the Independent Adjudicator > (http://www.oiahe.org.uk/) which is an independent body set up to review > student complaints against Higher Education Institutions in England and > Wales. > > To find out more about OFFA and our work with access agreements please > visit our website: https://www.offa.org.uk/ > > I'm sorry we could offer no further assistance in this instance, and I > wish you all the best in resolving this matter, and for your future > studies. > > Best wishes, > > Lizzie Tilley > Team Administrator > > Office for Fair Access > Email: Lizzie.tilley@offa.org.uk > Tel: 0117 931 7171 > www.offa.org.uk twitter.com/OFFA_HE > Working collaboratively, OFFA promotes fair access to higher education, > in particular for low income and other under-represented groups. > >