09/03 - August

Dear Colleagues

HESA Student Record Changes for 2010/11

In May HESA issued Circular 09/01 that set out the work taking place as part of the post-implementation review of the new 2007/08 Student Record. This Circular detailed the changes being made to the record specification and collection systems for the 2008/09 and 2009/10 collections as well as outlining a number of proposed changes for 2010/11, inviting institutions to comment. Just 22 responses were received to these proposals.

This Circular therefore outlines the changes to be made for the 2010/11 Student Record for which full documentation will be published in February 2010.

1) Qualifications on entry

A proposed new coding frame to capture qualifications on entry was included in Circular 09/01. Institutions are in support of the move away from the QUALENT2 coding frame and the introduction of a revised coding frame to be named QUALENT3. The revised coding frame is based on the structure already implemented for the Course.COURSEAIM field but accounts for the newer 16-19 qualifications and some of the detail needed at the HE level to support the ELQ policy. It also includes separate codes for EU and Other overseas qualifications at each level.

Although institutions report that the disaggregation of EU and Other overseas is achievable, on reflection it was felt that due to the limited use of the EU and Other overseas split of qualifications in analysis that the coding frame could be shortened by amalgamating these two code groups.

In response to concerns about code labelling and the practicalities of using the revised frame, some label definitions have been revised to ensure better understanding of the coding frame by students, and this work will continue.

It is necessary to include a code for professional qualifications at each level in the new proposed coding frame for ELQ purposes; whereas just one code for professional qualifications was included in the QUALENT2 coding frame. Thus far it has been difficult to locate any specific references about the levels of individual professional qualifications for inclusion in the QUALENT3 guidance. HESA has explored a number of sources and made contact with relevant organisations but is not yet in a position to publish guidance. It is hoped that by the time the full documentation for the 2010/11 Student Record is published in February 2010 guidance on use of the professional qualifications codes will be available.

For guidance on the use of academic qualification codes in the QUALENT3 coding frame, colleagues should refer to the guidance for the current COURSEAIM codes, as it was always intended that the two coding frames be closely linked. For guidance on the use of the vocational qualification codes, colleagues can refer to the recently revised Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (http://www.qaa.ac.uk/standardsandquality/otherrefpoints/Qualsboundaries09.pdf).

View a revised version of the QUALENT3 coding frame following consultation.Post circular note - please note that this coding frame has now changed - institutions should refer to www.hesa.ac.uk/C10051/a/QUALENT3.html

2) Percentage of module taught in Celtic language

HEFCW requested that the field that records the percentage of a module taught in a Celtic language be moved from the Module entity to the StudentOnModule entity. This means that where students on the same module take different proportions through the medium of a Celtic language this can be recorded accurately for each institution. SFC and DEL (NI) do not use this field at present but are likely to do so in the future. This field will be moved to the StudentOnModule entity from 2010/11. Institutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland will be advised to return the same value for all students on the same module until more explicit instructions are received from SFC and DEL (NI).

3) Capturing data about why students withdraw from courses

In Circular 09/01 HESA drew attention to the recent House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts Report "Staying the course: the retention of students on higher education courses" (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmpubacc/322/322.pdf). This report recommended that a common standard and principles which define the types of retention information which need to be collected and reported should be developed by HESA, the funding councils and universities. The Government's response was that attempts had been made in the past to capture this information but that is was not reliable, and suggested that any re-attempt to collect such data could possibly be done so on a sample basis to ensure cost implications and burden are proportionate (http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm73/7364/7364.pdf).

Institutions were invited to share with HESA details of how they have managed to capture reasons for student non-completion and to suggest changes to the data collected that might improve the information available. Reports of any specific issues with collection of these data were also welcomed.

HESA received valuable feedback from institutions about the collection of student non-completion information. These comments have been forwarded to HEFCE to enable them to formulate its response to the National Audit Office. However there are no changes planned to the Student Record at this time.

4) Disability

A number of institutions had asked that all of the coding frames for disability be aligned and this is now being put into practice.

With the introduction of the new Disability Equality Duty, and on the recommendation of ECU, HESA introduced a version of the coding frame developed by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) for the HESA Staff Record, including some further detail that is relevant specifically in education.

Thus in addition to the specific issues raised in Circular 09/01, HESA and UCAS have agreed a new coding frame to be used for coding disability in the 2010/11 Student Record.

This coding frame is to be included in the UCAS systems for year of entry 2010 and hence the 2010/11 HESA Student Record. Whereas the Staff Record coding frame includes one additional code for ‘general learning disability', the nature of this disability is likely to exclude students studying at HE level and is therefore excluded from the Student Record coding frame. Also the coding frame does not include an ‘information refused' option. Before publication of the full operational documentation to support the 2010/11 Student Record, the issue of whether or not to include include an ‘information refused' option will be further investigated by HESA, with opinion sought from ECU.

The new Student Record coding frame is as follows:

HESA will continue to accept old style codes for continuing students (where COMDATE<20100801), so there will be no requirement for institutions to resurvey or recode. However, institutions are welcome to use the new codes for continuing students if they wish to do so.

Next Steps

No further changes are planned for the 2010/11 Student Record.

HESA will publish the full 2010/11 Student Record operational documentation in February 2010.

Yours Sincerely

C. Jane Wild

Director of Operations