Colleges in limbo amid ‘two-year wait’ for degree-awarding powers

Higher education providers applying for degree-awarding powers are reporting processing times in excess of two years, exacerbating fears that the English regulator does not have the capacity to take on the increasing level of responsibility it is being tasked with. 

The Office for Students (OfS) paused applications to join its register or apply for degree-awarding powers (DAPs) in December 2024 so it could focus on dealing with the financial crisis gripping the higher education sector. 

Although the service reopened in August 2025, providers have complained they are facing lengthy wait times and unclear communications. 

Rachel Nicholson, head of the Academy of Live Technology (ALT), said the provider has been in the process of applying for new degree-awarding powers (NDAPs) for over two years and has faced continuous delays. 

Having first applied in November 2023, Nicholson said it took nine months for the OfS to begin reviewing ALT’s application. 

In October 2024, the regulator confirmed the institution could proceed with its application and West Yorkshire-based ALT made an initial payment.

While the register shut down two months later, ALT’s application was not paused as it was already part way through the process. However, Nicholson said the institution continued to experience long wait times, with their assessment visit and subsequent report both delayed. 

Ahead of the 2025 academic year, ALT had changed its term dates in anticipation of being approved in line with a timeline provided by the regulator. However, when September came, the institution still hadn’t received its report on the assessment visit from the regulator – pushing the entire process back. 

ALT has been told its final documents will now be reviewed at the end of March 2026.

The OfS says the NDAPs assessment process should take approximately 20 to 26 weeks, but varies from case to case. 

Providers said the delays are making the financial sustainability of the sector worse, despite the register being shut specifically to focus on this. 

Gordon Sweeney, chief executive of the Academy of Contemporary Music, said his institution had an initial meeting with the regulator about applying for new degree-awarding powers in October 2024, shortly before the hiatus began. 

Despite being under the impression the institution’s application would be prioritised when the register reopened, Sweeney said he was still waiting for an initial kick-off meeting, which he expected to be held this month. 

“We've got validating costs for a whole extra year that we wouldn’t otherwise have to pay,” he said. “Effectively…reprioritisation is adding to the financial sustainability crisis in higher education.” 

The head of another institution that successfully applied for new degree-awarding powers and is nearing the end of its three-year probationary period said the regulator had asked to postpone the final assessment needed to transition to full degree-awarding powers. 

“The impact for the institution is profound and significant,” the chief executive said, speaking anonymously. 

They said their financial plan had been developed around the timetable given by the OfS and investments had been made in the institution on that basis. “To have it rather arbitrarily changed in a unilateral way…is very troubling.”

An OfS spokesperson said the regulator was in direct contact with institutions whose applications had been affected by the pause in registrations. They said the OfS was prioritising paused applications and aiming to issue decisions on these “as swiftly as possible”, but added: “It’s right that our assessments are robust and ensure students will get credible qualifications.”

Providers currently offering franchised or validated provision instead of awarding their own degrees are also facing increased scrutiny as the government attempts to crack down on franchise fraud.

Some providers say they are fearful of being tarred by the same brush but are also helpless to switch to awarding their own degrees as delays at the OfS continue. 

“We don’t want to be labelled as one of the bad actors,” said Nicholson. “We want to be regulated and we are absolutely trying to do everything that we’re being asked to do, but the inefficiency of the process is incredibly frustrating and the delays are having a negative impact on the students’ experience.”

Alex Proudfoot, chief executive of Independent Higher Education, said some providers who had enquired about joining the register or applying for degree-awarding powers after it reopened in August have been told they will have to wait “the best part of a year” before the OfS begins to look at their applications. “It’s far too slow,” he said. 

“They’ve reopened but there hasn’t been any significant improvement…in their efficiency and speed with which they can process applications. I think that is really problematic.”

The OfS is set to have more on its plate as it takes increasing responsibility for further education colleges and more franchise providers.

The changes have left some providers fearing further delays in the areas the regulator was originally set up to manage. 

“There’s not enough money and resource being directed into that kind of core regulatory function,” said Proudfoot.