What powers does OFFA have?
Universities and colleges must have an access agreement approved by the Director of Fair Access to be able to charge higher tuition fees. There are two sanctions open to us if a university or college seriously and wilfully breaches its access agreement. We can: • direct HEFCE or the TDA (Training and Development Agency for Schools) to deduct a fine from the university or college’s grant or suspend part of its grant until it has put matters right • refuse to renew the university’s or college’s access agreement, thereby preventing it from charging full-time undergraduate students tuition fees above the basic level for a period after its access agreement has expired. Further detail on sanctions can be found in Annex E of ‘How to produce an access agreement for 2012-13′.
