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<p>The UK has a world-class reputation, with globally renowned teaching and cutting-edge
research and innovation. We want to deliver better outcomes and value for students,
employers and taxpayers who underwrite the system.</p><p>The Office for Students (OfS)
is now fully operational and puts students and student choices at the heart of the
higher education (HE) sector and its regulation. By encouraging diversity and innovation
in high quality provision, the government is supporting the sector to meet the needs
of all students in HE, whatever their background or study choices, as well as opening
up the sector to greater competition.</p><p>The OfS has formally adopted the Teaching
Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) as its scheme for assessing the quality
of HE provision in England. Participation in the TEF is a condition of registration
for English HE providers with more than 500 undergraduates. Participation is voluntary
for smaller HE providers and for those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The
TEF encourages excellent teaching to flourish by re-balancing the priority given to
teaching and learning compared to research.</p><p>The TEF will provide strong incentives
to HE providers to prioritise the student learning experience. In due course we will
lay before Parliament the report of the independent review of the TEF, which has been
conducted by Dame Shirley Pearce.</p><p>In August 2019, my right hon. Friend, the
Prime Minister, announced a new fast-track immigration route aimed at allowing a wider
pool of scientific talent to come to the UK. This route will ensure that those with
specialist skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects can
come to the UK and make an important contribution to our leading science and research
sectors, significantly enhancing the intellectual and knowledge base of the UK. The
route will be uncapped, ensuring that those with the required skill set can secure
places.</p><p>The UK is a great place for research, accounting for 4% of the world's
researchers, 11% of all citations, 14% of the world’s most highly cited articles and
4 of the world’s top 10 universities. The government recognises the important contribution
of our universities to research, innovation and working with business. This contribution
is critical to achieving the ambitions of our modern Industrial Strategy, including
delivering 2.4% spend of GDP on research and development by 2027. In the autumn, the
government will set out plans to significantly boost public funding on research and
development, provide greater long-term certainty to our scientific and research community
and accelerate our ambition to reach 2.4% of GDP.</p><p>Additionally, on 11 September,
my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a new graduate immigration route
that provides an opportunity for international students who have been awarded their
degree to stay and work in the UK at any skill level for 2 years. This represents
a significant improvement in our offer to international students and will help ensure
that our world-leading HE sector remains competitive internationally.</p>
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