The Office for Students has opened an investigation into Irshad Trust, which trades under the name The Islamic College, after identifying concerns linked to the provider’s compliance with the E conditions of registration on management and governance.
Key facts
- The OfS says the investigation concerns Irshad Trust’s compliance with the E conditions of registration.
- Those conditions relate to management and governance.
- The regulator will examine whether Irshad Trust has effective management and governance arrangements in place.
- The investigation will also look at whether public interest governance principles are being delivered in practice.
- The OfS says opening an investigation means potential concerns need further scrutiny, not that wrongdoing has been established.
What this means for students and applicants
The immediate impact is regulatory scrutiny of a higher education provider in England. For current students and applicants connected with The Islamic College, the significance is that the OfS is testing whether the provider’s management and governance arrangements meet the standards expected of registered institutions.
The investigation is focused on whether Irshad Trust can demonstrate effective governance in practice, including the public interest governance principles that apply to OfS-registered providers. At this stage, the OfS says only that it has identified potential concerns requiring further scrutiny.
Why did the OfS launch the investigation?
The OfS says it opened the investigation after identifying concerns about Irshad Trust’s compliance with the E conditions of registration. Those conditions cover management and governance, and the regulator will assess whether the provider has effective arrangements in place.
The regulator also says the inquiry will consider whether public interest governance principles are being delivered in practice. The opening of the investigation is a formal regulatory step, but the OfS says it does not mean any form of non-compliance or wrongdoing has taken place.
What is being examined?
The investigation will look at two related issues: whether Irshad Trust has effective management and governance arrangements, and whether those arrangements operate in line with the public interest governance principles that apply to the provider.
In other words, the OfS is not describing a concluded breach. It is checking whether the provider’s governance meets the standards attached to registration and whether those standards are being delivered in practice.
What happens next?
The OfS has not announced a finding or outcome. The investigation has been opened so that the regulator can examine the identified concerns in more detail.
Any next step will depend on what the OfS finds during that process. For now, the only confirmed development is that the regulator has moved from identifying concerns to formally investigating them.
