Office for Students faces judicial review over public funding for bible colleges

A university regulator in England has failed to investigate potential breaches of laws protecting academic freedom at a dozen theological colleges and is now facing legal action, the Guardian has learned.The National Secular Society says it is preparing to pursue the Office for Students (OfS) through the courts to act on complaints first made five years ago, arguing that the colleges are ineligible for public funding or government-backed student loans because of their commitment to theological doctrine.The society said the 12 bible or theological colleges received more than £80m through the government-backed Student Loans Company and £1m in funding from the OfS since 2018.The OfS said it was unable to comment due to the pending legal action, but Stephen Evans, the NSS’s chief executive, said his organisation had become frustrated at the OfS’s refusal to respond or act, despite multiple contacts and meetings with the regulator since 2021.Evans said: “It’s a case of the regulator not doing its job properly. These colleges don’t appear consistent with the OfS requirements on academic freedom and freedom of expression, so they shouldn’t have been registered in the first place.“The lack of transparency is striking. If institutions are built around enforcing a confessional worldview rather than academic freedom, then they shouldn’t be registered by the OfS or receiving public funds.“Since we’ve raised this with the OfS, as far as we can tell, nothing appears to have been done about it.”Higher education providers in England must register with the OfS to access student loans, and are required to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom.The NSS has told the OfS that it will seek a judicial review to reveal what action it has taken against the colleges, including one whose “college law” included a provision: “To promote the fear of the Almighty God through education and information dissemination.” Another college’s code of conduct for students lists “sexual intercourse outside of marriage” as grounds for disciplinary action.The legal action comes as the OfS is waiting on a crucial high court judgment on its investigation into the University of Sussex, after the OfS fined Sussex a record £585,000 for alleged breaches of regulations.The NSS’s action is supported by Prof Chris Higgins, a former vice-chancellor of Durham University, who said the complaint does not apply to theological colleges, such as those run by the Church of England, which are not registered with the OfS.“As far as we are concerned the OfS made a mistake in registering these independent bible colleges in the first place because their governing documents specifically restrict academic freedom and freedom of speech,” Higgins said.“Many of these bible colleges [also] offer degrees which have nothing to do with training for the ministry … such as courses in business or the performing arts. Yet they still require students and staff to adhere to a statement of faith and worship together – something which has recently been outlawed as indoctrination by the supreme court in relation to communal worship in schools in Northern Ireland.”The NSS’s pre-action letter to the OfS mentions three of the colleges: Moorlands College in Dorset; Regents Theological College, a training centre of the Elim Pentecostal church in Malvern; and Christ the Redeemer College in Harrow.The Rev Michelle Nunn, principal of Regents Theological College, said: [The college] seeks to operate in accordance with UK equality and freedom of speech legislation and the Office for Students regulations. Students are admitted based on academic criteria and choose to study with us because our programmes align with their academic and vocational interests.“We encourage robust intellectual inquiry and debate in our classes and welcome respectful engagement with differing perspectives.”Moorlands College and Christ the Redeemer College did not take up offers to respond after being contacted by the Guardian.