Frustration as degree-awarding powers applications paused again

Suspending applications for degree-awarding powers (DAPs) for a second time in two years will be a “drag on innovation and efficiency” at a time of widespread financial pressure, critics say.

The Office for Students (OfS) has announced it is putting DAPs applications on hold until the spring as the regulator looks to reform how universities and colleges secure them.

It follows a previous pause at the start of last year that was roundly criticised for delaying new providers’ ability to award their own qualifications.

The OfS is running a two-stage consultation process on how to reform the process for securing the powers, with the first stage looking at the terms of application, eligibility and suitability requirements.

Until this stage is complete, no new DAPs will be considered. Applications for indefinite powers will be paused for even longer.

“We expect to implement the changes from this first consultation, and to reopen to applications, in spring 2027,” an OfS update said.

“The second stage will be a consultation on wider reform to the DAPs application and assessment process. We will not be starting new assessments for indefinite DAPs until we implement the changes from this second consultation, which we expect to be in place in spring 2028.”

More modern institutions and vocational providers are likely to be particularly impacted by the suspension, as they look to make further inroads into higher education.

Norland University of Early Childhood, a Bath-based provider training specialist nannies, acquired DAPs in 2019, which were made indefinite in 2025.

Just last year, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) won the legal authority to design, approve and confer its own degrees, independently of external validation.

More recently, the Academy of Live Technology, another creative industries-focused institution, secured DAPs in July this year, becoming the only higher education provider in the West Yorkshire district of Wakefield to hold them.

The OfS has said it is pursuing reform following feedback from providers suggesting it could make the requirements for DAPs “clearer” and to “strengthen the assurance of quality and standards” within the system.

It also plans to consider the types of awarding power on offer, including the potential for new powers to award higher technical qualifications (HTQs).

But Brooke Storer-Church, chief executive of GuildHE, voiced frustration over the move.

“While we welcome efforts to improve our regulatory system, we are disappointed to see OfS pause its statutory duties again,” she said.

“Pauses like these jeopardise institutional strategic planning and budget exercises at a time of enormous financial strain for so many institutions, which then weakens students’ access to opportunity.

“We will work constructively with OfS colleagues to minimise the duration of this pause, doing everything we can to secure the future of our distinctive institutions and the futures of young people across the country.”

Alex Proudfoot, chief executive of Independent Higher Education, said he has spoken with some of the organisation’s more than 90 members in the process of applying for DAPs, of which he said there were about 40, and that it seemed “providers who are already in the middle of applications are moving forward without any significant delay”.

The previous pause enacted by the OfS in December 2024 was, in contrast, “disastrous” for the sector, Proudfoot said. “Where we are now is a different place.”

But IHE remained concerned “on principle”, Proudfoot said. “We know members of ours who were planning on applying in the next six months [and now] will face a period where they can’t apply.”

Proudfoot said there were undoubtedly improvements to be made to the application process, citing the transition period between securing new DAPs and indefinite powers, but that this suspension was nevertheless a “drag on innovation and efficiency”.

He also welcomed discussions on awarding HTQs, which he said “could be really powerful”, but accused the OfS of moving too slowly on the issue.

Overall, the IHE leader believed the suspension may have more to do with OfS staffing than the necessary conditions of a consultation process – a claim Times Higher Education has put to the regulator.

“We suspect there are serious capacity concerns underpinning this decision,” Proudfoot said.

“The problem comes when they manage internal capacity conditions by essentially pushing the burden and the pain on to providers.”

The OfS was contacted for comment.

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com