About us
The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) safeguarded and promoted fair access to higher education by approving and monitoring access agreements. It closed on 1 April 2018.
The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, non departmental public body. Our role is to promote and safeguard fair access to higher education for lower income and other under-represented groups following the introduction of higher tuition fees in 2006-07.
What we do
We help safeguard fair access by approving and monitoring access agreements – agreements in which universities and colleges set out their tuition fee limit and the access measures they intend to put in place such as outreach work and financial support.
Access agreements cover full-time undergraduate courses and PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) and ITT (Initial Teacher Training) courses for home/EU students at English universities and colleges.
In future, subject to Parliamentary approval, access agreements will also cover part-time students. Access agreements do not cover postgraduate courses or apply to overseas students.
All publicly funded providers of higher education in England that wish to charge tuition fees above the basic level have to submit an access agreement to us for approval.
We then monitor their progress in meeting their access agreement commitments on an annual basis. We also have a role in identifying and disseminating good practice and advice connected with access agreements and bursary support.