College staff ‘directed students towards essay mills and AI’

A college where students studying business degrees were directed to use artificial intelligence or essay mills by staff has been reprimanded by the English regulator.

An Office for Students investigation identified “serious concerns” with teaching and assessment standards at Regent College London, which partnered with several institutions to deliver franchised courses.

Students were given “excessive” support with their assessments including early access to exam questions and were frequently encouraged to submit full drafts of coursework for feedback prior to formal submission, according to a report into the provider published on 5 February.

“Some staff were found to have encouraged students to paraphrase content to reduce similarity scores on plagiarism detection software, and in some cases directed students towards the use of artificial intelligence tools or essay mills,” it adds.

The investigation found that the college, also known as RTC Education, was in breach of multiple conditions of OfS registration.

Two of its delivery partners, the University of Greater Manchester and Buckinghamshire New University, were also found to be in breach of standards because of a lack of oversight despite them awarded qualifications to the college’s students.

The investigation further found that marks awarded to students appeared to be “excessive and not justified by their performance”.

“The assessment team found that the level of educational challenge was not appropriate to the level of the courses delivered. Too much time was spent helping students pass assessments. This excessive assessment support resulted in a level of rigour and difficulty that was less than the minimum reasonably expected of an undergraduate degree in business and management.”

It further found that a lack of a physical library and online resources meant “students were not consistently able to access recommended texts”, and in some cases “students were directed to use local public libraries”. Teaching rooms lacked appropriate furniture which hindered students’ ability to use laptops.

High staff turnover caused by the use of casual contracts led to “inconsistent information being provided to students” and affected the academic experience, the OfS found.

The college will now be placed under enhanced monitoring and will have to provide regular updates on its progress to the regulator.

Buckinghamshire New University, which terminated its contract with the college in May 2025, escaped further action but the University of Greater Manchester will face sanctions.

Greater Manchester, previously known as the University of Bolton, is already currently subject to enhanced monitoring due to breaches connected to its own courses, and those it validated at another provider. 

Therefore, the OfS has imposed a specific ongoing condition of registration that will require the university to strengthen its oversight of its courses and address all concerns that have led to the breaches.

Jean Arnold, interim director of quality and access at the OfS, said both RTC Education Ltd and its awarding partners were responsible for making sure its business and management courses were meeting quality requirements.

“RTC Education Ltd has collaborated positively with us to address the concerns we identified in relation to these courses. However, due to the seriousness of the concerns, we will continue to monitor its provision and reassess its compliance to ensure the steps it takes to remedy these issues are successful.”

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester spokesperson said it was engaging with RTC Education and the OfS to ensure that the “elements of the regulatory condition are met fully”. 

“The matters raised in the OfS review are being addressed promptly. Robust action plans are in place both at university and the partner to meet the OfS review outcomes.”

Damien Page, vice-chancellor at Buckinghamshire New University said: “BNU terminated our partnership with Regent College London in May 2025, and we take very seriously our responsibility to ensure that all students in the ‘teach out’ phase receive a high quality education. 

“We continue to work closely with the college’s senior leadership team to maintain what the OfS recognises as the ‘improvements already made by BNU’ which ‘remedied’ the breach of condition B2 and B4 in the 2022-23 academic year.”

RTC Education was approached for comment.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com