Universities are to be forced to to deduct marks for poor written English in students' work - and will face tough sanctions if they fail to do so. Under proposals by the Office for Students (OfS) regulator, universities will be required to teach students 'relevant skills', assess them 'effectively' and ensure that any qualifications they issue are 'credible'. The guidance states that assessments where 'students are not penalised for poor technical proficiency in written English' would be breaking the rules. The move is intended to tackle poor quality courses and comes three months after The Mail on Sunday revealed the use of 'inclusive assessment' at some institutions under which technical ability in written English was not assessed. The OfS won't make any excuses for vigorously regulating universities offering low quality courses that do not offer value for money for students and taxpayers.

Source: Daily Mail July 25, 2021 00:11 UTC