LONDON, Feb. 4 -- The government of the United Kingdom issued the following news:
Ofqual has fined theawarding organisationUniversity of West London (UWL) £150,000 for seriousrulebreaches which affected thousands of students takingitsgradedmusic qualifications.
FromJanuary2020 toNovember2022,UWL failed toexercise proper control over one of its third-party centres.As a result, the centredesigned, deliveredandawardedmusic theoryqualifications to224studentswhichhad not been throughUWL'susualapproval process- and issued certificates to students.
AnOfqual investigationalsofound that4,300students takingthe Ofqual-regulatedTheory of Musicqualificationsdid not receive their certificates promptly after completing assessments.
In addition, itfound thatUWL had noappealsprocessforstudentsfornearly 3 years.
While 224 students were directly affected by the third-party centre's decision to use its own unauthorised test papers, UWL, as the awarding organisation responsible, had no assurance at the timethat the assessmentsthe centre used were fit for purpose.
Approximately 40,000 students received certificates via the centre for nearly 3 years when it was not adequately supervised, posing a risk to students and to public confidence in exams.
No evidence was found by an independent auditor, commissioned by UWL under instruction from Ofqual, to suggest that any other assessment had been delivered without going through UWL's approval process.
Thethird-party centre*was initially contracted to provide online assessments duringtheCOVID-19 lockdownfortheLondon College of Music Examinations (LCME), a trading name of UWL.
When Ofqual imposed special conditions requiring UWL to commission an independent audit, UWLinitiallyfailed toproperlycomply with the requirements. Ofqual found this breach was due to negligence.
Amanda Swann,Ofqual'sExecutive Director of Delivery,said:
This fine reflects the serious nature of UWL's failures as well as our commitment to protecting students' interests and maintaining public confidence in our qualifications system.
Students must be able to trust that awarding organisations are properly overseeing how their qualifications are delivered.These failures by UWLalsohad a real impact on thousands of students who were left waiting for certificates they had earned andwould have beenunableto appeal their results.
This action is necessary to deter UWL and other awarding organisations from similar failings in future."
Ofqual's enforcement panel also took into accountthe extent to whichUWL admittedthe breaches anditspreviously good regulatory history.
Ofqual has today published the Final Notice documentwhich has more details about the case.
Background information
*Ofqual considers it would be inappropriate for Ofqual to name the third-party centre.The centrewas not regulated by Ofqual.Ofqual's Supporting compliance and taking regulatory action guidance sets out how it will use its powers to take regulatory action.
Previous cases and fines can be viewed in Regulatory actions and interventions by Ofqual - GOV.UK.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
