On 9 July 2020 UCAS announced that a record 40.5% of all 18-year-olds in the UK have applied to go to university, with numbers rising significantly during lockdown.

On 3 July 2020 the OfS announced that “University offers which only become unconditional once an applicant accepts them as their firm choice will be prohibited until September 2021, under new rules announced by the Office for Students (OfS) today (3 July)”.

On 22 June 2020 Sir Michael Barber announced that he will not be seeking a second term as Chair of the OfS and will leave the role in March 2021. In his resignation letter he outlined the OfS’s achievements and also some of the challenges faced, not least Covid-19, since its establishment.

On 13 June 2020 the Committee of University Chairs (CUC) published its revised Audit Committee Code of Practice (‘the Code’). 

On 4 May 2020 the government announced its financial support plans for the sector to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 25 April 2020 the Guardian reported that UK universities may need to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to deliver degrees online.

A survey, published on 23 April 2020, by the British Council of potential students in India – one of the UK’s largest sources of international students – found that 29% had already cancelled their plans or were likely to do so, with two-thirds of all those surveyed saying they were “very concerned” about their health and wellbeing.

On 26 March 2020 the OfS announced its intention to refocus its regulatory requirements in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

On 24 March 2020 it was announced that the REF 2021 was to be put on hold until further notice. This means that the submission deadline on 27 November 2020 will no longer apply, and in due course a new submission deadline of no later than eight months prior to the deadline will be announced

On 20 March 2020 Universities UK (UUK) noted that almost 5,500 Year 3 student nurses from 35 UK universities have opted to join NHS frontline staff.

On 5 March 2020 the OfS has recently launched a competition to improve support for students with mental health totalling £1million.