05/01 - February

Dear Colleague

2004/05 HESA Destinations of Leavers from HE (DLHE) Data Collection (Ref C04018)

Review of DLHE First Implementation

The first implementation of DLHE for the 2002/03 cohort was a significant achievement by institutions - the overall response rates achieved were excellent. Nevertheless, HESA was aware of a number of areas where the survey had not worked quite as well as it might, and so, as had been planned, a limited review was launched.

Evidence presented to the review was provided from a number of sources: by institutions via AGCAS, from analysis of the first dataset and from work done with a small number of institutions during the first survey.

As a consequence of this review, and as announced at the seminar held in October 2004, a number of changes have been made: to the questionnaire and also to the survey methodology and process. Some of these changes were introduced for the January 2005 survey, i.e. a few layout changes to the questionnaire and telephone script (most significantly changing the latter from landscape to portrait layout), and a rewrite of the covering letter, which had attracted some criticism in its original form. However, changes that affected actual questions and coding had to be postponed until the 2004/05 survey, starting in April 2005, and the purpose of this circular is to set out the details of these changes.

Changes to Coding Manual only

Field 4 METHOD

New code '08' Deceased added.

Changes to Coding Manual and Questionnaire

Questionnaire Section A: What were you doing on 15 April 2005?

Q1. Which of the following statements best describes your employment circumstances on 15 April 2005?

Responses 4, 5 and 6 have been merged with 7, 8 and 9. As a result, responses 4 - 9 have been deleted and new responses 15 - 17 added. The corresponding changes to the coding manual are as follows:

Field 5 EMPCIR

The following codes have been deleted:

04 Voluntary work
05 Other unpaid work
06 Permanently unable to work
07 Temporarily sick or unable to work
08 Retired
09 Looking after the home or family

The following codes have been added:

15 Voluntary work/other unpaid work
16 Permanently unable to work/retired
17 Temporarily sick or unable to work/looking after the home or family

Q2. On 15 April 2005 will you be involved in either full-time or part-time study, training or research?

The text of the question has changed from 'full-time or part-time study' to 'full-time or part-time study, training or research', as above. The corresponding change has also been made to the coding manual as follows:

Field 6 MODSTUDY

Code '3' Not in study, training or research.

Questionnaire Section B: Your Employment on 15 April 2005

The order of questions in section B of the questionnaire has changed as follows:

• Q6. is now Q3.
• Q7. is now Q4.
• Q9. is now Q5.
• Q10. is now Q6.
• Q4. is now Q7.
• Q3. is now Q8.
• Q5. is now Q9.
• Q8. is now Q10.

As a result the link between fields and questions has also changed.

The corresponding changes to the coding manual are as follows:

Field 7 MAKEDO

Now linked to Q8. 'What does the organisation you will be working for mainly do?'

Field 8 SIC

Now linked to Q7. and Q8.

Q7.'What is the name of the organisation you will be working for?'
Q8. 'What does the organisation you will be working for mainly do?

Field 9 LOCEMP

Now linked to Q9. 'Where will your place of work be and, if in the UK, what is its postcode?'

Field 10 JOBTITLE

Now linked to Q3. 'What will your job title be?'

Field 11 SOCDLHE

Now linked to Q3. and Q4.

Q3. 'What will your job title be?'
Q4. 'Briefly describe your duties'

Field 12 EMPSIZE

Now linked to Q10. 'Approximately how many people work in the entire organisation (i.e. all branches, depts. etc.)?'

Field 13 DURATION

Now linked to Q5. 'Which of the following best describes the basis on which you will be employed on 15 April 2005?'

Field 14 SALARY

Now linked to Q6. 'What will your annual pay be to the nearest thousand (£), before tax? If you have been employed for less than a year or are part-time, please estimate your pay to the full-time annual equivalent'.

Questionnaire Section C: Further study, training or research

Questions 25 and 26 have been incorporated as additional responses into questions 27 and 29 respectively, resulting in the re-numbering of Q27, 28 and 29 as follows:

Previously:

• Q25. 'Is it a requirement of your employment on 15 April 2004/14 January 2005 that you undertake further study, training or research?'
• Q26.' Is your employer giving you financial support, for example by paying your tuition fees, for all or part of the course?'
• Q27. 'Why did you decide to undertake further study, training or research?'
• Q28. 'What other reasons did you have for undertaking further study, training or research?'
• Q29. 'How will you be mainly funding your study, training or research?'

Currently:

• Q27. is now Q25. 'Why did you decide to undertake further study, training or research?'
• Q28. is now Q26. 'What other reasons did you have for undertaking further study, training or research?'
• Q29. is now Q27. 'How will you be mainly funding your study, training or research?'

Subsequently new Q25 and Q27 each have an additional response added as follows:

• Q25. 'Why did you decide to undertake further study, training or research?' – 'Because it was a requirement of my employment on 15 April 2005 that I did'
• Q27. 'How will you be mainly funding your study, training or research?' – 'My employer provided financial support'

The corresponding changes to the coding manual are as follows:

Field 37 SECINT1

Now linked to Q25. 'Why did you decide to undertake further study, training or research?' – 'Because it was a requirement of my employment on 15 April 2005 that I did'

Fields 38-39 SECINT2-SECINT8

Now linked to Q25. 'Why did you decide to undertake further study, training or research?'

Field 38 – 'To develop a broader or more specialist range of skills or knowledge'
Field 39 – 'To change or improve my career options'
Field 40 – 'Because I was interested in the content of the course'
Field 41 – 'Because I had enjoyed my first course and wanted to continue studying'
Field 42 – 'I wanted to go on being a student/I wanted to postpone job hunting'
Field 43 – 'I had been unable to find a suitable job'

Field 45 EMPAID

The data previously recorded in EMPPAID is now being returned in Field 46. Default code 'X' must be returned in Field 45 in 2004/05. Note that this field (F45) will be removed from the record in 2005/06.

Field 46 FUNDSTDY

Now linked to Q27. 'How will you be mainly funding your study, training or research?'

Questionnaire Section D: Newly qualified teachers

Removing Q25 and Q26 from section C of the questionnaire has resulted in the re-numbering of Q30 to Q33 as follows:

• Q30. is now Q28.
• Q31. is now Q29.
• Q32. is now Q30.
• Q33. is now Q31.

As a result the link between fields and questions has also changed.

The corresponding changes to the coding manual are as follows:

Field 47 TCHEMP

Now linked to Q28. and Q31.

Q28. 'Will you be employed as a teacher on 15 April 2005?'
Q31. 'Will you be seeking a teaching post on 15 April 2005?'

Field 48 TEACHSCT

Now linked to questions Q29. 'Will you be employed in a maintained (state) or non-maintained (independent) school or college?'

Field 49 TEACHPHS

Now linked to Q30. 'Will you be teaching at the primary or secondary phase or in a college or other educational establishment?'

Questionnaire Section E: Part-time qualifiers only

Removing Q25 and Q26 from section C of the questionnaire has resulted in the re-numbering of Q34 to Q36 as follows:

• Q34. is now Q32.
• Q35. is now Q33.
• Q36. is now Q34.

As a result the link between fields and questions has also changed.

The corresponding changes to the coding manual are as follows:

Field 50 INTENT

Now linked to Q32. 'Thinking back to when you started the course you completed last academic year: which of the following best describes what motivated you to take the course?'

Field 51 EMPCRSE

Now linked to Q33. 'Were you employed during your course or immediately before it?'

Fields 52-56 EMSPNS1 EMSPMS5

Now linked to Q34. 'Did the employer you worked with before or during your course give you support during all or part of your course?'

Field 52 – 'Yes: my tuition fees were paid'
Field 53 – 'Yes: I was given a grant to cover my tuition fees and living expenses'
Field 54 – 'Yes: I was given study leave'
Field 55 – 'Yes: I was supported in other ways'
Field 56 – 'No: my employer did not support me in any way'

Who to contact

If you have any queries about this circular, please contact the Institutional Liaison team (Alison Berry, Marietta Nkweta, Janet Earl and Clara Elcocks) at HESA, or email liaison@hesa.ac.uk.

Yours sincerely

C. Jane Wild
Director of Operations