The new electronic publication, Staff in Higher Education Institutions 2009/10 is published today by HESA. This new publication replaces the former 'Resources of HE Institutions' printed product which addressed both staff and financial data.

Staff in Higher Education Institutions 2009/10 shows that there were 181,595 academic staff employed at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on 1 December 2009. Of these, 44% were female, up from 41.9% four years previously. 12.0% of academic staff were from an ethnic minority compared to 10.7% in 2005/06. Nearly a quarter (24.0%) of academic staff in 2009/10 were of non-UK nationality.

The table below shows the numbers of academic staff by ethnicity, gender and nationality in 2005/06 and 2009/10.

As well as academic staff there were a further 205,835 non-academic staff employed at HEIs in 2009/10. The majority (62.4%) of these staff were female. Fewer than one in ten non-academic staff (9.3%) were of non-UK nationality, up from 7.9% in 2005/06.

The table below shows the numbers of non-academic staff by ethnicity, gender and nationality in 2005/06 and 2009/10.

Staff in Higher Education Institutions 2009/10 includes the demographic and contract characteristics of academic and non-academic staff in UK higher education. The new publication is released two months earlier in the year than the former Resources product and includes 28 tables of data giving comprehensive coverage of the HESA staff data record. Staff in Higher Education Institutions 2009/10 is available to purchase and instantly download from http://www.hesa.ac.uk/pubs/staff

More information on the new format HESA publications for 2009/10 can be found here: http://www.hesa.ac.uk/pubs-changes-2011

The financial data component of the former 'Resources of HE Institutions' printed volume will be published as a new electronic product in May 2011. A full schedule of all HESA releases for 2011 can be found here: http://www.hesa.ac.uk/pubs_schedule

Notes for Editors

1. Press enquiries should be directed to:

   HESA Press Office
   01242 211120
   pressoffice@hesa.ac.uk
   95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ.

2. In the above data and annex tables 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
3. Percentage calculations exclude unknown values.
4. Atypical staff are not included in the data tables. View the definition of atypical staff from the HESA website.
5. HESA staff data is collected from all publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK, plus the University of Buckingham, which is a non-publicly-funded institution. The 2009/10 data covers 166 HEIs (131 in England, 12 in Wales, 19 in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland).
6. HESA cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the data by third parties.
7. Equivalent tables for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found in the Annex below.
8. Definitions of the terms used in this press release follow.

Definitions

HESA staff data

Coverage

The HESA staff record contract population is an indicator of those contracts that were active on 1 December within the reporting period. Atypical staff contracts are not counted in this population. Other staff with a default (or unknown) contract start date, a default (or unknown) contract end date and a contract full-time equivalent (FTE) of zero are also not counted in this population.

The HESA staff contract population is used in analyses of staff contract attributes by full-person equivalents (FPE).

Full-person equivalent (FPE)

Individuals can hold more than one contract with an institution and each contract may involve more than one different activity. In published analyses staff counts have been divided amongst their activities in proportion to the declared FTE for each activity. This results in counts of full person equivalents (FPE). Staff FPE counts are calculated on the basis of contract activities that were active on 1 December of the reporting period (using the HESA staff contract population).

Occupational coding

Academic staff are defined as academic professionals who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking academic teaching and research within HE institutions. They also include vice-chancellors, medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing or research activities. All academic staff fall into group 2A of the SOC classification, regardless of their discipline (e.g. science, engineering, social sciences, humanities, languages).

Non-academic staff are defined as members of staff who fall into one of the remaining 12 occupational categories such as managers, non-academic professionals, student welfare workers, secretaries, caretakers and cleaners.

Ethnicity

It is HESA's intention to adopt national classifications where they exist and are appropriate. However, in the case of the Census 2001 ethnicity coding, there is no coding structure applicable throughout the UK, as variations exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland. To accommodate requirements for institutions to report locally to their devolved administrations, the coding frame has been revised.

Staff may choose not to reveal their ethnicity and therefore HESA advises that the figures reported in analyses are derived from a subset which may not be representative of the total staff population.

The ethnic category groupings are:

White includes White - British, White - Irish, White - Scottish, Irish Traveller, Other White background.

Black includes Black or Black British - Caribbean, Black or Black British - African, and other Black background.

Asian includes Asian or Asian British - Indian, Asian or Asian British - Pakistani, Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi, Chinese, and other Asian background.

Other (including mixed) includes mixed - White and Black Caribbean, mixed - White and Black African, mixed - White and Asian, other mixed background, and other ethnic background.

Not known includes not known and information refused.

Nationality

Nationality defines the country of legal nationality. This is not necessarily the domicile.

UK nationality staff are those whose country of legal nationality is the UK, and for the purposes of analysis include Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. (Officially, the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK or the EU.)

Non-UK nationality staff are those whose country of legal nationality is a country other than that defined as UK nationality.

ENDS

Annex - equivalent tables for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland