Interventions aimed at stamping out poor-quality franchised provision in the English sector should focus on providers that have grown rapidly in recent years, according to a new report that highlights how “catch-all” policies risk penalising arrangements that are working well.
Data analysed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education show the growth in franchising has far outstripped that of the traditional sector – with students taught via third parties increasing by 343 per cent between 2019 and 2024, a period in which directly taught student numbers grew by only 2 per cent.
This has been mirrored by declining outcomes for franchised students, with overall figures for this type of provision lagging below Office for Students (OfS) thresholds for continuation and progression, and only just meeting completion baselines.
Many have grown increasingly suspicious of franchised provision as a result, with accusations of widespread student loan fraud adding to the pressure on politicians to intervene.
But the QAA paper published on 28 May argues that the debate so far has been too “binary” when the “reality is much more complex” and “different franchises are delivering different outcomes for different groups of students”.
