Morning, Friday, 21st November 2025
Online
This conference will examine next steps for assessing and enhancing the quality of education students receive in HEIs in England, including the evolving role of the Teaching Excellence Framework as the Office for Students develops a new approach to assessing teaching quality and standards.
Teaching Excellence Framework reform & shifting to continuous assessment
With the Office for Students consulting on the future for the Teaching Excellence Framework, it will be an opportunity to examine the proposed shift towards a continuous, embedded model of quality assessment, replacing periodic submissions with rolling evaluations integrated into the broader regulatory cycle. Delegates will consider how the revised framework can best address concerns raised in the Office for Students’ Evaluation of Teaching Excellence Framework 2023 around regulatory burden, consistency in assessment, and the need for contextual sensitivity.
We also expect discussion on the Office for Students’ final Strategy 2025-2030, which is expected to set out proposals for a risk-based, proportionate quality model, an expanded scope covering postgraduate and transnational provision, and new mechanisms for early intervention in underperforming institutions.
Adapting to ongoing quality oversight & evolving performance expectations
Implications of reform for providers, regulators, and policymakers will be assessed, with an expected shift in the framework from a periodic, standalone exercise to a core component of a continuous and risk-based approach to quality assurance. Areas for discussion include what will be needed from the revised framework to best support long-term institutional improvement, deliver public accountability, and inform student choice. Questions raised by stakeholders will also be discussed, around fairness, transparency, and the capacity to recognise diverse forms of excellence.
Delegates will consider strategic options for institutions in responding to evolving expectations around educational gain, graduate success, and the transparency of performance data. They will examine options for addressing strategic and operational challenges facing providers as they engage with this next phase of quality assurance reform.
Insights from devolved & international quality models
It will be an opportunity to explore insights from devolved and international quality frameworks, including the enhancement-led approach in Scotland, which emphasises collaboration, continuous improvement, and student partnership over compliance. Discussion is also expected on the potential for further alignment of the UK’s quality assurance system with European standards and guidelines to support international recognition, facilitate transnational education.
Balancing regulation with innovation & inclusion in future Teaching Excellence Framework design
In light of sector calls for a more proportionate and developmental approach to quality - particularly for low-risk, high-performing providers - the agenda includes a focus on how regulation can better support innovation, collaboration, and improvement. Sessions will consider whether the current system strikes an adequate balance between consistency and contextualisation, how it accommodates different models of excellence, and how it supports providers with distinctive missions or non-traditional pathways. This includes examining how the Teaching Excellence Framework can evolve to recognise a broader spectrum of institutional strengths, including those with widening participation profiles or rapidly changing provision.
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates.
