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The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent public body in the United Kingdom that is intended to safeguard and promote fair access to higher education. It approves and monitors 'access agreements'. All English universities and colleges that want to charge higher fees must have an 'access agreement' with OFFA. The first Director, appointed in 2004, was Sir Martin Harris. He was followed by Les Ebdon, whose appointment was confirmed in February 2012. ==Background== The Higher Education Act 2004 introduced the concept of variable tuition fees for the first time. Whilst some parts of the United Kingdom, most notably Scotland, did not implement top-up fees, most universities and higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom are in England and are thus under the new regime. That regime allowed HEIs to charge tuition fees of any amount from £0 to £3,000. (These caps were raised in 2010.) At the time this policy was being debated there was considerable concern that the amount of debt new graduates would be faced with could dissuade some potential students from entering higher education altogether. Thus, as part of the debate, the Government of the United Kingdom decided to institute a body to oversee the introduction of fees to the extent of ensuring that such dissuasion did not occur. The Act established OFFA and gave it the power to prevent a HEI charging fees above £1,200 if it could not satisfy the regulator that it would make adequate provision for widening access and encouraging participation. For the academic year starting September 2012, the amount that institutions could charge increased to £9000, subject to approval by OFFA. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Office for Fair Access」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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