We have looked at issues within the Higher Education sector here in Financial Regulation Matters before, mostly in relation to student finances , student accommodation , and also sector-related pensions . However, after some recent developments it is important to take a look at Universities as institutions and, crucially, the position that regulators are finding themselves in, despite any ideological claims as to their operating mandate. As the story develops that, recently, a British University was essentially ‘bailed out’ by the Government, it will be of interest to examine the regulatory reality that the recently-formed Office for Students (OfS) has found itself being exposed to. It was reported towards the end of this week that ‘ a UK university had to be given an emergency loan of almost £1m by the higher education watchdog to stay afloat this autumn ’. The BBC continued by stating that the OfS provided the money when the university faced the prospect of running out of ca...