The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a national exercise, introduced by the Government in England in 2017. The initial exercises took place between 2017 and 2019. They assessed excellence in teaching at universities and colleges, and how well universities and colleges ensured excellent outcomes for their students in terms of graduate-level employment or further study.
To date, the exercise has been voluntary, and universities and colleges across the UK have taken part.
The Office for Students (OfS) is developing a new TEF framework and is due to consult on it in autumn 2021, at the same time as consulting on the regulation of student outcomes. The OfS currently aims to publish new TEF awards in early 2023.
As existing TEF awards were made several years ago, they may not provide an up-to-date reflection of teaching quality, so the OfS has advised universities and colleges to stop advertising their awards. Information on the TEF awards providers currently hold can be found at the TEF outcomes page of the OfS website, but this information may be less relevant to prospective students due to the historic nature of the awards.