03/04 - July

Dear Colleagues

2002/03 HESA NEW AGGREGATE STAFF RECORD (NASR) COLLECTION (REF: C02023)

This Circular contains links to documents and further guidance that are required for the C02023 data collection. Institutions are required to review the information contained in the following documents:

Timescales for the Collection
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Occupational Coding Manual (rtf)
2002/03 NASR Template
COMMIT Stage Validation Rules
Check Documentation Template
HESA Data Collection System Help

Further Guidance

1. 2002/03 NASR Template

Data must be returned on the template provided by HESA for the 2002/03 year.

2. Coverage of the Record

The coverage of the NASR is all academic and non-academic staff that have a contract of employment with the institution on 1 April 2003. Staff employed under consultancy contracts, or on the basis of payment of fees for services, without a contract of employment, are not included in the NASR.

3. Disability and Ethnicity

A higher level of ‘not known’ values was tolerated for disability and ethnicity last year. The level of ‘not known’ values is expected to fall to an acceptable level this year, in readiness for the introduction of the New Individualised Staff Record in 2003/04.

4. Academic Grade for Visiting Lecturers

Academic grade for visiting lecturers should be returned as either 2 ‘Senior Lecturers and Researchers’ or 3 ‘Lecturers’, unless the grade is not known in which case 5 ‘Other Grades’ should be returned.

5. Senior Academics

There should be at least one member of the academic staff at the institution with a senior management role e.g. the Vice-Chancellor or a Dean. A new validation rule has been introduced to check that at least one member of staff is returned in grade 0, ‘Senior Academics’.

6. Format of FTE

The format for returning FTE in the NASR is as follows:

• Example 1: FTE for a full-time member of staff is 100.0 and not 1.0
• Example 2: FTE for a part-time member of staff is 67.2 and not 67.23

7. Data Collection

Access codes
Access codes are issued to record contacts at institutions once the data collection system for a given return opens. Record contacts unable to locate the access code should contact Institutional Liaison. It is the responsibility of the record contact at the institution to issue the access code to other colleagues who are involved in submitting data to HESA. For security reasons HESA will not issue access codes to anyone other than the record contact.

Reports and re-submission of data
Institutions are required to review the reports that are produced following a successful COMMIT transaction (e.g. the check documentation) and to re-submit data during the appropriate period in order to address queries.

Who to Contact During Data Collection

Institutions should consider Institutional Liaison as a general first point of contact and in addition the team also cover specific areas as indicated below:

If you have any queries on the issues raised in this Circular please contact the Agency’s Institutional Liaison team (Alison Berry, Marietta Nkweta, Janet Earl or Clara Elcocks) at HESA or email (liaison@hesa.ac.uk).

Yours sincerely


C. Jane Wild
Director of Operations