Sir Martin Harris, Director of Fair Access, has welcomed the Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP’s appointment to the new role of Advocate for Access to Education.
Commenting on the appointment, Sir Martin said: “I am delighted at Simon Hughes’ appointment to this new role and am confident he will be a vigorous advocate for the needs of prospective students.
“The terms of reference for the role place particular emphasis on the need to communicate the new student finance arrangements clearly and effectively – something OFFA has strongly urged. If we are to make sure that disadvantaged students are not deterred from going to university on financial grounds, we must make sure they understand key messages such as the fact that they don’t have to pay upfront for their tuition.
“I look forward to working with Simon over the coming months to ensure that such messages get through loud and clear to prospective students.”
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Notes to editors
- The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, non-departmental public body established under the Higher Education Act 2004 to help promote and safeguard fair access to higher education. Our main remit is to regulate the charging of higher tuition fees by English universities and colleges offering full-time undergraduate higher education courses. As a condition of charging higher fees, institutions must have an ‘access agreement’ approved by OFFA setting out their bursary provision for students from low-income backgrounds and any additional outreach work. It is therefore reasonable to describe us as the ‘fair access regulator’ or the ‘fees and bursaries regulator’.
- For more about OFFA, please see our website www.offa.org.uk, particularly the Quick Facts and FAQ in the Press section.
- For further information, contact Zita Adamson, Communications Manager at OFFA, on 0117 931 7272 or 0117 931 7171.