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The UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is a national initiative that aims to stimulate innovation and excellence in teaching and learning. The framework was introduced in 2017 and is run by the Office for Students (OfS), the official regulator of higher education in the UK.
The primary function of the TEF is to assess and rate colleges and universities across the country based on a set of quality factors. Every participating school receives three ratings: one cumulative and two additional ones that represent student experience and learning outcomes.
At the moment, the latest TEF ratings are those of 2023. The rankings remain valid for 2025, while OfS is shaping the new TEF model. Now, let’s look into the framework and its specs in detail.
What Is the TEF?
As you already know, the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is a national program aimed at improving the quality of education in the UK. Although it’s currently run by the Office for Students, the initiative was originally developed by the then Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It became part of the British Department for Education (DfE) and was operated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) until 2018.
The main idea behind the TEF initiative is to assess higher educational facilities in England and rate them based on factors like teaching, learning, and student outcomes. TEF ratings represent the level of student experience and outcomes every college and university provides across its undergraduate courses and subjects. The current rating features 228 ranked schools from all across the country.
Why Do TEF Rankings Matter?
Although this initiative is still rather young, the Teaching Excellence Framework performs several pivotal functions. This scheme has been designed to ensure that all students in the UK can make thoughtful decisions about their education and have confidence in the institutions they choose. To make this possible, the TEF has created a set of unified quality factors that help create objective rankings of the UK’s colleges and universities.
By introducing unified standards of excellence, the TEF has created a number of positive results:
- It encourages schools to keep up to the high standard of quality and continuously improve their student experiences.
- It gives a spotlight to the top education providers in the country.
- It helps inform students’ choice of a higher education facility.
How to Interpret the TEF Ratings
The final outcomes of each TEF ranking are presented in the form of a table. Next to each participating school, there are three ratings:
- Overall rating
- Student experience rating
- Student outcomes rating
Each rating represents the extent to which a specific school meets the OfS’s quality standards. There are three types of TEF ratings that represent a degree of excellence above the minimum requirements, and one indicating that the institution meets but does not exceed these basic standards. Let’s look at each in detail:
Which Education Providers Are Rated by the TEF?
The latest currently published TEF ranking is that of 2023. The rating remains valid in 2025 and beyond, until a new assessment is performed.
The Teaching Excellence Framework 2023 has rated 228 higher education institutions from all across the country. Some of the top providers that have received Gold ratings in all three categories include Aston University, Blackpool and The Fylde College, and City College Plymouth. Students can find a full list of ranked universities with ratings on the official TEF 2023 Outcomes page.
What Are the OfS’s Key Quality Metrics?
OfS assesses different areas of student experience, student outcomes, and the overall learning environment. A big share of data is collected first-hand via the National Student Survey (NSS) and Graduate Outcomes Survey. These surveys, along with the data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), enable OfS to assess such metrics as:
- Teaching quality
- Student assessment
- Study support
- Student continuation and completion rates
- Further study rates
- Post-graduation employment, etc.
Based on this data, OfS awards institutions with a certain ranking (e.g., Gold, Silver, or Bronze).
How Are the TEF Ratings Formed?
The TEF ranking is fully desk-based. For every assessment, OfS creates an independent expert panel that typically consists of academics and students who hold expertise in learning and teaching. The TEF panel conducts the assessment of each educational institution to make decisions about ratings.
The TEF panel uses a combination of evidence in its assessments. This includes:
- Evidence and data submitted directly by a particular school.
- Evidence and data submitted by the school’s students (where possible).
- Evidence and data from surveys.
- Evidence from national datasets.
The assessment of every aspect of the TEF rating (e.g., student experience and outcomes) is conducted independently. The panel experts are looking for specific “features of excellence” in every category to give a school an objective assessment. The overall rating is the last one to be identified. If the school receives the same ratings in two subcategories, let’s say, Gold, it will also receive Gold for an overall rating. Otherwise, the overall rating is determined based on the “best fit.”
The Bottom Line
The Teaching Excellence Framework is an important initiative that unifies quality standards in the educational sector and guides students’ decisions. It was designed to help students evaluate different study opportunities and gain confidence in the quality of education they will receive. This way, the TEF rating gives a spotlight to colleges and universities that demonstrate excellence. And, at the same time, it encourages schools all over the country to continuously grow and improve to meet the standardized quality requirements.
If you’re just planning to enroll in a higher education facility, we encourage you to use the TEF to make a more informed choice.