SPURGEON’S COLLEGE, one of the UK’s best-known Baptist colleges, has learnt that its application to register with the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator, has been turned down. The college’s principal has branded the decision “unfair”.

Speaking on Wednesday, the Revd Professor Philip McCormack said that he was “shocked” at how the OfS had interpreted the material that the college had submitted last year.

The OfS determined that the College had passed four of its five tests, but had failed the financial sustainability test. Professor McCormack argued that the “reality” was that the college had “the liquidity to deliver our programmes”.

He said: “We find it difficult to find out how they interpreted our material. But our primary concern is students: they are not just numbers to us. . .

“We are dealing with real people and real families. A lot of our students already have placements with churches, and it has all come under pressure with this decision.”

Some new students who would have been eligible for student finance if the college was registered have fallen foul of the ruling. Professor McCormack said that the college was working on helping students who fall outside the loan system now.