07/01 - February

Dear Colleagues

In October 2006 HESA published Circular 06/06, which described how the redeveloped Student Record being introduced in 2007/08 is reliant on robust HIN linking. This Circular outlines the changes to the HIN linking that are now required.

Background

The HIN is a combination of three fields, the HUSID, INSTID and NUMHUS, which uniquely identify a student on a programme of study leading to a qualification aim. The HUSID identifies the student, the INSTID the institution at which the student is registered and the NUMHUS identifies studies leading to a qualification aim. The HIN serves as a year-on-year linking mechanism and is used to track the progression of the student on the programme from one year to the next and thus from commencement of the programme through to completion. See table 1.0 below which illustrates simple progression from year 1 to year 2.

At present, the following HIN rules must be adhered to when submitting data to HESA.

1. Once a NUMHUS has been assigned to the programme on which the student is registered, it must continue to be used for that programme every time details of the student on the programme are returned to HESA.
2. Within a given collection the same HIN cannot be used more than once. A student can have more than one record but each record must be identified by a different NUMHUS. Records with the same combination of HUSID, INSTID and NUMHUS will fail validation.
3. Once a record has been returned for one HESA year, a record with the same HIN will be required for subsequent years, until the student completes the programme of study (RSNLEAVE and DATELEFT completed), suspends their study on the programme (NOTACT completed) or becomes dormant (63 or 64 returned in MODE).

Further information on the HIN is available in Appendix 11 of the Student Record Coding Manual.

Changes to HIN processing for 2006/07 Student Record (C06011)

HIN Checks 6 and 7 upgraded to errors

From 2006/07, HIN checks 6 and 7 will become errors; HIN checks 1 to 5 and 8 continue to be warnings. Checks 6 and 7 highlight cases where HIN links have been broken or are missing. Institutions are required to restore broken HIN links, submit missing records and restore valid data that has been overwritten, particularly where ‘known’ data has been replaced with ‘not known’ data. As part of the credibility checking process, institutions continue to have the opportunity to confirm cases where data that was incorrect in a previous submission is being corrected in the current submission.

New data collection submission status

A new status of COMMIT passed but HIN failed is being introduced for the 2006/07 Student Record data collection. If there are any errors in HIN checks 6 and 7, then the status of the transaction that would otherwise have passed COMMIT level checks will be COMMIT passed but HIN failed. Check documentation and all other reports resulting from a successful COMMIT transaction will be produced when an outcome of COMMIT passed but HIN failed is generated. Institutions will need to resolve HIN errors and resubmit data to produce a successful COMMIT. Submissions can also be set to COMMIT by Institutional Liaison once errors are resolved.

Changes to HIN processing for 2007/08 Student Record (C07051)

New HIN rules

The following HIN rules will be introduced in 2007/08, however institutions have been forewarned (ref. Circular 06/06) of the need for data quality improvements in relation to HIN linking in 2006/07. Institutions are therefore strongly advised to apply these rules to the 2006/07 Student Record in order to to ensure that HIN linking in 2007/08 onwards is of the highest standard.

Requirement to account for all HINs on the HIN Target List

The HIN Target List, produced when data submitted to HESA passes COMMIT checks, lists students in the current year’s submission on courses that have not been closed off in one of the following ways:

• Instance.RSNEND and Instance.ENDDATE completed or
• Instance.NOTACT completed or
• 63, 64, 73 and 74 returned in Instance.MODE

Institutions are required to account for all HINs present in the HIN Target List in the next year's submission by either submitting an active record indicating that the student returned to resume study on the instance, or submitting a dormant record indicating that the student has been dormant for the whole of the reporting period. HESA will no longer assume dormancy where a record that is expected (because it was present in the HIN Target List) is missing from the submission. From 2007/08 institutions are required to state explicitly that the student is dormant by submitting a dormant record. Once this dormant record has been submitted it is not necessary to continue submitting records in subsequent years, unless the student resumes study, in which case an active record will be required, or a qualification is being reported from the dormant mode. Institutions are encouraged to adopt this practice for 2006/07.

If you have any queries on the issues raised in this Circular, please contact the Institutional Liaison team at HESA, or email(liaison@hesa.ac.uk).

Yours sincerely