04/03 - April
Dear Colleagues
Guidance for completing Student Record Field 35, DATELEFT for records within the DLHE Target Population (POPDLHE)
From 2003/04 onwards the DLHE record will have two census dates each year. For the 2003/04 academic year the census dates are 15 April 2004 and 14 January 2005.
DLHE April Survey
Students who meet the criteria for inclusion within the POPDLHE and who complete their programmes of study between 1 August 2003 and 31 December 2003 have a DLHE census date of 15 April 2004. In addition to meeting the criteria for inclusion within the POPDLHE, these leavers will be returned to HESA in the 2003/04 Student Record with a date between 1 August 2003 and 31 December 2003 returned in field 35, DATELEFT.
DLHE January Survey
Students who meet the criteria for inclusion within the POPDLHE and who complete their programmes of study between 1 January 2004 and 31 July 2004 have a DLHE census date of 14 January 2005. In addition to meeting the criteria for inclusion within the POPDLHE, these leavers will be returned to HESA in the 2003/04 Student Record with a date between 1 January 2004 and 31 July 2004 returned in field 35, DATELEFT.
Field 35, DATELEFT and POPDLHE
For the purpose of HESA returns, completing a programme of study is defined as being the point at which the taught or structured part of the programme of study, including any formal writing-up period, is completed i.e. once the student is no longer actively following the programme of study, and not any later stage such as, for example, final confirmation of award.
Only records that meet the criteria for inclusion in the POPDLHE and have a date within the reporting period (1 August 2003 - 31 July 2004) in field 35, DATELEFT will be included in the 2003/04 POPDLHE report. Records with dates outside this period or where DATELEFT is blank will not be included in POPDLHE.
- Resit Exams and/or Results from Late Exam Boards: Students
who complete their programmes by 31 July but who have resit
examinations to take and/or whose final confirmation of award by exam
boards may be several months after this date should be returned to HESA
as leavers (in the reporting period ending that 31 July and not the
next) if their results are known before the student record data
collection closes. The date returned in DATELEFT should be the date of
completing the programme and not the date of final confirmation of
award. Records for such students will be included in the POPDLHE
(assuming that they meet all other criteria). However, if the results
are not known before the student record data collection closes they
should be returned in the next reporting period by submitting a record
with the appropriate dormant code in field 70, MODE. Records returned
in this way will not be included in the POPDLHE.
- Non-standard Academic years: Students on programmes of study
with non-standard academic years i.e. year of programme of study not
contained within the HESA reporting period (1 August - 31 July) should
be returned to HESA accurately. For example a 1 year MSc programme from
October 2002 to October 2003 should have a record with an active mode
submitted for both the 2002/03 and 2003/04 reporting periods, even if
the method of returning FTE is 100:0 and even if the qualification
obtained is known before the 2002/03 student record closes.
- Interim Awards: Institutions that award interim qualifications for students who are continuing on a programme of study can continue to return this information to HESA if they wish, however DATELEFT should not be completed in order to indicate that these students are continuing on the programme. Records returned in this way will not be included in the POPDLHE. Alternatively institutions can return interim qualifications when the student completes the programme by completing fields 37, QUAL1 and 38, QUAL2 indicating the date the student completed the programme in field 35, DATELEFT. Records returned in this way will be included in the POPDLHE (assuming that all other criteria is met).
Students incorrectly included in the 2002/03 DLHE Collection
HESA has become aware that there are cases where students who were actively following a programme of study in the early part of the 2003/04 reporting period have been incorrectly returned as leavers in the 2002/03 reporting period and therefore included in the 2002/03 DLHE collection. It is not possible to rectify this error, but institutions are reminded that where a students activity continues into the next reporting period this should be accurately reported in the student record.
Further Information
If you have any queries on the issues raised in this Circular, please contact the Institutional Liaison team (Marietta Nkweta, Janet Earl or Clara Elcocks) at HESA, or email (liaison@hesa.ac.uk).
Yours sincerely
Andy Youell
Director of Quality and Development
