University leaders in England call for rethink over rising ‘regulatory burden’

The Royal College of Music pays £62 in registration fees to the OfS for each student, compared with larger institutions, such as University College London, that pay less than £5 a student. Photograph: Alan Roberts/Alamy

University leaders have urged England’s higher education regulator to rethink its priorities, saying that smaller institutions will be financially harmed by increasing costs of its bureaucracy.

The Office for Students (OfS) already charges smaller institutions such as the Royal College of Music up to 20 times more for each student in registration fees than it charges larger universities, with vice-chancellors fearing that the costs of meeting the regulator’s demands will continue to balloon.