Office for Students
The Office for Students is the independent regulator of higher education in England.
The Office for Students (OfS) requires the College to make the following information available:
- Student Protection Plan (PDF)
- Refund and Compensation Policy (PDF)
- Access and Participation Statement (PDF)
Internal audit:
Internal auditing is defined by our Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors as “an independent assurance that an organisation’s risk management, governance and internal control processes are operating effectively”.
You can find out more about internal audits on the IIA website.
Newbold is responsible for providing the College’s Board of Governors and our larger constituency with reasonable assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance arrangements.
The terms of reference for the Audit Committee can be found at Audit and Risk Committee Terms of Reference (PDF).
Risk management:
The system of internal control is based on an ongoing process designed to identify the principal risks to the achievement of policies, aims and objectives, to evaluate the nature and extent of those risks, and to manage them efficiently, effectively and economically. As a small institution, Newbold is adopting a leaner process for managing risk. The primary responsibility for risk management processes rests with the Audit and Risk Committee.
Newbold engaged a private firm of professional risk management facilitators and advisers. This service included providing risk training and seminars and a template for our internal Risk Register.
Value for money:
Newbold is committed to delivering value for money for students, for or Board of Governors and our wider constituency. Newbold is continually working hard to improve all aspects of its institutions by ensuring that a focus on efficiency and value for money is at the heart of development strategies at all levels of the College operation.
Value for Money (VFM) is an expression often used to define a careful management of available resources and the best level of service for less, achieving the desired outcomes and maximising the benefit of those outcomes.
A more tangible aspect of VFM for students – more implicit in the context of the delivery of education – is the time that teaching staff dedicate to students, through contact time, quality feedback on assignments, the quality of the qualifications of teaching staff, and the budget allocated for professional development for our support staff.
The Board of Governors and Newbold staff (including those not responsible for finance) are motivated to set targets, monitor performance, and record outcomes as key in measuring the desired outcomes for VFM.
Newbold also seeks income generation through different income streams for a better financial sustainability and effective use of their assets.
Freedom of speech and expression:
Freedom of speech is fundamental to higher education. The College, therefore, requires all its employees and students to tolerate and protect the expression of opinions with the law, whether or not these opinions are in conflict with their own.
Through its commitment to academic freedom, the College is committed to ensuring that academic staff, students and other members of the College have freedom within the law to question and test received wisdom, and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions, without placing themselves in jeopardy of losing their jobs or privileges.