Higher education regulator to make freedom of speech priority next year

OfS expected to gain new powers to regulate freedom of speech issues in England

The Office for Students will make freedom of speech and off-limits" subjects on university campuses one of its top priorities for next year, despite the regulator receiving only around 60 complaints over the last four years.

Susan Lapworth, the OfS's chief regulator, said students' experience of higher education in England was not just measured through statistics," and could be affected by the attitudes towards issues such as freedom of speech at the institutions they attend.