Introduction - Students 2005/06

This publication is one of four reference volumes published annually by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). HESA is a company limited by guarantee, and is owned by the United Kingdom (UK) higher education sector through the representative bodies Universities UK and GuildHE (formerly the Standing Conference of Principals). HESA collects data from publicly-funded higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK on behalf of funding bodies and government departments, in a framework underpinned by legislation.

This volume draws on HESA’s collection of data about students in HEIs during the academic year 2005/06, that is, the period 1 August 2005 to 31 July 2006. It covers data supplied by 167 HEIs (131 in England, 12 in Wales, 20 in Scotland, 4 in Northern Ireland); one of the English HEIs, The University of Buckingham, is a non-publicly-funded institution voluntarily providing data to HESA. The data collection procedure is uniform across all institutions, regardless of size, nature, and location; the range of data fields collected is administration-dependent to a limited extent. HESA does not collect data from further education colleges (FECs). Data on HE provision in FECs is accordingly not included in this volume except for students funded indirectly through HEIs, in which case it is reported by the HEI through which funding passes.

For a limited period after normal data collection, an institution may, when required or approved by the relevant funding body, submit data to the ‘Fixed Database’ through the HESA data collection system, in order to correct material errors in the data originally submitted. Data from this 'Fixed Database' is available about 16 months after the closure of the original data collection. This means that the 'Fixed Database' for the 2005/06 Student data, that is the underlying data to this volume, will be available from April 2008, and the ‘Fixed Database’ for data underlying last year's Student Reference Volume will be available from April 2007.

The other reference volumes published by HESA are as follows.

Resources of Higher Education Institutions. This volume brings together information about the finances and the staff of HEIs. Tabulations are included which record and analyse income and expenditure, and the characteristics of staff, at the institutional level.

Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education. This volume draws on the Destination of Leavers from HE (DLHE) survey, and provides information about patterns of employment and further study or training at a point about six months after completion. DLHE covers leavers from part-time as well as full-time programmes.

Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom. This is the only HESA reference volume that currently falls within the National Statistics framework, and it accordingly carries the National Statistics logo as well as that of HESA. It provides an overview of higher education in the UK from a statistical perspective, including statistics about applications, participation, institutional finance, staffing, student awards, and loans. To achieve this broad coverage, this volume draws on data collected by other bodies as well as HESA, and in particular includes some information about directly funded HE provision in further education colleges.

HESA also publishes annually two Statistical First Releases within the National Statistics framework; the Higher Education Management Statistics at institutional level (on CD up to 2004/05; this material will in future be available through heidi (see below), and will not be published separately); and detailed data for institutional planning purposes on CD (HE Planning Plus and HE Finance Plus). Research Datapacks dealing with specific issues are produced on an occasional basis on CD. The HESA Information Provision Service exists to meet more specialist needs of data users on a bespoke basis. The higher education information database for institutions (heidi) commenced operation in April 2007, and offers a web-based service, by subscription, to institutions and approved HE bodies to allow the interrogation of HESA and other data through the production and export of tabular reports, and their display as charts.

Data protection

In order to comply with 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 minimise the risk of disclosure of personal information about any individual. The tabulations in this volume are derived from the HESA non-statutory populations¹ and may differ slightly from those published by related statutory bodies or in National Statistics publications. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest multiple of 5. A summary of this strategy is as follows:

1. 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0
2. 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 numbers; the consequence of this is that the sum of numbers in each row or column rarely matches the total shown precisely. Note that subject level data calculated by apportionment is also rounded in accordance with this strategy.

Average values, proportions and FTE values prepared by HESA are not usually affected by the above strategy, and are calculated on precise raw numbers.

Percentages calculated on populations which contain 52 or fewer individuals are suppressed and represented as '..' as are averages based on populations of 7 or fewer.

Format of publications

Commencing with the 2002/03 cycle of publications, HESA reference volumes now comprise a relatively slim printed volume containing only a limited range of tables, together with a CD, which contains all the remaining data familiar to users from earlier years, supplemented with additional and more detailed tables. The tables on the CD are in Microsoft® Excel 2000 format. This has the further benefit of allowing users to select data from the tables and manipulate how it is displayed. However, arithmetical manipulations should be carried out with caution because of the effect of the rounding strategy described above.

Students in UK higher education institutions, 2005/06

This commentary draws attention to some of the headline figures and key points which emerge from the main tables. The information is displayed graphically where appropriate. Where figures for previous years are quoted for comparison, they are taken from the 2004/05 and 2003/04 editions of this volume.

Summary of key points

2,336,110 students were recorded as following an HE programme leading to a qualification or credit at a UK higher education institution (all 166 publicly-funded HEIs together with The University of Buckingham) in 2005/06 (2,287,540 in 2004/05; 2,247,440 in 2003/04). This total includes both full-time and part-time students. It includes students at further education colleges who were funded indirectly through an HEI; they have been counted within the numbers for that HEI. It excludes students studying on a directly funded HE programme at an FEC, and excludes students studying at HE level in institutions that are not publicly-funded, apart from The University of Buckingham. In what follows, the terms ‘total’ or ‘entire’ HE population do not imply inclusion of these groups.

Of the 2005/06 total, 61.3% (60.8%; 60.6%) were following a full-time or sandwich programme and the balance were following a part-time programme or were writing-up. Except where they are separated out explicitly in what follows, the full-time category includes sandwich students, and the part-time category includes students (typically postgraduates) who were writing up.

Of the 2005/06 total, 76.7% (76.7%; 76.7%) were studying for an undergraduate qualification (either at or below first degree level), and the balance for a qualification at postgraduate level.

A further 123,785 (136,050; 121,565) students were following a course at further education (FE) level within HEIs.

Full-time first degree students made up 46.0% (45.4%; 45.1%) of the HE student population.

40,485 (30,655; 21,920) students were reported through HEIs as studying for a foundation degree.²

The proportion of the entire HE population studying part-time was 38.7%, with exceptionally high proportions in ‘Combined’ and ‘Education’.

Women made up 57.3% (57.2%; 57.0%) of the entire HE student population and 59.3% (59.2%; 59.0%) of UK domiciled³ undergraduates.

Subject areas with a high proportion of women included subjects allied to medicine (82.1%), education (74.1%), veterinary science (72.8%), and languages (67.5%). Subject areas with a high proportion of men included engineering & technology (84.2%), computer science (76.8%), and architecture, building & planning (69.4%).

There were 330,080 (318,400; 300,055) students from countries other than the UK, of which 248,635 were full-time and 81,445 were part-time. Such students represented 14.1% (13.9%; 13.4%) of the entire HE student population, and full-time non-UK students represented 17.4% of the full-time HE student population. Students from outside the EU numbered 223,855 (218,395; 210,510), which represented 9.6% of the entire HE student population.

In 2004 ten countries joined the EU. The student number from these 2004 accession countries was reported as non-EU in 2002/03 and 2003/04, and as other EU in 2004/05 and in this volume for 2005/06. Over these four years, the numbers increased from 6,745 in 2002/03, through 7,300 and 11,190, to 16,760 in 2005/06. During the same period, numbers from EU countries apart from the UK and the 2004 accession countries were 90,580, 89,545, 88,815, and 89,465, in the same order. In 2007 two further countries joined the EU. The student number from these 2007 accession countries is reported in this volume for 2005/06 as non-EU, and was 1,260.

Students from outside the UK were well represented in engineering & technology, business & administrative studies, computer science, law and mathematical sciences.

Students from outside the UK made up 49.8% (50.1%; 48.4%) of all full-time postgraduates, with 37.6% coming from outside the EU.

Students on sandwich programmes made up 6.6% (6.8%; 7.1%) of all undergraduates. They formed the highest proportion of all undergraduate students in architecture, building & planning, computer science, agriculture & related subjects, business & administrative studies, and engineering & technology.

21.1% (22.0%; 22.5%) of UK domiciled entrants on full-time first degree courses were aged 21 and over.

Ethnic minorities constituted 16.0% (15.7%; 14.9%) of all first year UK domiciled HE students of known ethnicity.⁴

9,275 (6,175; 3,135) foundation degrees were awarded.

Of students who obtained a classified first degree, 59.5% (59.0%; 58.7%) were awarded first or upper second class honours, and 12.0% (11.6%; 11.2%) were awarded a first.

94.8% of full-time first degree students domiciled in England studied in their country of domicile; the corresponding figure for Wales was 61.7%, for Scotland 94.0%, and for Northern Ireland 70.7%.

Student population

In 2005/06 there were 2.46 million students studying for a qualification or for credit at 167 higher education institutions (all 166 publicly-funded HEIs together with The University of Buckingham) in the United Kingdom. Of these, 0.12 million (5.0%) were studying at further education level. Information about numbers of FE students studying in HEIs is included as the penultimate line of Table A (below) and in two of the main tables of this volume, but they are otherwise excluded from the figures presented here, and all percentages from this point onwards are relative to the HE total or subtotals of it.

Of the 2,336,110 HE students recorded, 1,433,040 (61.3%) were following a full-time or sandwich programme and the balance were following a part-time programme or were writing-up.

Of the 545,370 (23.3% of the HE total) postgraduate students, 113,795 (20.9% of postgraduates) were studying for a research degree and 280,595 (51.5%) for a taught higher degree. Of the remaining postgraduate students, 38,435 were studying for a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE).

Of the 1,790,740 (76.7% of the HE total) undergraduates, 1,278,860 (71.4% of undergraduates) were studying for a first degree. Of the remaining undergraduate students, 40,485 were studying for a foundation degree.

Domicile and gender

Table B provides a summary of students by domicile and gender.

UK figures include 6,025 (3,705 full-time and 2,325 part-time) students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (from Tables 5a and 5b).

There were 330,080 students (248,635 full-time and 81,445 part-time) from countries other than the UK. Such students represented 14.1% of the entire HE student population, and the full-time non-UK students represented 17.4% of the full-time HE student population. Students from outside the EU numbered 223,855, which represented 9.6% of the entire HE student population. Of these students, 134,665 (just over three-fifths) were from Asia.

Within the ‘other EU’ total of 106,225, there were 16,760 students from the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004. In 2002/03 and 2003/04, the students from these 2004 accession countries were not included in the EU total, the number of such students being shown separately. The 2004/05 student volume showed the numbers from these countries as a subtotal of the ‘other EU’ total, and the present volume continues this form of presentation for 2005/06. From 2006/07 onwards a subtotal for the 2004 accession countries will no longer be provided. This provides a four-year bridge across the discontinuity in the time-series arising from EU enlargement in 2004. The same four-year bridge, commencing with this 2005/06 volume, is being provided in respect of the further enlargement of the EU in 2007, with the accession of two further countries, Bulgaria and Romania. The number of students from these 2007 accession countries in 2005/06 was 1,260.

Women made up 57.3% of the entire HE student population, being in the majority among both full-time (54.9%) and part-time (61.1%) students. The pattern was different as between UK students, of whom 58.9% were women, and students from outside the UK, where the proportion of women was 47.8%.

Table C provides a more detailed breakdown of the postgraduate population.

Students from outside the UK made up 31.5% of all postgraduates, and 49.8% of all full-time postgraduates, with 37.6% of full-time postgraduates coming from outside the EU (75.5% of the non-UK total). Non-UK students were prominent on full-time research degree programmes (48.3%) and even more so on full-time taught higher degree programmes (64.8%).

Women made up 53.4% of the entire postgraduate population, and 57.3% of UK domiciled postgraduates. There were considerable variations apparent in a breakdown by both type of programme and domicile, as shown by Chart 2.

A major component of ‘other postgraduate’ numbers arose from PGCE programmes, where women are predominant and the large majority of students are UK domiciled, and this has contributed to the high proportion (63.8%) of women among students on ‘other postgraduate’ programmes. For taught higher degree programmes the gender balance was close to even with 51.5% women, and for research degree programmes the proportion of women was less than half at 44.5%. Breaking down the research degree programme figures by domicile shows that among students from EU countries including the UK, the proportion of women was 46.4%, whereas it was 39.7% for those from outside the EU.

Table D provides the same breakdown by domicile as Table C, but for undergraduates.

The pattern at undergraduate level was very different from that for postgraduates. Only 8.9% of undergraduates were from outside the UK, comprising 3.3% from other EU countries and 5.5% from non-EU countries. However, undergraduates made up a larger proportion of students from other EU countries, at 55.7%, than for non-EU countries, where the figure was 44.4%

Of UK domiciled undergraduates, 59.3% were women. The figure for other EU countries was 53.3%, and for non-EU countries it was slightly lower at 49.4%.

The proportion of women on ‘other undergraduate’ programmes, that is, aiming for qualifications below degree level, was 66.4%; this figure did not vary much between full-time programmes (68.5%) and part-time programmes (65.7%); student numbers on part-time programmes constituted 75.6% of all those on programmes below first degree level. Subject of study is an important factor in explaining the high proportion of women on programmes below first degree level, as illustrated in the following section.

Subject of study

Table E shows the percentages of students at different levels who were following programmes in each of 19 subject areas, supplemented with the figures for four further areas cutting across or lying within the main areas. A detailed explanation of the main and supplementary subject areas, and the way in which student numbers are apportioned between them, may be found in the Definitions section in this volume.

Most of the figures in this table speak for themselves, but there are two figures at the ‘other undergraduate’ level that need comment, those for ‘Subjects allied to medicine’ and ‘Combined’. The high proportion in ‘Subjects allied to medicine’ was because it is still the case that a qualification below first degree level is the norm in many health-related professions, at least as an initial qualification aim. By far the largest component is that attributable to nursing, which attracts a large majority of women students.

In the years prior to 2003/04, a high figure under ‘Combined’, almost entirely in part-time mode, was generated by Open University undergraduate numbers. At the undergraduate level, the Open University has only part-time students, and returned all of these as aiming for institutional credit despite the fact that many would achieve a first degree. Data returned by the Open University from 2003/04 onwards provides a split between part-time first degree students and other undergraduate students. This is due to changes in reporting practice made according to HEFCE funding requirements. From 2003/04 Open University students have been reported according to their recorded award intention and the broad subject of that award intention at the HESA return date. This explains why the first degree part-time ‘Combined’ figure has increased since 2002/03. It should be noted that Open University students do not have to declare an award intention and many are still reported as studying for institutional credit within the ‘Combined’ subject area. Improved reporting practice led to a reduction in the numbers on combined programmes between 2002/03 and 2003/04. There have been no further changes in reporting practice for 2004/05 and 2005/06.

Table F shows that the proportion of part-time students varied greatly by subject area. At 93.1% almost all students in the ‘Combined’ subject area were part-time; again, this is attributable to the way Open University students are reported. The other area with a very high proportion was ‘Education’, at 61.2%.

Similarly, the proportion of women students was heavily subject-dependent, with wide divergence from the overall figure of 57.3%. Subject areas with a high proportion of women included subjects allied to medicine (82.1%), education (74.1%), veterinary science (72.8%), and languages (67.5%). Subject areas with a low proportion of women included architecture building & planning (30.6%), computer science (23.2%), and engineering & technology (15.8%).

Students from outside the UK were well represented in engineering & technology, business & administrative studies, computer science, law and mathematical sciences.

Expected length of study

Table G shows the expected length of the programme of study reported for full-time first degree students who commenced studying in 2005/06 on programmes leading to first degrees.

Overall 69.0% of these students were on programmes of up to three years’ duration. There were considerable variations between subjects, with programmes longer than four years being associated mainly with professional training in veterinary science and medicine & dentistry, and to a much smaller extent in engineering & technology, and architecture, building & planning. Four year programmes are common across a wide range of subjects, and 27.0% of students were on such programmes; some but by no means all of these were sandwich programmes, and these are discussed in more detail in the next section. Long programmes may have been slightly under-reported in Table G because of the possibility that, say, what is really a five year programme of study could have been reported as a three year basic programme followed by a two year professional programme.

Sandwich students

In most breakdowns by mode of study, sandwich students are included with full-time students. Students on sandwich programmes comprised 6.6% of all undergraduates. Table H shows by subject area the numbers broken down by first degree and other undergraduate levels, and the overall proportion within the area.

There was some sandwich programme provision in all subject areas except medicine & dentistry and veterinary science (where the extensive practical training is not structured on the sandwich pattern), although in a few cases there were no more than a handful of students. Sandwich students formed the highest proportion of all undergraduate students in architecture, building & planning, computer science, agriculture & related subjects, business & administrative studies, and engineering & technology.

Age of students

Table Ii shows the proportion of first year UK domiciled undergraduates in each age group.

21.1% of UK domiciled entrants on full-time first degree courses, and 56.7% on full-time other undergraduate courses, were aged 21 and over. 60.6% of part-time first degree entrants were aged 30 or over.

Table Iii provides equivalent information for postgraduates.

Table Iii - Age distribution(#8) of first year United Kingdom domiciled postgraduates by mode of study 2005/06
			Percentages
	Total	Full-time	Part-time
20 & under	0.3	0.4	0.3
21 - 24	30.5	54.6	11.5
25 - 29	20.2	20.9	19.7
30 & over	48.9	24.1	68.6
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0
Percentages are not subject to rounding.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity is recorded using the categories available for the 2001 Census. Details can be found in the Definitions section. These categories are then amalgamated following Office for National Statistics guidelines into the smaller number of categories shown in Chart 3 and in main tables. The scheme is designed to describe patterns of ethnicity within the UK domiciled population, and information on ethnicity is required by HESA only for students of UK domicile.

Ethnicity is known for 91.5% of UK domiciled first year undergraduates and 90.6% of UK domiciled first year postgraduates (from Table 10b). Taking first year and continuing students together, it is known for 94.1% of undergraduates and 89.3% of postgraduates (from Table 10a). Participation in HE by students from ethnic minorities continues to increase overall, and accordingly the most up to date picture is obtained from consideration of the position for new entrants. 16.0% of first year students of known ethnicity are from ethnic minorities, and for full-time first degree students the figure is 19.3% (from Table 10b).

Table J - Ethnic minority students as a percentage of United Kingdom domiciled first year students of known ethnicity 2005/06
		Percentages
Higher degree (research)		13.9
Full-time		14.4
Part-time		12.8
Higher degree (taught)		18.0
Full-time		23.1
Part-time		14.2
Other postgraduate		13.0
Full-time		12.1
Part-time		13.8
First degree		18.5
Full-time		19.3
Part-time		14.0
Other undergraduate		13.0
Full-time		20.8
Part-time		11.2
Percentages are not subject to rounding.

There are substantial differences in gender participation across ethnic categories, and this is also dependent on mode of study. Chart 3 displays these effects jointly.

Qualifications obtained

In 2005/06 a total of 640,850 qualifications were awarded at HE level to students in publicly-funded HEIs (together with The University of Buckingham) or on indirectly funded HE programmes in FECs. Of these 30.9% were at postgraduate level, 49.3% were undergraduate first degrees, and 19.8% were other undergraduate qualifications. 9,275 foundation degrees were awarded, 1.4% of the total. Table K provides a more detailed breakdown.

Table L provides a breakdown of the class of award for first degrees.

Of students who obtained a classified first degree, 12.0% were awarded first class honours and 59.5% were awarded either first or upper second class honours. Chart 4 shows the female/male, full-time/part-time, and UK/non-UK percentages drawn from Table L. The proportion of first class degrees did not depend heavily on any of these factors, but the proportion of upper seconds was substantially greater for female students than for male students, and similarly for UK students compared to non-UK students and for full-time students compared to part-time students. Varying proportions of upper seconds were mainly balanced by proportions of thirds; the proportion of lower seconds did not vary greatly.

Table M shows that there is considerable variation by subject area in the proportions of different classes of degrees that are awarded. This table excludes the clinical subject areas medicine & dentistry and veterinary science, in which the proportion of degrees awarded without classification is substantial.

Table M - First degree graduates in non-clinical subjects(#1) awarded first or upper second class honours as a percentage of classified degrees 2005/06
			Percentages
	First class	Upper second	First or upper second
Subjects allied to medicine	13.5	46.0	59.5
Biological sciences	11.5	49.9	61.4
Agriculture & related subjects	11.8	44.6	56.4
Physical sciences	18.8	43.2	62.0
Mathematical sciences	26.9	34.8	61.7
Computer science	14.1	36.7	50.8
Engineering & technology	19.8	39.3	59.1
Architecture, building & planning	10.3	44.2	54.6
Social studies	9.3	51.4	60.8
Law	5.6	51.2	56.8
Business & administrative studies	7.8	42.3	50.1
Mass communications & documentation	7.7	52.2	59.9
Languages	13.2	58.6	71.9
Historical & philosophical studies	12.9	59.9	72.8
Creative arts & design	12.8	49.6	62.4
Education	8.3	45.5	53.8
Combined	13.0	43.1	56.1
Total - Non-clinical subjects	12.0	47.4	59.5
Supplementary subject information(1)
Psychology	11.1	56.3	67.4
Geography & environmental sciences	9.9	54.0	63.9
Economics & politics	12.0	53.4	65.5
English	12.6	57.9	70.6
Percentages are not subject to rounding.
(1) Numbers reported under 'Supplementary subject information' are within and not additional to the overall total, but are disaggregated from it on a different pattern from the 19 subject areas.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

The female/male, full-time/part-time, and UK/non-UK proportions vary greatly across subject areas (see Table F), and because of this it is not meaningful to interpret small differences from population proportions of degree classes (for example, in the proportion of first class degrees) without adjusting for subject choice. That has not been attempted here, but the methodology used for benchmarking Performance Indicators could be applied.

Flows between administrations

The main tables provide figures showing student mobility within the UK for all UK domiciled students. However, the figures for postgraduate students should be interpreted with caution because the domicile will often reflect the location of undergraduate study rather than the original ‘domestic’ domicile. Part-time students display little mobility. It is accordingly of interest to focus on full-time undergraduates, and these figures are presented in Table N.

732,405 out of 772,235 (94.8%) full-time first degree students domiciled in England studied in their country of domicile; the corresponding figures for Wales were 28,915 out of 46,855 (61.7%) for Scotland 84,670 out of 90,095 (94.0%), and for Northern Ireland 27,980 out of 39,570 (70.7%).

So English and Scottish students displayed little mobility in proportionate terms, but English numbers were large enough in absolute terms to mean that outwards mobility from England contributed almost half of Welsh numbers, and more than one-eighth of those in Scotland. Outwards mobility from Wales and Scotland was almost entirely to England, and three-fifths of outwards mobility from Northern Ireland was to England, with almost all the balance to Scotland.

Within England, again for full-time first degree students, the flows into (46,835) and out of (56,615) London were of the same order of magnitude in absolute terms, which means that there was proportionately much more mobility out of London to other regions of England (38.9% of the London total) than in the reverse direction (7.5% of the total for other regions of England). The table in the main body of the volume provides a full breakdown of mobility between English regions.

There was less mobility between administrations at the level of full-time other undergraduate programmes than at the first degree level: the corresponding percentages for study in the country of domicile were 98.8% for England, 76.7% for Wales, 96.6% for Scotland, and 74.5% for Northern Ireland.

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¹  Non-statutory publications omit any contribution from individuals who have notified HESA of their wish to be excluded in circumstances such as the publication of the present volume where inclusion is not defined as a requirement by the bodies whose statutory powers underpin HESA data collection.

²  These figures do not include students on directly funded foundation degree programmes at FECs, so are not a measure of the total uptake of foundation degree programmes.

³  Except where Channel Islands and Isle of Man students have been separated out explicitly, they have been included in UK figures.

⁴  In the 2004/05 volume the ethnicity percentages in ‘key points’ were inadvertently not updated from those given in the 2003/04 volume, and should have read ‘15.7% (14.9%; 14.7%)’ and not ‘14.9% (14.7%; 14.1%)’. The percentage for 2004/05 was reported correctly as 15.7% in the corresponding paragraph of the Introduction. The Agency apologises for this mistake.