Most universities (bar profit-making institutions) are charities as a matter of law but, historically, have been exempt from charity law regulation. This paper considers the statutory reforms of 2006, which sought to level the regulatory playing field by appointing ‘Principal Regulators’ of such ‘exempt charities’ to promote compliance with charity law. Focusing on the university sector – where some universities are now registered charities (and regulated by the Charity Commission) whilst others remain exempt – it will note how the reforms have resulted in the application of significantly different degrees of scrutiny and accountability, both between individual universities and between universities and other charities. In part, this is due to the statutory framework itself but, significantly, is also attributable to the radically different approach taken by the Office for Students, which replaced HEFCE as Principal Regulator in 2018. Possible improvements in regulatory practice and statutory reform are offered.

中文翻译：

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大学作为慈善机构的监管：前进一步，后退两步

大多数大学（酒吧营利机构）在法律上都是慈善机构，但从历史上看，它们一直不受慈善法的监管。本文考虑了 2006 年的法定改革，该改革旨在通过任命此类“豁免慈善机构”的“主要监管人”来促进遵守慈善法，从而平衡监管竞争环境。专注于大学部门——一些大学现在是注册慈善机构（并受慈善委员会监管），而其他大学仍然豁免——它将注意到改革如何导致在个别大学之间应用显着不同程度的审查和问责制以及大学和其他慈善机构之间。这部分是由于法定框架本身，但重要的是，