Alma Economics was commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS) to analyse the responses to two consultations. The consultations, which were open from January to March 2022, set out a proposed new approach to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and to regulating student outcomes. They sought views from anyone interested in the regulation of the higher education sector and received around 500 responses in total.

Our team carried out quantitative and qualitative analysis of the responses. We produced summary statistics to understand the degree of agreement with the consultation proposals and conducted a thematic analysis of open-text responses. Firstly, we developed a preliminary set of themes based on the consultation document and our understanding of OfS regulations. Then, additional themes were added during the review of the open-text responses. This method allowed a consistent approach to reading while allowing the flexibility to capture additional insights from each response.

We developed a codebook recording all qualitative themes identified by our team to summarise the views of respondents. Our reports summarise the key themes raised by the respondents, aiming to inform the OfS approach to regulating higher education in England.

➥ The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF): Analysis of consultations responses

➥ A new approach to regulating student outcomes: Analysis of consultation responses