Degree awarding powers
Criteria for authorisation
A provider must register with the OfS before it can apply for degree awarding powers.
We will only process an application once we have taken a final decision to register the provider.
If a provider needs the power to award degrees before it can offer higher education programmes, we must assess it for these powers first. This typically takes at least three years from the point it applies to register.
If providers without degree awarding powers have accreditation or partnership arrangements with other providers that hold degree awarding powers, they may be able to offer higher education.
When is a provider ready?
The power to award degrees is a significant responsibility. This means our assessment is extensive and robust.
Before a provider applies, it may need to consider what it will need to do. This could include:
- recruiting and training external examiners
- sector experience and advice
- handing, resolving and acting on complaints and appeals
- approving programmes
- ratifying awards
- offering academic transcripts and certificates
- access to facilities (for example, a library or staff training).
Providers should consider:
- can they do all this fully and independently?
- do their systems and structures appropriately support everything currently done by a validator?
- does their documentation show how they will move from their current state to doing all this?
Authorisation criteria
When a provider applies, they must be able to meet the criteria we follow for authorising degree awarding powers [Link to Annex C of the RF].
The overarching criteria are:
- For New DAPs: An emerging self-critical, cohesive academic community with a clear commitment to the assurance of standards supported by effective (in prospect) quality systems.
- For Full DAPs: A self-critical, cohesive academic community with a proven commitment to the assurance of standards supported by effective quality systems.
Further criteria for the different types of authorisation underpin these overarching criteria:
Organisations with degree awarding powers must maintain robust academic governance, ensuring clear accountability, strategic partnerships, and active student engagement in decision-making. They must demonstrate coherent policies, strong academic leadership, and effective oversight of all provision, including collaborations, to safeguard standards and quality.
Organisations with degree awarding powers must have robust academic frameworks, regulations, and records to ensure transparent governance, consistent application, and secure academic standards for all qualifications. They are also required to demonstrate the ability to design and deliver programmes that meet UK threshold standards, provide a high quality academic experience, and maintain rigorous processes for assessment, quality assurance, and student support.
Organisations with degree awarding powers must ensure they have sufficient, appropriately qualified staff who are supported and developed to deliver effective teaching, learning facilitation, and rigorous assessment aligned with the qualifications offered. Staff are expected to maintain current subject knowledge, engage in research and pedagogic development, and have structured opportunities for professional growth, curriculum design, and collaboration with other higher education providers.
Higher education providers must have a strategic and operational framework to support students’ academic, personal and professional development through integrated services, resources and facilities. Evidence should demonstrate effective induction, advisory and support systems, monitoring of progression, skill-development opportunities, and a commitment to equity for all students.
An organisation with degree awarding powers must have robust processes for critically reviewing its performance, comparing itself with peers, and taking timely action to address weaknesses while promoting good practice. It should demonstrate clear mechanisms for monitoring academic provision, assigning responsibility for improvements, and incorporating internal and external expertise into programme design and review.
When a provider applies for research degree awarding powers, it must also meet the following criteria:
The organisation must ensure that academic staff deliver research degree supervision and teaching with substantial expertise in current research and advanced scholarship, supported by a strong and sustainable research culture. Evidence of sector-recognised research activity, external engagement, and demonstrable achievements at national or international level is required to confirm credibility and capacity for awarding research degrees.
The organisation must comply with national guidance for awarding research degrees by fully meeting the expectations of relevant qualifications frameworks and research degree management frameworks. This includes adhering to standards set by research councils, funding bodies, and professional and statutory organisations, such as conditions for training grants and postgraduate training expectations.
The applicant organisation has conferred over 30 doctoral degrees, with 27 awarded through UK partnerships. It must also show that most recipients were not its academic staff and that its completion rates align with sector norms.
Our guidance on applying for degree awarding powers [LINK TO RA12] and our guidance on varying or revoking degree awarding powers [LINK TO RA17] include the current evidence requirements for each criterion.
Annex D of our guidance on applying for degree awarding powers also includes information about the evidence that providers will need to collect.
Costs
We charge fees for all assessments. We calculate the fees in two stages:
- we estimate the costs that the OfS is likely to incur before the assessment happens
- after the assessment is complete, we provide the total cost.
To calculate the total cost, we record costs throughout the assessment. If the total is higher than our estimate, the provider will need to pay the difference. If the total is less, the OfS will pay the difference.
Please note: the fees to assess a provider for degree awarding powers are separate from the fees we charge to assess quality and standards at a provider that is applying to register.
Further information on fees:
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