The University of Greater Manchester?has been spared?further regulatory action despite an investigation that found courses delivered by a franchised partner breached conditions set by the Office for Students (OfS).

Concerns were raised by the watchdog about assessment practices on computer science courses offered by Bradford College and validated by Greater Manchester, formerly known as the University of Bolton.

An OfS assessment team found high proportions of non-technical assessments in modules with technical subject matter and ¡°learning outcomes and assessments were weighted towards writing and referencing skills¡±.

The standards and marking for technical assessment ¡°may suggest that students achieve higher grades than the technical skills demonstrated support¡±, the OfS added.

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The ¡°level of educational challenge and coherence¡± was also found to be below that expected of a higher education degree, leading to concerns about the skills students would be able to develop.

Both the college and the university were deemed to have breached condition B1 ¨C that requires students ¡°receive a high quality academic experience¡± ¨C and B4 ¨C that ¡°students are assessed effectively and that awards are credible¡±.

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As the awarding partner, Greater Manchester was rebuked because the OfS said ¡°we consider that it is reasonable to expect the awarding partner to have identified shortcomings in the educational challenge, coherence, and requirement to develop skills in the relevant courses through its approval and oversight processes, but it did not¡±.

Bradford College had already decided to stop recruiting on to its computing degrees before the investigation was concluded so the OfS said its focus was on improving the experience for existing students.

It said the college had made changes in relation to the concerns set out in the report which it was satisfied would remedy the breaches and it would take no further regulatory action.

But Greater Manchester was deemed to be ¡°at increased risk of a future breach of ongoing conditions of registration¡± in relation to its partnership activity and it will continue to be monitored.

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¡°This is because the university¡¯s systems for oversight of partners should have identified issues relating to the quality of computing courses at Bradford College,¡± the OfS said.?

¡°In practice, those systems did not prevent breaches of conditions B1 and B4. As a result, we remain concerned about the University of Greater Manchester¡¯s oversight of the quality of other courses it provides through partnership arrangements.¡±

A spokesperson for the university said it noted the findings of the report and was?¡°aware the college undertook an internal review of this area prior to the assessment and executed plans?to target these concerns.?As such, the BSc (Hons) Computing programme has been discontinued¡±.

¡°We understand that the college has been working with local employers to develop a range of relevant alternative higher technical qualifications that will boost in-demand regional skills and ensure we retain computing progression routes.?

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¡°Our career-focused courses give students a head start across a wide range of aspirational careers, as we continue our mission of working together to transform the lives of some of the?city¡¯s?most hard-to-reach students.¡±

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com