Press Release 122

Press Release 122

HESA Resources of Higher Education Institutions reveals:
5000 MORE ACADEMIC STAFF IN UK HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

Data from the newly released HESA Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2006/07 publication shows that the number of academic staff employed at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) increased by 5120 (3.1%) between the 2005/06 and 2006/07 academic years.

The number of non-academic staff also increased by 3630 (1.9%) over the same period. The total number of staff employed at UK HEIs rose by 8750 (2.5%).

The rise in numbers of academic staff was not spread evenly between departments. There were 11.7% more academic staff employed in Design, Creative and Performing Arts cost centres, but only 0.9% more staff in Engineering and Technology cost centres.

The income and expenditure of UK HEIs also increased from 2005/06 to 2006/07 with income exceeding £21.2 billion and expenditure rising to £21.0 billion.

The HESA Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2006/07 reference volume includes comprehensive coverage of HE staff and finance data. Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2006/07 is available for purchase for £50 + VAT at £5.95 from the HESA sales desk by calling (01242) 211155. Back issues of this publication are also available for purchase.

Further information is available online at http://www.hesa.ac.uk/products/pubs/home.htm or from the HESA Press Office on 01242 211120.

Notes for Editors

1. Press enquiries should be directed to:
Simon Kemp
HESA Press Officer
01242 211120
pressoffice@hesa.ac.uk
95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ.

2. In the above data 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

3. Atypical staff are not included in the data tables. See ‘Terms of employment' below for the definition of atypical staff.

4. HESA data is collected from all publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK, plus the University of Buckingham, which is a non-publicly-funded institution. The 2006/07 data covers 170 HEIs (133 in England, 13 in Wales, 20 in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland). More details about the HESA staff collection can be found on this web page:

http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=250&Itemid=233

5. HESA cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the data by third parties.

6. Definitions of the terms used in this press release follow:

Staff definitions:

Full-person equivalent (FPE)

Individuals can hold more than one contract with an institution and each contract may involve more than one different activity. In published analyses staff counts have been divided amongst their activities in proportion to the declared FTE for each activity. This results in counts of full person equivalents (FPE). Staff FPE counts are calculated on the basis of contract activities that were active on 1 December of the reporting period (using the HESA staff contract population).

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. These tabulations are derived from the HESA non-statutory populations and may differ slightly from those published by related statutory bodies. 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.

SOC - Occupational coding for higher education staff

Academic staff are defined as academic professionals who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking academic teaching and research within HE institutions. They also include vice-chancellors, medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing or research activities. All academic staff fall into group 2A of the SOC classification, regardless of their discipline (e.g. science, engineering, social sciences, humanities, languages).

Non-academic staff are defined as members of staff who fall into one of the remaining 12 occupational categories such as managers, non-academic professionals, student welfare workers, secretaries, caretakers and cleaners.

Terms of employment

The data above are restricted to non-atypical staff

Atypical staff are those whose working arrangements are not permanent, involve complex employment relationships and/or involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider. These may be characterised by a high degree of flexibility for both the work provider and the working person, and may involve a triangular relationship that includes an agent. Source: DTI Discussion Document on Employment Status, July 2003, paragraph 23.

In addition to this definition from the DTI, some HE specific guidance has been devised by HESA in consultation with institutions. Atypical contracts meet one or more of the following conditions:

• are for less than four consecutive weeks - meaning that no statement of terms and conditions needs to be issued
• are for one-off/short-term tasks - for example answering phones during clearing, staging an exhibition, organising a conference. There is no mutual obligation between the work provider and working person beyond the given period of work or project. In some cases individuals will be paid a fixed fee for the piece of work unrelated to hours/time spent
• involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider - but not as part of teaching company schemes or for teaching and research supervision associated with the provision of distance learning education
• involve a high degree of flexibility often in a contract to work ‘as-and-when' required - for example conference catering, student ambassadors, student demonstrators
• equate to less than 5% FTE during the reporting period (this condition only applies until 2005/06, after which there will be no FTE threshold).

Cost centre groups and cost centres

Cost centres have been assigned into cost centre groups, which reflect both academic similarities and comparable resource requirements.

Medicine, dentistry & health
01 Clinical medicine
02 Clinical dentistry
04 Anatomy & physiology
05 Nursing & paramedical studies
06 Health & community studies
07 Psychology & behavioural sciences
08 Pharmacy & pharmacology

Agriculture, forestry & veterinary science
03 Veterinary science
13 Agriculture & forestry

Biological, mathematical & physical sciences
10 Biosciences
11 Chemistry
12 Physics
14 Earth, marine & environmental sciences
24 Mathematics

Engineering & technology
16 General engineering
17 Chemical engineering
18 Mineral, metallurgy & materials engineering
19 Civil engineering
20 Electrical, electronic & computer engineering
21 Mechanical, aero & production engineering
25 IT & systems sciences & computer software engineering

Architecture & planning
23 Architecture, built environment & planning

Administrative, business & social studies
26 Catering & hospitality management
27 Business & management studies
28 Geography
29 Social studies
30 Media studies

Humanities & language based studies & archaeology
31 Humanities & language based studies
35 Modern languages
37 Archaeology

Design, creative & performing arts
33 Design & creative arts

Education
34 Education
38 Sports science & leisure studies
41 Continuing education

Non-academic cost centres
51 Total academic services
54 Central administration & services
55 Staff & student facilities
56 Premises
57 Residences & Catering

Finance definitions:

Reference dates 2006/07

Financial data relates to the institutions' financial year, i.e. 1 August 2006 to 31 July 2007.

Reference dates 2005/06

Financial data relates to the institutions' financial year, i.e. 1 August 2005 to 31 July 2006.

ENDS