Students at a private higher education college charging £9,250 a year were taught by staff reading out bullet points and showing videos, according to an investigation that found one tutor held an online class while appearing to be on public transport.
The students attending Regent College London told investigators from England’s higher education regulator that teaching staff changed frequently, including one cover tutor who “arrived almost half an hour late” to host an online class and “was clearly travelling or in a public place”.
The Office for Students (OfS) reported that, when challenged by the students, “the cover tutor seemed to leave the teaching session and the students haven’t heard anything from them since”.
In a second-year module in 2023, “the tutor limited themself to reading bullet points from PowerPoint slides and playing videos for the class to watch, without seeming to provide any explanation of the ideas and concepts addressed. The videos played occupied most of the observed teaching time.
“In one class that ran for 45 minutes, videos were played for approximately 35 minutes, with the tutor reading from the slides for most of the remaining time.”
The OfS investigation into business management courses found a catalogue of complaints from students including broken chairs, lacklustre support and inadequate teaching materials.
It concluded that the college’s courses were “often not up to date, not consistently effectively delivered, often lacked educational challenge and coherence, and often did not teach relevant skills”.
Regent College London is a private college and the trading name of RTC Education Limited, whose advisory panel is chaired by Gavin Williamson, the Conservative MP and former education secretary. The panel also lists James Wharton, the Conservative peer who was the OfS chair until July, as a special adviser.
Selva Pankaj, the chief executive and principal of Regent College London, said the college has “undertaken major reforms to address all areas of concern” since the investigation took place, including improved teaching standards.
Pankaj said: “We acknowledge the concerns raised in the report, which were based on assessments conducted during the 2022-23 academic year — a period in which Regent College, like many institutions, was navigating the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The challenges of rapidly adapting to remote learning and fluctuating public health guidelines, combined with significant growth in student numbers, inevitably affected some aspects of our operations during this time.”
Jean Arnold, the OfS deputy director of quality, said the report raised “significant concerns” across several areas.
“Before taking any regulatory decisions, the OfS will look closely at the assessment team’s findings and consider the next steps in the investigation, which may include considering whether any regulatory action is appropriate,” Arnold said.
The investigators said some staff were paid a bonus if more than 85% of their students passed, and that up to five weeks of a 15-week module were devoted to revision or test preparations. Investigators found several courses with 100% pass rates, and reported one tutor telling students that they “try to make everybody pass”.
In one BSc business module taught in 2022, the OfS found that revision, duplicated lessons and repeated material meant less than a third of the course was spent studying new content.
It also reported classes starting late and finishing early, with one tutor spending 30 minutes recording attendance for 13 students. One student who asked staff how to report a future absence was told to search online.
• This article was amended on 3 October 2024 to replace an image which showed the wrong institution.
