PIs: Definitions
- Coverage (all tables)
- Population (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7), (E1)
- Domicile (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, E1)
- Age marker (T1, T2, T3a-T3d, T4, T5, E1), (T3e)
- Full-time equivalence (T3e, T6, T7)
- Mode of study (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6), (T7), (T3e), (E1)
- Level of study (all tables)
- Level of qualification (T3, T4, T5)
- Entrant (T1, T2, T3a-T3d), (T3e)
- Starter (T5)
- Previous HE (T2, T3)
- Type of school (T1)
- NS-SEC (T1)
- Low participation (T1, T2, T3)
- Disabled students' allowance (T7)
- Non-continuation data (T3, T4, T5)
- Module information (T6)
- Employment indicator (E1)
- Rounding strategy (all tables)
- Benchmarks factors (T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, E1)
- Subject group (T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, E1)
- Entry qualifications (T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, E1)
- Region of domicile (T1, T2)
- Ethnicity (E1)
- Age marker (T2b, T3a, T3d, T5, E1)
Coverage (applicable to all tables)
Higher education (HE) students are those students on courses for which the level of instruction is above that of GCE/VCE A levels or SCE Highers/Advanced Highers.
The data used in constructing the indicators have been taken from the HESA Student Record. The data specification of the record uses the term 'student instance' to describe a student's engagement with the institution, which will normally be a student on a particular course. Because a single student may be undertaking more than one course at the same time, the total number of instances will be greater than the number of actual students. Postdoctoral students are not included in the HESA Student Record.
[Top]Population (applicable to T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7)
The Performance Indicators population includes all student instances except those for:- dormant students (those who have stopped studying but have not yet formally left their course)
- incoming visiting and exchange students from outside the UK
- postdoctoral students
- instances where the whole of the course is outside the UK
- instances where the student has spent, or will spend, more than 8 weeks in the UK but the course is primarily outside the UK
- instances where the student is studying mainly overseas as part of a collaborative course between their UK HE institution and an overseas institution
- Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) Student Associates Scheme (SAS) and Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) students
- students on sabbatical years
- non-UK domiciled students (those whose place of permanent residence prior to starting a course was outside the UK)
- Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man domiciled students, and
- students who are in the 'writing-up' stage of their course.
Prior to 2010/11, certain students on courses which only contributed a limited amount towards an HE qualification (entitled 'low credit-bearing') were excluded from the Performance Indicators population.
Due to changes in funding arrangements, the Scottish Agricultural College are now funded by the Scottish Funding Council and as a result are included in the Performance Indicators from 2010/11. The privately funded institution, The University of Buckingham opted to be included within the Performance Indicators from 2006/07.
The Performance Indicators population approximates to the HESA HE session population of UK domiciled (excluding Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man) undergraduates, but excludes students studying mainly overseas as part of a collaborative course between their UK HE institution and an overseas institution (in technical terms HESA field EXCHANGE = Z).
[Top]Population (applicable to E1)
The Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) record supplements the Student record and collects information about what those completing their HE courses go on to do. However, unlike the HESA Student Record which is a census of all students, the DLHE is a survey with an overal response rate of around 80% annually.
The DLHE survey population includes all UK and EU students reported to HESA for the reporting year 1 August to 31 July as obtaining relevant qualifications and whose study was full-time or part-time (including sandwich students and those writing-up theses). Awards made following a gap in active study (so-called 'dormant status') are not included in the survey population. This gap in study might happen for example for an undergraduate student awaiting a late examination result or who took a study break for financial or personal reasons. As with the other indicators, the employment indicator is restricted to students domiciled in the United Kingdom, excluding Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
The DLHE survey population covers students gaining most types of HE qualifications but not all. Relevant undergraduate qualifications include: Professional Graduate Certificates in Education; qualifications leading towards registration with the Architects Registration Board (Parts 2 and 1) (at level H); first degrees with honours/ordinary first degrees (including those leading to qualified teacher status (QTS)/registration with a General Teaching Council (GTC), but excluding those from the intercalated pattern); first degrees with honours on the enhanced/extended pattern at level H; first degrees with honours and diploma; graduate diploma/certificates at level H and level I; other qualifications at level H; foundation degrees (including those which on completion meet entry requirement for pre-registration health or social care qualification); Diplomas of Higher Education (DipHE); Higher National Diplomas (HND); Certificates of Education (CertHE); Higher National Certificates (HNC).
From 2009/10, the undergraduate population includes graduate diplomas (excluding those specifically for Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector); graduate certificates and integrated undergraduate/postgraduate taught masters degrees on the enhanced/extended pattern leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body.
Prior to 2002/03, the First Destinations Supplement (FDS) was used to collect data on leavers, this was replaced by the DLHE survey. The DLHE survey collects richer information than the FDS and allows more comprehensive analysis. Because of these differences, the DLHE Performance Indicator is not comparable to those published prior to 2002/03.
[Top]Domicile (applicable to T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, E1)
Domicile (place of permanent residence prior to starting a course) data is supplied to HESA in the form of postcodes (UK, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man domiciled students) or country codes. Where no data is supplied about the student's domicile, fee eligibility is used to assign to either 'UK region unknown' category or 'Non-European-Union unknown'. The Performance Indicators tables only include those students whose normal residence is in the United Kingdom, excluding Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
[Top]Age marker (applicable to T1, T2, T3a-T3d, T4, T5, E1)
Age is calculated at 30 September of the academic year in which the student is recorded as commencing their studies. The following definition is used where tables are split between young and mature students:
- Young students are those who are aged under 21
- Mature students are those who are aged 21 or over
Students whose date of birth is not given, or whose date of birth suggests that they are under 10 years, are marked as having unknown age. This means that in tables which provide information about young, mature, and a total for all students, the all students total is not necessarily the sum of young and mature students.
[Top]Age marker (applicable to T3e)
Age is calculated at 30 September of the academic year in which the student is recorded as commencing their studies. In Table T3e, the following age split is used:
- 30 and under
- over 30
Students whose date of birth is not given, or whose date of birth suggests that they are under 10 years, are marked as having unknown age. This means that in tables which provide information about 30 and under, over 30, and a total for all students, the all students total is not necessarily the sum of '30 and under' and 'over 30'.
[Top]Full-time equivalence (T3e, T6, T7)
Student full-time equivalence (FTE) data represents the HE institution's assessment of how each student instance compares with that of a 'normal' full-time instance within the reporting year 1 August to 31 July. This is used for defining mode of study in tables T3e, T7 and for the module information in table T6.
[Top]Mode of study (applicable to tables T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6)
- Full-time students are those recorded as studying full-time at an institution, or on thick or thin sandwich courses, provided that the length of the course is at least 24 weeks.
- Part-time students are those recorded as studying part-time, or full-time on courses lasting less than 24 weeks.
Mode of study (applicable to T7)
- Full-time students are those recorded as studying full-time at an institution, or on thick or thin sandwich courses, provided that the length of the course is at least 24 weeks.
- Part-time students are those recorded as studying part-time, or full-time on courses lasting less than 24 weeks, but excluding those students who are studying less than 50 per cent of the time.
From the 2009/10 publication, part-time mode of study also includes students whose instance spans HESA reporting years and the the total load (technical definition: HESA fields LOADYRA from the reporting year and LOADYRB for the previous year) is at least 50%. The impact of this change was minimal for the majority of institutions.
In 2007/08 and 2008/09, data for the Open University have been excluded from the part-time figures in table T7 due to changes introduced by HESA to the method of apportioning FTEs between years which affected the count of Open University part-time students.
[Top]Mode of study (applicable to T3e)
For table T3e only, part-time students are those who are studying at an intensity of 30 per cent of a full-time equivalent (FTE), or higher.
[Top]Mode of study (applicable to E1)
- Full-time students are those recorded as studying full-time at an institution, or on thick or thin sandwich courses, provided that the length of the course is at least 24 weeks. Also included are awards from writing-up status where the student’s mode of study was previously full-time.
- Part-time students are those recorded as studying part-time, or full-time on courses lasting less than 24 weeks. Awards from writing-up theses are also included where a student’s mode of study was previously part-time.
Level of study (applicable to all tables)
The level of study is taken from the qualification aim of the student instance. Currently, all performance indicators tables, excluding the research indicators are restricted to undergraduate students with a split between first degree and other undergraduate students.
First degree includes first degrees (including eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body), first degrees with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)/registration with a General Teaching Council (GTC), postgraduate bachelors degree at level H, enhanced first degrees (including those leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body), first degrees obtained concurrently with a diploma and intercalated first degrees.
Other undergraduate includes qualification aims equivalent to and below first degree level, including, but not limited to, Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at level H (unless shown separately), foundation degrees (unless shown separately), diplomas in higher education (including those with eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body), Higher National Diploma (HND), Higher National Certificate (HNC), Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE), Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE), foundation courses at higher education level, National Vocational Qualification (NVQ)/Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) at NQF levels 4 and 5, post-degree diplomas and certificates at undergraduate level (including those in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector), professional qualifications at undergraduate level, other undergraduate diplomas and certificates including post-registration health and social care courses, other formal higher education qualifications of less than degree standard, institutional undergraduate credit and non-formal undergraduate qualifications.
Technical definition: The HESA fields used to produce this split are course aim (COURSEAIM) from 2007/08 and qualification aim (QUALAIM) prior to 2007/08:
Note: From 2008/09 onwards, table series T3 and from 2009/10 onwards, table series T4 exclude students aiming for institutional credits and no formal qualification (COURSEAIM codes H90, H91, H99, I90, I91, I99, J90, J99, C90, C99).
| COURSEAIM / QUALAIM codes | |
| First degree | M22, M26, H00, H11, H16, H18, H22, H23, H24, H50, I00, I11, I16 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 |
| Other undergraduate | H41, H42, H43, H60, H61, H70, H71, H72, H76, H78, H79, H80, H81, H88,
H90, H91, H99, I60, I61, I70, I71, I72, I74, I76, I79, I80, I81, I90, I91, I99, J10, J16, J20, J26, J30, J41, J42, J43, J45, J76, J80, J90, J99, C20, C30, C41, C42, C43, C77, C78, C80, C90, C99 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 61, 97 |
Qualifications obtained (applicable to T3, T4, T5)
Qualification obtained is taken from the qualification awarded to the student during the reporting year, usually at the end of an instance. The qualification awarded may be different to the student's qualification aim, and the student may be awarded more than one qualification during the reporting period.
From 2009/10, the first degree population includes Integrated undergraduate/postgraduate taught masters degree on the enhanced/extended pattern leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body (M26). The other undergraduate population includes Diplomas at level H (H41) and Certificates at level H (H42).
Qualifications awarded information is used when looking at progression statistics for table series T3, T4. For the purpose of the progression statistics, institutional credits, non-accredited/non-approved HE qualification, no formal undergraduate/postgraduate qualification are not counted as an HE qualification.
Technical definition: Prior to 2007/08, the HESA fields QUAL1 and QUAL2 are used to determine the highest qualification held and from 2007/08 onwards, the HESA field QUAL is used to determine the highest qualification.
Note: For tables T3, T4, no distinction is made between first degree and intercalated first degree qualifications. This split is used in table T5 only.
| QUAL & QUAL1/QUAL2 codes | |
| Postgraduate | D00, D01, L00, L80, E00, E40, E43, M00, M01, M02, M10, M11, M16, M40, M41, M42, M43, M45, M50, M70, M71, M72, M76, M78, M79, M80, M86, M88 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10, 12, 13, 14 |
| First degree (excluding intercalated) | M22, M26, H00, H11, H16, H18, H22, H23, H50, I00, I11, I16 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 |
| Intercalated first degree | H24 24 |
| Other undergraduate | H41, H42, H43, H60, H61, H70, H71, H72, H76, H78, H79, H80,
H81, H88, I60, I61, I70, I71, I72, I74, I76, I79, I80, I81, J10, J16, J20, J26, J30, J41, J42, J43, J45, J76, J80, C20, C30, C41, C42, C43, C77, C78, C80 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52 |
Only undergraduate students are included in Tables E1a - E1d and the coverage of the DLHE population means a more limited selection of qualifications are included:
| QUAL & QUAL1/QUAL2 codes | |
| First degree | M22, H00, H11, H16, H18, H22, H23, H50, I00, I11, I16, M26 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 |
| Other undergraduate | H41, H42, H60, H61, H71, H80, H88, I60, 161
J10, J16, J20, J26, J30, C20, C30 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52 |
Entrants (applicable to T1, T2, T3a-T3d, T4)
Entrants are defined as students who started a programme of study at that institution during the academic year of interest. This is based on the commencement date of the student’s study (in technical terms, HESA field COMDATE). While most entrants go into the first year of a programme of study, some will start on the second, or later, year of programme, for example if they transfer from another institution. Entrants who are recorded as leaving before 1 December (in technical terms, HESA field DATELEFT prior to 2007/08 and ENDDATE from 2007/08 onwards) have not been included in the calculations, unless the record contains important information such as a qualification. It has been agreed that students leaving this early in their studies should be disregarded for the purposes of the performance indicators.
[Top]Entrants (applicable to T3e)
Entrants are defined as students who started a programme of study at that institution during the academic year of interest. This is based on the commencement date of the student's study (in technical terms, HESA field COMDATE). Entrants who are recorded as leaving within 50 days of their commencement date (in technical terms, HESA field DATELEFT prior to 2007/08 and ENDDATE from 2007/08 onwards) have not been included.
In addition, for table T3e, also exclude entrants:
- undertaking and active on more than one course of HE at any higher education institution, at any level (postgraduate or undergraduate) or mode of study (full-time or part-time), and a duration of at least 50 days; or
- who were active on a full-time or part-time first degree course in the year prior to entry.
These criteria have been introduced for table T3e to help ensure that rates of continuation reflect on the true study intentions of the part-time student and that we are capturing students for whom the part-time first degree is their primary intention, rather than a supplement to another HE engagement.
[Top]Starters (applicable to T5)
The concept of a starter has been used in table T5 to be consistent with the method of projected outcomes and differs from the concept of an entrant used in table series T3. Students at a particular institution are defined as starters if they are full-time degree students who have not been studying at that institution full-time for a degree in either of the two years prior to the academic year of interest. This means that students who were on a diploma course in the previous year at the current institution and have transferred to a degree course in the current year will count as starters (unless they had been on a degree course there in either of the two previous years). Such students will not necessarily count as entrants. On the other hand, a student who has spent one year at an institution on a degree course, then spends a year out of studies but comes back onto a different degree course, will not be counted as a starter, but may be counted as an entrant.
[Top]Previous HE marker (applicable to T2, T3)
The previous HE marker indicates if the student holds an HE qualification as their highest qualification on entry. The qualifications included in this marker, including the equivalent codes used by HESA can be found Higher education qualifications.
Technical definition: The previous HE marker uses the HESA field QUALENT2 for entrants prior to 2010/11 and HESA field QUALENT3 for entrants from 2010/11. These codes are grouped as follows:
| Entry qualification | QUALENT2 codes | QUALENT3 codes |
| Previous HE | 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 29 [from 2010/11 only] |
DUK, DZZ, D80, MUK, M41, M44, M80, M90 MZZ, H71, M71, M2X, HUK, HZZ, JUK, H11, H80, J10, J20, J30, J48, J80, C20, C30, C44, C80, C90, J49 [from 2010/11 only] |
| Unknown qualification | 99 | X06 |
| No previous HE | all other codes | all other codes |
Type of school (applicable to T1)
School type is taken from previous institution attended (in technical terms, HESA field PREVINST). All schools or colleges that are not denoted ‘independent’ are assumed to be state schools. This means that students from sixth-form or further education colleges, for example, are included as being from state schools.
[Top]Socio-economic classification (NS-SEC) (applicable to T1)
The information on socio-economic classification is taken from the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (in technical terms, HESA field SEC). The classifications used are:
1 Higher managerial and professional occupations
2 Lower managerial and professional occupations
3 Intermediate occupations
4 Small employers and own account workers
5 Lower supervisory and technical occupations
6 Semi-routine occupations
7 Routine occupations
The performance indicator is the proportion of students from NS-SEC classes 4 to 7 out of those from NS-SEC classes 1 to 7. NS-SEC class 8, long-term unemployed or never worked, has been included with unknown classification for the purposes of the performance indicators.
For the 2008/09 academic year, UCAS changed the question that informs NS-SEC which affected the majority of applicants for entering in the 2008/09 academic year. The question reverted back to the original wording for 2009/10 applicants.
For applicants up to and including the 2007/08 academic year and for the 2009/10 academic year, UCAS asked:
"If you are under 21, please give the occupation of your parent, step-parent or guardian who earns the most. If he or she is retired or unemployed, give their most recent occupation. If you are 21 or over, please give your own occupation."
For applicants for 2008/09 entry, the question changed to:
"If you are in full-time education, please state the occupation of the highest-earning family member of the household in which you live. If he or she is retired or unemployed, give their most recent occupation. If you are not in full-time education, please state just your own occupation."
The change in question had an impact on the NS-SEC indicators, causing the proportion of students classified as unknown and those classified as falling into NS-SEC groups 4 to 7 to rise in 2008/09. Although the question reverted back in 2009/10, there may still be a slight impact on the NS-SEC indicators resulting from applicants who applied using the 2008/09 form and deferred entry. Given these differences and the lack of any significant external changes to the system, it is safe to conclude that the change in question means that the NS-SEC data for 2008/09 is not comparable with that published prior to and post 2008/09. The 2008/09 NS-SEC data has been labelled as age-adjusted NS-SEC and it is not recommended to include this data in any time series analysis. As a result, the 2008/09 NS-SEC data has been published separately in tables T1ai, T1bi and T1ci and labelled as age-adjusted NS-SEC.
Prior to 2002/03 social class was used as one of the widening participation indicators. More information on the differences between SEC and social class can be found in changes between 2001/02 and 2002/03.
[Top]Low-participation neighbourhoods (POLAR3) (applicable to T1, T2, T3 from the 2011/12 publication)
From the 2011/12 publication onwards, the low participation data uses the POLAR3 classification, more information on the POLAR3 classification and the files used in the mapping can be found on the HEFCE website.
POLAR3 is based on the HE participation rates of people who were aged 18 between 2005 and 2009 and entered a HE course in a UK higher education institution or English or Scottish further education college, aged 18 or 19, between academic years 2005/06 and 2010/11.
It draws on data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Data Service, the Scottish Funding Council, UCAS and HM Revenue and Customs. The method used to get the participation rates is broadly similar to the method for POLAR2. There are some noteworthy differences between the two methods. The set of cohorts used to form the classification are more recent. Also information of entrants to HE courses at further education colleges in Wales are not included, though we estimate that this only has a small impact on the classification.
The POLAR3 classification is formed by ranking 2001 Census Area Statistics (CAS) wards by their young participation rates for the combined 2005 to 2009 cohorts. This gives five quintile groups of areas ordered from ‘1’ (those wards with the lowest participation) to ‘5’ (those wards with the highest participation), each representing 20 per cent of UK young cohort. Students have been allocated to the neighbourhoods on the basis of their postcode. Those students whose postcode falls within wards with the lowest participation (quintile 1) are denoted as being from a low participation neighbourhood.
The POLAR3 data is not comparable with the previous POLAR2 method, but some of the data has been produced using both methods for context.
Low-participation neighbourhoods (POLAR2) (applicable to T1, T2, T3 from the 2006/07 publication)
From the 2006/07 publication onwards, a new method (POLAR2) for producing the low participation neighbourhoods has been used which is not comparable with the old (Super Profiles) low participation method used previously.
The POLAR2 method is based on the HE participation rates of people who were aged 18 between 2000 and 2004 and entered a HE course in a UK higher education institution or GB further education college, aged 18 or 19, between academic years 2000/01 and 2005/06. It draws on data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Learning and Skills Council, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the other UK funding bodies and HM Revenue & Customs.
The POLAR2 classification is formed by ranking 2001 Census Area Statistics wards by their young participation rates for the combined 2000 to 2004 cohorts. This gives five young participation quintile groups (qYPR) of areas ordered from '1' (those wards with the lowest participation) to '5' (those wards with the highest participation), each representing 20 per cent of UK young cohort. Students have been allocated to the neighbourhoods on the basis of their postcode. Those students whose postcode falls within wards with the lowest participation (quintile 1) are denoted as being from a low participation neighbourhood.
More information on the POLAR2 classification and the files used in the mapping can be found on the HEFCE website.
POLAR2 and POLAR3 data for Scotland (applicable to T1, T2, T3)
The POLAR low participation measure is based on a UK wide classification of areas into participation bands. The relatively high (in UK terms) participation rate in Scotland coupled with the very high proportion of HE that occurs in FE colleges means that the figures for Scottish institutions could, when viewed in isolation, misrepresent their contribution to widening participation. Therefore, low participation data has not been produced within the Performance Indicators for institutions in Scotland from 2007/08.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) produce their own indicators relating to young full-time Scottish domiciled undergraduate entrants, showing proportions from the most deprived datazones and also from social classes NS-SEC 4-7. These measures are produced and published independently of ‘Performance Indicators in HE in the UK’. The Performance Indicators Steering Group bears no responsibility for the SFC measures1.
Low-participation neighbourhoods (Super Profiles) (applicable to T1, T2, T3 prior to the 2006/07 publication)
The Super Profiles low participation method uses Census enumeration districts (EDs) in England and Wales, and output areas (OAs) in Scotland. The classification is based on data collected in the 1991 Census of Population, supplemented with data from other sources. Areas belonging to the same group, or cluster, will not necessarily be geographically adjacent. For example, one cluster might contain suburban areas of semi-detached housing from Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, and another may contain inner city areas from those same cities. Postcodes can be used to identify the ED (or OA) and hence the clusters. This ‘postcode mapping’ allows nearly all students to be allocated to one of the clusters, on the basis of their home postcode.
A small proportion of postcodes cannot be mapped to EDs, either because they have been wrongly recorded or because they are too new to have been included in the postcode file. Similarly, a small proportion of EDs have not been classified, for example if the number of residential dwellings in the area is too small to provide reliable information. In either case the result will be a cluster whose neighbourhood type is unknown. The 160 clusters which resulted from this method were classified as ‘low participation neighbourhood’ or ‘other neighbourhood’ by estimating, for each cluster, the participation rates in higher education for young entrants. These rates vary from under 5% to over 95%. Clusters with participation rates less than two-thirds of the national average were defined as ‘low participation’.
The participation rates as defined above depend on two elements: the population of the area and the number of students from that area. The number of students is taken from the HESA database, with postcodes used to allocate students to areas. The population estimates are an uncorrected projection of the 1991 Census population figures.
The Super Profiles low participation data is not comparable with the POLAR2 low participation data used from 2006/07 onwards.
[Top]Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) (applicable to T7)
Identifies whether the student with a disability is in receipt of Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) or not.
In technical terms the Disabled Students' Allowance data uses the HESA field DISALL and provides the proportion of students in receipt of DSA, those with DISALL=4.
[Top]Non-continuation data (applicable to T3, T4, T5)
A student who begins an engagement with an HEI in a particular year may achieve one of a number of possible outcomes after a given period of time. These can be summarised as:
- Qualify, whether or not that qualification exactly matched their original study intention.
- Continue at the same HEI, either on the same course or elsewhere in the institution.
- Transfer to another HEI, either to a similar course or to an entirely different study experience.
- Absent from HE registered at an HEI.
Table series T3 considers entrants to full-time undergraduate courses and looks to see what they are doing the year after they entered. Table series T4 considers those entrants who were no longer in HE the year after they entered to see if they returned to HE the following year.
Table T5 considers full-time first degree starters to HE courses and uses a projected model to see what proportion are likely to have obtain a degree, obtain an other undergraduate qualification, transfer to another HEI or neither obtain an award nor transfer after a period of time. The model bases the projection on the current population of students studying at an individual institution and projects the starters forward until they reach one of the final states given above.
For more detailed information on the non-continuation methods, please refer to the technical document.
[Top]Module information (applicable to T6 - Welsh institutions only)
Institutions in Wales submit data to HESA in a modular format. For each student, at least one module with associated subject and cost centre information is returned. Table T6 provides the number of modules for which information has been returned, the average number of modules for student for each institution and the percentage of full-time equivalent (FTE) students per module.
The indicator is based on modules for which results are available. There are a number of reasons why results for these students may not be returned to HESA. In some cases the student may have withdrawn from the course, in others they may have decided not to be assessed in that module. In particular, students who are studying a module out of personal interest may decide that they do not wish to be assessed. The table shows the percentage of student modules for which results are available and the percentage of these modules which have been passed. If results are available for only a small proportion of modules, the pass rate should be treated with caution.
[Top]Employment indicator (applicable to E1)
Respondents to the HESA Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey are able to report separately what they are doing in relation to both employment and study and a matrix of possible outcomes is constructed. This matrix is used to define the key categories of outcomes such as employed and unemployed. As leavers report separately what they are doing in relation to employment and further study, it is possible to be involved in either employment only, further study only or employment and further study.
The table below shows the classification of the DLHE responses, based on the employment circumstances (HESA field EMPCIR) and study information (HESA field MODSTUDY) returned by the leaver. The categories are as follows:
W - working or studying or both
U - unemployed and seeking work
NA - not available for work or study, or no information supplied
X - question not answered
The indicator is the percentage of those reposndents who were working or studying out of those who were working, studying or unemployed and seeking work.
In technical terms, the indicator is the number of respondents in category W divided by the number in categories W and U. All other categories are excluded from the indicator.
| Study (MODSTUDY) | ||||
| Employment Circumstances (EMPCIR) |
Full-time study (1) | Part-time study (2) | Not in study (3) | |
| Employed full-time in paid work (01) | W | W | W | |
| Employed part-time in paid work (02) | W | W | W | |
| Self-employed/freelance (03) | W | W | W | |
| Voluntary work/other unpaid work (15) /
Voluntary work (04) |
W | W | W | |
| Permanently unable to work/retired (16) /
Permanently unable to work (06)/Retired (08) |
NA | NA | NA | |
| Temporarily sick or unable to work/looking after the home or family (17) /
Temporarily sick or unable to work (07)/Looking after the home or family (09) |
W | W | NA | |
| Taking time out in order to travel (10) | NA | NA | NA | |
| Due to start a job within the next month (11) | W | U | U | |
| Unemployed and looking for employment, further study or training (12) | W | U | U | |
| Not employed but NOT looking for employment, further study or training (13) | W | W | NA | |
| Something else (14) | W | W | NA | |
| Question not answered (XX) | X | X | X | |
For context, table E1 also includes the percent not available for work which is the percentage of all respondents who are classed as NA in the above table.
The percent who refused to take part in the survey is the percentage of all respondents for whom the method of data collection (HESA field METHOD) was recorded as 'Reply received explicitly refusing to provide information'.
The percent medical, dental or veterinary graduates is the percentage of the population of leavers whose subject of study was medicine or dentistry or veterinary science. In technical terms, those students coded in the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) in subject group A, or whose principal subject is coded D100 or D200.
The percent graduates from sandwich courses is the percentage of the population of leavers whose mode of study was recorded as sandwich.
[Top]Rounding strategy
Due to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998, HESA implements a strategy in published and released tabulations designed to prevent the disclosure of personal information about any individual. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest 5. A summary of this strategy is as follows:
- 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0
- All other numbers are rounded to the nearest 5.
So for example 3 is represented as 5, 22 is represented as 20, 3286 is represented as 3285, while 0, 20, 55, 3510 remain unchanged.
This rounding strategy is also applied to total figures; the consequence of which is that the sum of numbers in each row or column will rarely precisely match the total shown.
Average values, proportions and FTE values prepared by HESA will not be affected by the above strategy, and will be calculated on precise raw numbers. However, percentages and indicators calculated on populations which contain less than 20 individuals will be suppressed and represented as '..' (or a blank value prior to 2006/07). From 2011/12, the suppression levels changed to less than 22.5 individuals rather than 20.
[Top]Benchmark factors
The following factors are used in the construction of the benchmarks. Please refer to the benchmarks document for technical information on how the benchmarks have been calculated.
- Subject group (T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, E1)
- Entry qualifications (T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, E1)
- Region of domicile (T1, T2)
- Ethnicity (E1)
- Age marker (T2b, T3a, T3d, T5, E1)
Subject group (applicable to T1, T2, T3, T5, T7, E1)
HESA has defined nineteen subject areas in terms of JACS codes for reporting information broken down by subject to present a useful broad-brush picture. If a student is studying a combination of subjects, a procedure of apportionment is used:
For split courses not involving an initial teacher training (ITT) component, a percentage is assigned to each subject to reflect the split (from 2007/08 institutions could choose to assign their own percentages based on a broad assessment of the relative contribution of subjects to a course), with the following standard percentages recommended (obligatory in Scotland):
- Balanced 50% for each of the two subjects,
- Major - Minor 67% and 33%,
- Triple 34%, 33% and 33%.
For the purpose of the performance indicators, the following grouping of JACS subject area was used for table series T1, T2, T3a-T3d, T5 and T7 from the 2004/05 publication. These follow the standard HESA JACS subject groupings, but with medicine & dentistry grouped with veterinary science. Prior to the 2004/05 publication, the benchmarks used more aggregated JACS subject groups. This change had very little effect on the benchmarks.
| Subject of study | JACS subject area codes |
| Medicine & dentistry and veterinary science | 1, 4 |
| Subjects allied to medicine | 2 |
| Biological sciences | 3 |
| Agriculture & related subjects | 5 |
| Physical sciences | 6 |
| Mathematical sciences | 7 |
| Computer science | 8 |
| Engineering & technology | 9 |
| Architecture, building & planning | A |
| Social studies | B |
| Law | C |
| Business & administrative studies | D |
| Mass communications & documentation | E |
| Languages | F |
| Historical & philosophical studies | G |
| Creative arts & design | H |
| Education | I |
| Combined subjects | J |
For table T3e only, a grouping into fourteen subject areas was defined and differ from those used in the full-time indicators. The groupings have been chosen so that, as far as possible, the students within each group are relatively homogeneous. Where subject areas have relatively small numbers of part-time first degree students they have been grouped with subject areas that exhibit similar patterns of continuation rather than those that are academically coherent:
| Subject of study | JACS subject area codes |
| Medicine & dentistry; veterinary science; Architecture, building & planning | 1, 4, A |
| Subjects allied to medicine; Agriculture & related subjects; Mathematical sciences | 2, 5, 7 |
| Biological sciences | 3 |
| Physical sciences | 6 |
| Computer science | 8 |
| Engineering & technology | 9 |
| Social studies | B |
| Law | C |
| Business & administrative studies | D |
| Mass communications & documentation; Languages | E, F |
| Historical & philosophical studies | G |
| Creative arts & design | H |
| Education | I |
| Combined subjects | J |
Entry qualification groups (applicable to series T1, T2 from 2008/09 onwards and T3a-T3d from 2009/10 onwards)
The following entry qualification groups were used for table series T1, T2 from 2008/09 onwards and T3a-T3d from 2009/10 onwards.
| Abbreviation | Entry qualification (28 groups) | Specification |
|
AAAA |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades AAAA or
|
A levels, Advanced Highers and VCEs
Students with A levels, Advanced Highers or VCEs
For each student, take their best 4 (or less) grades within each subject. Scottish Highers
Students with Scottish Highers
For each student, take their best 6 (or less) grades within each subject. |
|
AAA |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least AAA or
|
|
|
AAB |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least AAB or
|
|
|
AAC |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least AAC |
|
|
ABB |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least ABB or
|
|
|
ABC/BBB |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least ABC or BBB or
|
|
|
ACC/BBC |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least ACC or BBC or
|
|
|
BCC/CCC |
A levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and VCEs
A levels / VCE / Advanced Highers grades at least BCC or CCC or
|
|
|
BACC |
International Baccalaureate Diplomas and Certificates For students entering prior to 2010/11 alsoincludes other Baccalaureate qualifications and does not include International Baccalaureate certificates
|
Students with International Baccalaureate Diplomas or Certificates |
|
BTEC |
BTEC
For students entering prior to 2010/11
|
Students with BTECs |
|
>290 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 290 |
For students who are not included above and who
hold tariff |
|
>260 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 260 |
|
|
>230 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 230 |
|
|
>200 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 200 |
|
|
>160 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 160 |
|
|
>100 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 100 |
|
|
>0 |
Level 3 tariffable qualifications Total tariff > 0 |
|
|
COMB3 |
Combination of level 3 qualifications with unknown or not applicable points Only applicable for students entering prior to 2010/11 |
For students who have any combinations of GCE 'A'/SQA 'Higher'/SQA |
|
EQUIV3 |
A level equivalent qualifications with unknown or not applicable points |
For students who have unknown or non-tariffable 'A' level equivalent |
|
GNVQ/NVQ |
GNVQ / NVQ Only applicable for students entering prior to 2010/11 |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
FOUND |
Foundation course
For students entering from 2010/11 onwards: |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
ACCESS |
Access course |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
HEPG |
Higher education qualification - Postgraduate |
For students holding postgraduate qualifications |
|
HEFD |
Higher education qualification - First Degree
|
For students holding a first degree qualification |
|
HEOUG |
Higher education qualification - Other Undergraduate |
For students holding other undergraduate qualifications, |
|
NONE |
No previous qualification |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
OTHERS |
Other qualifications not given elsewhere |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
UNKNOWN |
Unknown qualification |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
Entry qualification groups (applicable to series T1, T2 2007/08; T3a-T3d 2007/08 - 2008/09; T7 and E1 2007/08 onwards; T5 2008/09 onwards)
The following entry qualification groups were used for table series T1, T2 in 2007/08 only; T3a-T3d for 2007/08 to 2008/09; T7 and E1 from 2007/08 onwards and T5 from 2008/09 onwards.
| Abbreviation | Entry qualification | Specification |
|
TAR480+ |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and Highers with 481 tariff points and above |
Students with A levels, AS levels, Highers,
and qualification type (QUALTYPE):
and not Vocational qualifications (QUALTYPE):
To get the tariff point scores, sum all of the tariff scores
|
|
TAR480 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR420 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR380 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR350 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR320 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR290 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR260 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR230 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR200 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR160 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
TAR100 |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
PTSNK |
A levels, AS levels, Highers, Advanced Highers and
A levels / AS levels / Advanced Highers /
|
|
|
BACC |
International Baccalaureate Diplomas and Certificates For students entering prior to 2010/11 alsoincludes other Baccalaureate qualifications and does not include International Baccalaureate certificates
|
Students with International Baccalaureate Diplomas or Certificates |
|
BTEC/ONC |
BTECs
For students entering prior to 2010/11
|
Students with BTECs |
|
VCE_ASC |
Combination of A levels / AS levels / Highers / Advanced |
Students with A levels, AS levels, Highers, |
|
VSC |
Vocationals and no A levels / AS levels / Highers |
Students with A levels, AS levels, Highers,
or highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
ACCFND |
Foundation or Access course
For students entering prior to 2010/11: |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
HE |
Higher education qualification |
For students holding higher education qualifications |
|
NONE |
No previous qualification |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
OTHERS |
Other qualifications not given elsewhere |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
|
UNKNOWN |
Unknown qualification |
For students with highest qualification held (QUALENT2): |
For entrants prior to 2007/08, see entry qualifications prior to 2007/08 document.
For table E1, combine the entry qualifications listed above with the entry qualification prior to 2007/08 to give the following 10 categories:
| Entry qualification |
| A levels and equivalents with unknown / not applicable tariff pts (PTSNK) |
| A levels / AS levels / Scottish Highers with up to 160 tariff points or Baccalaureate
(TAR100, TAR160, APTS4, APTS6, APTS8, BACC) |
| A levels / AS levels / Scottish Highers with over 160 and up to 200 tariff points
(TAR200, APTS10, APTS12) |
| A levels / AS levels / Scottish Highers with over 200 and up to 230 tariff points
(TAR230, APTS14, APTS16, APTS18) |
| A levels / AS levels / Scottish Highers with over 230 and up to 290 tariff points
(TAR260, TAR290, APTS20, APTS22, APTS24) |
| A levels / AS levels / Scottish Highers with over 290 tariff points
(TAR320, TAR350, TAR380, TAR420, TAR480, TAR480+, APTS26, APTS28, APTS30) |
| Foundation or Access course (ACCFND) |
| VCEs, VCEs and A levels or Highers, ONC or OND (including BTEC & SQA equivalents)
(VCE, VCE_ASC, BTEC/ONC) |
| Higher education qualification (HE) |
| Other, including none and unknown (NONE, OTHERS, UNKNOWN) |
Entry qualifications (applicable to table T3e only from 2008/09 onwards)
As with subjects, the groupings of entry qualifications used in the benchmark calculations for Table T3e have been chosen so that, as far as possible, the students within each group are relatively homogeneous. The table below shows the categories used for part-time entrants, their descriptions, and the highest qualification on entry (HESA field QUALENT2) used in the definition. In addition, for 2007/08 entrants onwards, if they hold A levels, Highers or equivalent level 3 qualifications (QUALENT2 = 39 or 40) then the type of qualifications held (HESA field QUALTYPE) is used to determine whether the student holds A-levels, Highers (QUALTYPE = A,A1,AS,H,AH,I2,AD,DA), VCEs (QUALTYPE = V,V1,V2) or BTECs (QUALTYPE = B,BE). If a student holds a combination of A levels/Highers, VCEs and BTECs, they are included in the category "VCEs and other qualifications not given elsewhere". For 2006/07 entrants, if a student holds A levels, Highers or equivalent level 3 qualifications (QUALENT2 = 39 or 40) then the tariff scores from VCE A levels and AS levels (HESA fields VCEATS and VCEASTS) have been used to determine whether the student holds VCE qualifications.
| Entry qualification (9 groups) | QUALENT2 code |
| Higher education qualification - Postgraduate | 01, 02, 03, 04, 05 |
| Higher education qualification - First degree | 11 (includes 10 from 2010/11) |
| Higher education qualification - Other undergraduate |
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 30, 31 (10 included prior to 2010/11) |
| A levels, AS levels, Scottish Highers or equivalent, but not known to have VCEs or BTECs | 39, 40 |
| BTEC, ONC, SCOTVEC or equivalent, but not known to have VCEs, A levels or highers | 41 (and 39,40 from 2007/08) |
| Foundation or Access course | 29, 43, 44, 45, 48, 72 |
| VCEs and other qualifications not given elsewhere | 37, 38, 39, 40, 47, 55, 56, 57, 94, 97 |
| No previous qualification | 92, 93, 98 |
| Unknown qualification | 99 |
Analysis of continuation rates across students with different entry qualifications has been used to determine the groupings of entry qualifications shown above. Those entry qualifications held by small numbers of part-time first degree students have been grouped with appropriate entry qualifications that exhibit similar patterns of continuation.
[Top]Region of domicile (applicable to table series T1, T2 - location adjusted benchmarks)
The domicile regions used in the location-adjusted benchmark are the nine Government Office regions in England, plus the three other countries of the United Kingdom: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Note that the Performance Indicators tables only include students whose normal residence is in the United Kingdom, excluding Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
| Regions | |
| North East | |
| North West* | |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | |
| East Midlands | |
| West Midlands | |
| East of England |
|
| London | |
| South East | |
| South West | |
| England region unknown | |
| Wales | |
| Scotland | |
| Northern Ireland | |
*includes Merseyside |
|
Ethnicity (applicable to E1)
Students domiciled in the UK are required to report their ethnic origin. It is HESA's intention to adopt national classifications where they exist and are appropriate. The use of Census 2001 ethnicity coding in the Student record is an example of this practice. The coding frame is that recommended by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for UK-wide data collection. However, there are variations to the Census 2001 ethnicity coding adopted in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The ethnic category groupings used in the employment benchmarks are:
| Categories | HESA codes (HESA field ETHNIC) | |
| White | White (10) White - British (11) [pre 2007/08 only] White - Irish (12) [pre 2007/08 only] White Scottish (13) [pre 2007/08 only] Irish Traveller (14) Other White background (19) [pre 2007/08 only] |
|
| Black | Black or Black British - Caribbean (21) Black or Black British - African (22) Other Black background (29) |
|
| Asian | Asian or Asian British - Indian (31) Asian or Asian British - Pakistani (32) Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi (33) Chinese (34) Other Asian background (39) |
|
| Other | Mixed - White & Black (41) Caribbean Mixed - White & Black African (42) Mixed - White & Asian (43) Other Mixed background (49) Other Ethnic background (80) |
|
| Unknown | Not known (90) Information refused (98) |
|
Note that due to the increased number of graduates who have the ETHNIC variable coded as mixed race or other, from 2007/08 they have been separated out from the unknown category.
[Top]Enquiries
Press: Call 01242 211120 or email pressoffice@hesa.ac.uk.
General enquiries should be sent to piteam@hesa.ac.uk.
Enquiries regarding the Performance Indicators Steering Group (PISG)
should be directed to the HEFCE Press Office on 0117 931 7363
1 More information about the participation measures for Scotland is available from the SFC website.
