The UK’s higher education regulator told universities they must not disregard poor spelling, punctuation, and grammar as it risks undermining the quality of students’ education and devaluing their qualifications. The Office for Students (OfS) published a report (pdf) on Thursday after conducting a review of student assessment policies and practices in a small number of higher education providers. The report said some common themes behind the practices have raised regulatory concerns. The report listed case studies of five higher education providers, two of which have incorporated technical proficiency in written English into their assessment policies and clearly communicated their expectations to students. The other three providers do not assess students’ work on technical aspects of their written language in most cases, unless it’s a learning outcome for a module or course, or it’s stipulated by a professional, statutory, or regulatory body or a quality assurance agency for higher education. The OfS said these approaches are “unlikely to …