England¡¯s higher education regulator will fine Writtle University College ?250,000 after a significant shortfall on student outreach spending was brought to light by the institution.

The Office for Students,?, said that it was informed by the Essex institution ¡°in May 2018 about its failures to comply with the provisions of its access agreements for 2012-13 to 2017-18¡±.

Chris Millward, the director for fair access and participation, then ¡°instructed the university college to commission an independent assurance review in order to investigate the shortfalls between commitment and actual spend, and to submit a report to the Office for Students¡±.

He ¡°concluded that there had been no deficit in spending on financial support for students, but there had been a total deficit in spending on outreach over the six-year period of ?776,120¡±, the OfS said.

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Writtle, which provides land-based, animal, environmental, design and sport education courses, is the second institution to be fined by the OfS. The regulator said in November that it had?withheld ?66,000 from the University of Hertfordshire¡¯s grant funding?for this year because it had ¡°persistently¡± overcharged students taking a franchised course at a partner college.

The OfS will withhold ?250,000 from Writtle¡¯s grant over three years from 2019-20.

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The penalty takes into account ¡°the active approach taken by the university college¡¯s new leadership in highlighting the breach to the Office for Students¡±, the regulator said.

Writtle said that it had since ¡°developed a comprehensive action plan to improve internal controls and ensure that this issue cannot be repeated¡±.

Tim Middleton, Writtle¡¯s vice-chancellor, said: ¡°As soon as I became aware of the issue and its significance, I contacted the Office for Students and met with them to explain the situation.

¡°I felt it was important for complete transparency and have since worked jointly with my new team and external advisors to rectify our position. I am confident that our new approach will meet all the requirements of the regulator.¡±

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john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com