England’s higher education regulator has issued a provider-specific order giving Academy of Live Technology Ltd the right to award its own taught qualifications from 1 July 2026. Under the Power to Award Degrees etc. (Academy of Live Technology Ltd) Order 2026, the provider may grant taught awards up to and including master’s level. In practical terms, degree-awarding powers allow a provider to issue qualifications in its own name, rather than relying on another university to validate those awards. The statutory instrument is narrow in scope: it applies to one provider, it covers taught awards only, and it sets clear limits on both subject area and duration.
The legal basis sits in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. The Order states that the Office for Students acted under sections 42(1) and 42(9) of that Act, and that it requested advice from the relevant body on the quality of, and standards applied to, the higher education offered by the provider before making the Order. That detail matters because the instrument records a formal quality assurance step before authorisation was granted. The text does not reproduce the advice itself, but it does make clear that the Office for Students had to seek that advice and take it into account. For readers outside the sector, that is the statutory safeguard written into the approval process.
The authorisation is tightly defined by subject. Academy of Live Technology Ltd may award taught qualifications up to master’s level only in subjects related to engineering and technology, computing, business and management, media, journalism and communications, and design, creative and performing arts. This is not an unrestricted right to award degrees across every discipline. The Order does not extend to research degrees, and it does not authorise awards outside the named academic fields. For students, the practical question is therefore not simply whether the provider holds degree-awarding powers, but whether a given course sits within the scope set out in the instrument.
The time limit is equally important. The authorisation begins on 1 July 2026 and expires at the end of 30 June 2030, giving the Academy a four-year period of fixed-term degree-awarding powers. A fixed-term order shows that the regulator has granted authority for a defined period rather than on an open-ended basis. The instrument itself does not continue the power beyond June 2030, so any extension after that date would require a further regulatory decision. For other providers, this is a clear sign that degree-awarding powers may be framed as time-limited approval rather than permanent status.
Article 4 adds a further restriction. Academy of Live Technology Ltd may grant the specified awards only to people who are enrolled with the provider at the point they complete the course of study for which the award is granted. This is a technical provision, but it has direct relevance for students. It ties the Academy’s new awarding power to its own enrolled cohort and the completion of the relevant course, rather than creating a wider power to issue awards beyond that setting. For applicants and current students, the immediate effect is greater certainty over who can receive an Academy award once the Order takes effect.
The Order was made on 27 May 2026 and signed by Jean Arnold, Interim Director of Quality and Access at the Office for Students. It comes into force on 1 July 2026. The explanatory note states that no impact assessment was produced because the instrument is not expected to affect businesses, civil society organisations or the public sector. That framing is useful. This is not a sector-wide rewrite of England’s higher education rules; it is a targeted regulatory authorisation for a named provider. Even so, the change is significant for the Academy itself. From July 2026, it will be able to issue its own taught awards within a defined academic range and for a defined period, with those terms set out in secondary legislation.