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Drawing on research conducted at National University of Ireland, Galway, this paper explores how senior managers at an Irish university are seeking to measure and facilitate academic performance in the context of national and global competitiveness and a higher education landscape that appears firmly inflected by neoliberal ideas of rankings, benchmarking and productivity. [The author draws] upon Michel Foucault's writings on governmentality and biopolitics, in particular, and [the author utilises] findings from a range of in-depth interviews with central university managers, with a view to critically interrogating the envisioning of what is undoubtedly a new academic subjectivity in the Irish higher education sector - a subjectivity that is being progressively planned for and regulated.

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This document constitutes the regulatory framework for higher education in England required under section 75 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (HERA). It replaces the previous regulatory framework for higher education in England which operated under part 2 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and part 3 of the Higher Education Act 2004. It was first issued by the Office for Students (OfS) on 28 February 2018.

The audience for this regulatory framework is: Students, and bodies representing the interests of students, on higher education courses provided by English higher education providers; Providers of higher education in England and bodies representing the interests of such providers; Others including, but not limited to, employers, charities and research bodies that are not themselves providers.

This regulatory framework states how the OfS intends to perform its various functions and provides guidance for registered higher education providers on the ongoing conditions of registration. The OfS will have regard to it when exercising its functions. The framework is composed of five parts: Part I: the OfS's risk-based approach; Part II: sector level regulation; Part III: regulation of individual providers; Part IV: validation, degree awarding powers and university title; Part V: guidance on the general ongoing conditions of registration.

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The dramatic massification of Latin America's higher education is leading to a social revolution with new demands on government for greater and more effective regulation. However the sector's market development, based on private as much as public institutions and funding, cannot be easily organized. Facing increasing political demands, governments and stakeholders will have to ensure - through innovative instruments and policies - greater quality [and] employability while adapting funding and curricula to massification, in order to meet the aspirations of Latin America's present and future youth.

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The American higher education sector is diverse and creative. In 2014-15, the sector produced over one million associate's degrees, nearly 1.9 million bachelor's degrees, over 758,000 master's degrees, and over 178,000 doctoral degrees. But while the sector continues to be vital to our country, over the last decade it has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism. The massive public and private investment the country is making in higher education, combined with increasing concerns about the success of the sector in promoting positive outcomes for students, have raised the issue of quality assurance to one of prominence. This has led to an intensifying debate among government officials and policymakers about the best ways to regulate the sector to increase its productivity. The purpose of this landscape paper is to organize some of the current debates about higher education quality assurance and to present a possible path forward to enable higher education leaders, policy makers, and the twenty-plus million current students to achieve their common goal of improving the success of the sector.

The authors believe that much of the current system of quality assurance in the United States, including the roles played by the federal government and regional accreditors; the process of self-evaluation, site-visits, and peer reviews; and the focus on institution-specific processes should be maintained. But, they also identify a number of ways in which the system could be improved to balance greater rigor and transparency with greater flexibility and incentives for institutional improvement and learning. Applying a management-based approach to US higher education quality assurance, the authors identify several high-level design principles to strengthen the current system.

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In September 2018, the Office for Students (OfS) published a consultation document setting out our proposed new approach to access and participation. The review focused on how we could: (a) Achieve significant reductions in the gaps in access, success and progression over the next five years; and (b) Ensure that our access and participation regulation and funding are outcome-based, risk-based, underpinned by evidence and joined up with other OfS regulatory activities. This report sets out the outcomes of our consultation relating to our approach to access and participation in higher education.

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The Office for Students (OfS) is currently undertaking a review of how it regulates access and participation and the ways in which it funds and supports related activities. To inform this review, the OfS commissioned CFE Research in June 2018 to undertake a survey of students, higher education providers and other experts. The OfS also held discussions with the OfS student panel and hosted a number of consultation events throughout September 2018. The findings from these exercises informed the development of a consultation on access and participation which was launched by the OfS on the 7th September and ran until 12th October, 2018.

This report summarises the key findings in order to inform the work of the OfS as it refines and implements its proposals. It is presented in three chapters: chapter 2 details the methodology, including a summary of the sample characteristics and the approach taken to data analysis; the consultation asked for levels of agreement with seven proposals and invited comments on each; chapter 3 details the responses to each of the proposals in turn, outlining the benefits as well as the potential risks identified by respondents; as CFE Research also conducted the access and participation review survey on behalf of the OfS, broad comparisons between the consultation and survey findings are made as appropriate; and chapter 4 summarises the perceived benefits as well as the challenges and risks associated with the proposals, identified by consultees. There is broad, overall support for all seven of the proposals put forward by the OfS in the consultation. There is a widespread perception that, together, the proposals will form the basis of an approach that will support the sector to take a more strategic, long-term view which meets the needs of current and potential students at each stage of the lifecycle.

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This report offers higher education providers an insight into the higher education and regulatory landscape of the United Arab Emirates, a key country for UK transnational education.

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The Minister for Education and Training has asked the Higher Education Standards Panel to advise on options to improve the transparency of higher education student admissions policies, while minimising regulatory impact. The Minister intends to improve the accessibility and comparability of information about the diversity of course entry pathways by ensuring greater transparency of admissions processes and standards. The Minister is concerned about the capacity of some students to complete their courses. The Minister has asked the Panel for advice on what more needs to be done.

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This business case sets out the rationale for creating a new non-departmental public body and assesses the estimated costs and benefits. Estimates are taken from the impact assessment for the Higher Education and Research Bill, which sets out detail on underlying assumptions. The white paper 'Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice' sets out plans for the creation of the Office for Students (OfS). This new public body will be a new market regulator in place of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Office for Fair Access (OFFA).

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This article examines changing ideas about the relationship between the nation-state and the university in international higher education development discourse through a quantitative content analysis of over 700 academic articles, conference proceedings and research reports published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It finds that since the 1990s, emphasis on the private sector grows, the nation-state's role shifts from one of manpower planning to strategic planning, and higher education is increasingly expected to promote standardized development goals and economic competitiveness in the global arena. However, it also finds that the role of the nation-state does not disappear - although no longer portrayed as the primary funder and provider of higher education, the nation-state is imbued with important regulatory functions.

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