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Ofqual has fined the awarding organisation University of West London (UWL) £150,000 for serious rule breaches which affected thousands of students taking its graded music qualifications.
From January 2020 to November 2022, UWL failed to exercise proper control over one of its third-party centres. As a result, the centre designed, delivered and awarded music theory qualifications to 224 students which had not been through UWL’s usual approval process – and issued certificates to students.
An Ofqual investigation also found that 4,300 students taking the Ofqual-regulated Theory of Music qualifications did not receive their certificates promptly after completing assessments.
In addition, it found that UWL had no appeals process for students for nearly 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 time that the assessments the 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.
The third-party centre* was initially contracted to provide online assessments during the COVID-19 lockdown for the London College of Music Examinations (LCME), a trading name of UWL.
When Ofqual imposed special conditions requiring UWL to commission an independent audit, UWL initially failed to properly comply with the requirements. Ofqual found this breach was due to negligence.
Amanda Swann, Ofqual’s Executive 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 UWL also had a real impact on thousands of students who were left waiting for certificates they had earned and would have been unable to 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 account the extent to which UWL admitted the breaches and its previously good regulatory history.
Ofqual has today published the Final Notice document which has more details about the case.
Background information
*Ofqual considers it would be inappropriate for Ofqual to name the third-party centre. The centre was 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.