03/01 - April

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Dear Colleague

Arrangements for the 2002/03 Destinations of Leavers from HE (DLHE) Data Collection (Ref: C02018)

This Circular confirms the arrangements for the collection of DLHE data for 2002/03 leavers.

 

Key Information

 

1. The reference date for the 2002/03 DLHE data collection will be 15 January 2004.
2. Full details of the data capture arrangements are given in this Circular in the section 'Principles and Procedures for data capture for the 2002/03 DLHE'.
3. Standard questionnaires (printed version) and telephone scripts will be issued to institutions in June. Copies of the text of these are available on the web site at index.php?option=com_collns&task=show_colln&Itemid=232&c=C02018&s=3&wvy=any&wvs=3&isme=1 under 'Downloadable Files'.
4. Standard questionnaires will also be available in other formats, including an HTML and a PDF version.
5. The text for covering letters will be available in May.
6. The due date for DLHE data to be received by HESA will be 31 March 2004.

 

Coverage of the DLHE Data Collection

The definition of the population to be surveyed as part of the DLHE as at 15 January 2004 is set out in the Introduction to the DLHE Coding Manual, which is available on the web site at index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=570&Itemid=233. The population differs from that used in previous years for FDS in a number of ways. Notably, those who obtained any of the qualifications included in the population following part-time study are also now included, together with those studying for postgraduate diplomas and certificates (full-time or part-time).

In addition to a subset of those who left institutions following award of a qualification, the population also includes Research Council funded PhD students whose funding is completed, regardless of whether or not they have been awarded their qualification. This arrangement will allow HESA to make this data available to the research councils so avoiding the need for institutions to be approached separately by the research councils for destinations information.

 

POPDLHE

The target population for the 2002/03 DLHE (POPDLHE) is derived from the July 2002/03 Student Record. In order to address any problems there might be with the POPDLHE population before the July student database is closed, POPDLHE will be generated as part of the July student collection; POPDLHE lists will be available from the HESA data collection web site. DLHE record contacts are strongly urged to check the POPDLHE list as soon as their student record contact colleagues have committed the student data, since the DLHE population cannot be changed once the student return has been closed.

POPDLHE is generated once an institution commits its July student return. It is in the institution’s own control when it commits its submitted data. The return date, i.e. the due date for data to be received by HESA for the July student collection, is 15 September 2003, with a COMMIT target date of 23 September 2003. POPDLHE lists should be checked as soon as possible; to allow any missing qualifications obtained or qualifications obtained from late or re-sit examination boards to be included in the student return, so that these leavers are properly included in the final POPDLHE.

To facilitate this process, DLHE record contacts can register as 'read-only' users of their institution's student data collection web page to enable checking of the POPDLHE lists. DLHE record contacts will also be notified by email when the student return has successfully passed COMMIT and a POPDLHE list therefore becomes available. Access codes allowing read-only access to the July student return will be emailed to DLHE record contacts in early August 2003. The web address for the data collection system is http://submit.hesa.ac.uk/.

Institutions should note that the POPDLHE lists will not indicate which leavers are included in the performance indicator population. The standard methodology prescribed in this Circular applies to all leavers in POPDLHE and not just to the PI sub-population; hence there is no need to identify leavers for whom arrangements are different.

 

Principles and Procedures for Data Capture for the 2002/03 DLHE

The principles and procedures for data capture set out below must be followed. They apply to all students within the POPDLHE.

Reference date
The reference date for the collection will be 15 January 2004. Information on the leaver’s activity at that date only should be returned to HESA. Where the leaver is due to start a job within the next month (of this date) this fact should also be reported to HESA.

Data capture period
There must be no destinations data capture ahead of 08 December 2003, and institutions must not request any information after 10 March 2004.

Methods of data capture

1. 08 December 2003 to 15 January 2004
   In this period the only acceptable method of data capture is the standard questionnaire completed by the leaver:
   • Printed and PDF versions – completed, signed and dated by the leaver
   • HTML version – completed and dated by the leaver.
2. 15 January to 10 March 2004
   In this period it is possible to widen data capture to include information obtained from other sources. The only acceptable methods of data capture in this period are:
   • Standard questionnaire
   • Telephone survey
   • Other informed source.

Note that institutions will no longer be asked on sign-off slips to indicate the approximate percentage of replies coming from each data capture method. This information will instead be collected within the DLHE record for each response, in Field 4, METHOD.

Standard questionnaire
The standard questionnaire is available in printed, HTML and PDF versions.

 

1. Printed version: HESA has produced a specimen copy of the printed version of the questionnaire, which is available for institutions to view on the web site at http://www.hesa.ac.uk/manuals/02018/HESA~QUESTION_4pp~ENGLISH.pdf. Institutions have been surveyed to determine their requirements for numbers of questionnaires. Copies of questionnaire will be printed and delivered to institutions by the end of June 2003. The questionnaires will not be folded but will be delivered as A3 sheets. Institutions in Wales will additionally receive Welsh medium questionnaires. Additional copies of the questionnaire over and above those required for surveying the POPDLHE can be ordered from HESA at nominal cost, but such orders must be made by the end of April.
2. HTML version: HESA will also produce an HTML version of the questionnaire, which will be available to institutions from the HESA website. Institutions should not add any questions to or change the questionnaire in any way. Institutions will be responsible for programming any ‘back-end’ or database structures that are required to support the use of this version of the questionnaire. Leavers will complete, date and return this version of the questionnaire on the institution’s web site. (Exceptionally, for this version of the questionnaire the leaver’s signature will not be required – see HEFCE Audit of DLHE Systems and Data section below).
3. PDF version: HESA will also produce a PDF version of the questionnaire, which institutions can email to graduates for completion. Leavers will have to print the form in order to complete, sign, date and return it.

Covering letters
HESA will also produce the text of covering letters for institutions to print onto their own letter headed stationery. Note that the covering letter containing data protection collection notices should also be issued with the PDF and HTML versions of the questionnaire. The text for the covering letter will be available from the HESA web site in May. The text of the letter should not be changed. However, institutions should take particular note of the space left within the covering letter for inclusion of their own data protection notice. (See Data Protection and Collection Notices section below). Institutions should mail out the questionnaire, the letter, and, if they use them, a reply-paid envelope. In order to offset some of the additional costs that will be incurred in implementing the survey, institutions can, if they wish, find sponsorship for the survey. Statutory users and their auditors are also content that institutions should be able to include other items in the survey mailing, for example, leaflets about institutions’ graduate services. In deciding what might be reasonable to include in the mailing, institutions will need to be conscious of the requirement to obtain the best possible response to the survey and to meet the response rate targets.

Mailing schedules
There are two scheduled mailings, in the weeks of 08 December 2003 and 15 January 2004. Institutions are required to undertake one mailing to all those in POPDLHE, however a second mailing is optional. This is because institutions may decide that the practice of one mailing together with telephone follow-up is the best way for them to meet the response rate targets.

Direct contact with the leaver after 08 December 2003
If the institution has other direct contact with the leaver after 08 December 2003, e.g. they visit the careers office, the leaver can be handed a standard questionnaire to complete whilst they are there. However the guidance must be given that the questionnaire should only be completed if the leaver knows what they will be doing, in terms of work or study, on 15 January 2004, and are confident that their arrangements will not change. Otherwise they should not complete the questionnaire then, but wait to be contacted by the institution after 15 January. Relevant contact information can however be confirmed and if necessary up-dated at this stage.

Telephone survey
Any telephone survey/follow-up must be conducted in the period 15 January to 10 March 2004. Institutions are required to undertake one of the two mailings; therefore it is not possible to only conduct a telephone survey. Copies of the telephone script will be printed by HESA and delivered to institutions in June 2003. Institutions in Wales will additionally receive Welsh medium telephone scripts.

If the institution has direct contact with the leaver after the 15 January 2004, e.g. they visit the careers office, the leaver can be interviewed using the telephone script whilst they are there, or handed the printed version of the standard questionnaire to complete. Where a telephone call is made, direct contact with the leaver is desirable; if contact is made with someone other than the leaver, this is acceptable, provided that the contact is sufficiently well informed to allow the key questions, which are in black on the telephone script, to be completed. It is not so much the source of information that is as important as the quality of the information itself. However care must be taken when obtaining information from third parties (see Data Protection and Collection Notices section below).

In determining whether information is robust enough for inclusion in the 2002/03 DLHE return, the contact must be able to:

 

1. supply all the relevant information (i.e. answers to the key questions in black on the telephone script) AND
2. must be confident that it relates to the leaver’s position on 15 January 2004.
3. Additionally, where information for completion of the key questions on the telephone script comes from a source other than the leaver or a contact at the leaver’s home, then additional audit proof is required to show that the individual conducting the survey has collected or confirmed their source data after 15 January 2004. (For example, a confirmatory signature against the date that each individual student’s details were confirmed, since a completed standard questionnaire signed by the leaver is the only acceptable method of data capture prior to 15 January 2004).

Other informed source
Information obtained from other informed sources, including academic departments or employers, is also acceptable as a method of data capture. However the contact must be able to:

1. supply all the relevant information (i.e. answers to the key questions in black on the telephone script) AND
2. must be confident that it will/does relate to the leaver’s position on 15 January 2004.
3. Additionally the individual conducting the survey must be able to provide additional audit proof to show that they have collected or confirmed their source data after 15 January 2004.

Note that the key questions require that the contact will know what the leaver is doing with respect to both work and study.

Audit trail
All data capture methods used must result in a robust audit trail. This will consist of one of the following:

1. Standard questionnaire (printed and PDF versions): evidence comprising the completed questionnaire, signed and dated by the leaver himself or herself.
2. Standard questionnaire (HTML version): evidence demonstrating that the questionnaire was completed and dated by the leaver. This might for example mean that the institution’s system is set up in such a way that a read-only copy of the data keyed by the leaver is retained.
3. Telephone survey: evidence comprising a completed telephone script, which was completed between 15 January and 10 March 2004. Where information for completion of the key questions on the telephone script comes from a source other than the leaver or a contact at the leaver’s home, then additional audit proof is required to show that the individual conducting the survey has collected or confirmed their source data after 15 January 2004. For example, a confirmatory signature against the date that each individual leaver’s details were confirmed, since a completed standard questionnaire signed by the leaver is the only acceptable method of data capture prior to 15 January 2004.
4. Other informed source: procedural evidence to demonstrate that the data:
   • answers the key questions in bold on the telephone script AND
   • relates to the leaver’s position on 15 January 2004.
   • Additionally the individual conducting the survey must be able to provide additional audit proof to show that they have collected or confirmed their source data after 15 January 2004. (For example, a confirmatory signature against the date that each individual leaver’s details were confirmed, since a completed standard questionnaire signed by the leaver is the only acceptable method of data capture prior to 15 January 2004.)

Further guidance
If a response of ‘unemployed’ is received from the graduate before 15 January 2003 it must be returned to HESA. The issue of not re-surveying the unemployed is one on which the DfES is adamant. The argument is that there will be bias if institutions re-survey one group of leavers (i.e. the unemployed) and not the other group (i.e. the employed). There must therefore be no re-survey of leavers once a valid response has been received and all valid responses received must be included in the return made to HESA.

 

Data Protection and Collection Notices

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires data subjects to be informed of what happens to their data. Therefore HESA has updated the destinations of leavers survey arrangements to include sufficient information. This comprises:

1. A general statement on the questionnaire, referring to the covering letter for more information.
2. A collection notice, within the standard text of the covering letter about the uses made of the HESA data. The text of this covering letter will be available from the HESA web site in May.
3. In addition to b), a space has been allowed within the covering letter for each institution to include their own collection notice wording about the use they make of the data.
4. An opportunity is given for the leaver to raise any objections that they might have to the survey, including for example the obtaining of information from third parties. Details of how to exercise this opportunity will be included in the covering letter.

Note HESA strongly recommends that your institution composes suitable wording for and includes its own collection notice in the covering letter (ref. c. above) in order to protect the institution’s legal position.

 

Schedule of 2002/03 DLHE Data Collection

The relevant dates for the HESA DLHE data collection 2002/03 are:

DLHE Seminar	10 April 2003
Text for covering letter	May 2003
Delivery of questionnaires and telephone scripts	June 2003
POPDLHE lists produced from July student return	from 23 September 2003
First mailing of questionnaires	w/c 08 December 2003
DLHE reference date	15 January 2004
Second mailing of questionnaires	w/c 15 January 2004
Telephone survey follow-up	15 January - 10 March 2004
HESA data collection opens	10 March 2004
(C02018) DLHE return date	31 March 2004
Commit target date	08 April 2004
Database closure	20 May 2004

HEFCE Audit of DLHE Systems and Data

It is intended that there should be a pilot audit of the DLHE record following first collection for 2002/03. This will involve ten to fifteen institutions and probably the resurveying of larger samples of leavers than in the FDS audits, to reflect the wider coverage of the new record. These pilot audits will assist in establishing the future balance between systems and data audits.

 

Performance Indicators

Work is in progress to redefine the current employability performance indicators based on the new record. For 2002/03, only these redefined indicators, based on the same population of leavers (unless the redefinition requires any marginal changes) will be published. If definition work is completed in time, the new indicators will be previewed to institutions on the check documentation.

For future years, it is planned that new indicators will be developed which make use of a wider range of the information collected from the new DLHE survey. Additionally appropriate indicators for a wider range of leavers will be developed. The development work on any new indicators will not begin until the first set of data from the DLHE record is available for analysis.

 

Who to Contact

If you have any queries on the issues raised in this Circular, or generally about the 2002/03 DLHE collection, please contact the Institutional Liaison team (Alison Berry, Marietta Nkweta, Clara Elcocks or Janet Earl) at HESA, or email (liaison@hesa.ac.uk).

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

C Jane Wild
Director of Operations

 

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