C06018 Introduction
Introduction
Table of Contents
About HESA
Statutory Customers
Data Protection Requirements
Timescales for Data Collection
Completion of the Record
HESA Data Collection System
Who to Contact During Data Collection
Reference Dates
Coverage of the Record
The Dataset
Target Response Rates
Survey Instrument
Detailed Arrangements for Survey Management
Coding
DLHE - Computer-Assisted Coding of Text (CASCOT)
Queries
About HESA
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about higher education in the UK. It was set up, by agreement between the relevant government departments, the higher education funding councils and the universities and colleges, in 1993, following the White Paper Higher Education, a new framework, which called for more coherence in HE statistics, and the 1992 Higher and Further Education Acts, which established an integrated higher education system throughout the United Kingdom.
In line with the legal framework within which HESA operates the Board of Directors has defined the mission of the Agency as:
To provide a system of data collection, analysis, and dissemination in relation to higher education in the whole of the United Kingdom that:
- delivers, on a charitable basis, the information required by Higher Education Institutions for their planning and development;
and, operating on behalf of the higher education sector,
- supports and enhances the ability of Government and its Agencies to determine higher education policy and allocate funding;
- meets the public interest in the availability of quantitative information about higher education;
and does all this to standards of quality that assure fitness-for-purpose, at costs that provide best value, and in a manner designed to minimise compliance burdens on institutions.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency Ltd is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England (No. 2766993) at 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ. It is registered as Charity No. 1039709. The Agency is accredited to two recognised standards; BS EN ISO 9001(Quality Standard), Registration number GB 6244 and BS 7799 (Information Security Standard), Registration number GB 7226.
The members of the company are Universities UK and Guild HE, the Board of Directors comprises representatives of these bodies together with co-opted directors drawn from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Chairman is currently Professor David Melville, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Kent, the Chief Executive is Professor Robin Sibson. HESA is funded by subscription from all of the publicly funded universities and HE colleges throughout the United Kingdom.
Statutory Customers
HESA collects information from the publicly funded HEIs in the UK at the request of its Statutory Customers, which are currently:
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)
Welsh Assembly Government (WAG)
Scottish Executive (SE) [Scottish Government (SG)]
Department for Education and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL(NI))
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW)
Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC)
Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA)
Department of Health (DH)
Research Councils (RCs)
HESA's relationship with each of these statutory bodies is formalised by either a Service Level Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding or other formal basis, e.g. contract.
HESA is a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998, registration no. N0291011. The data received from HEIs is processed by HESA into a form suitable for analysis by each statutory body.
For more information about the statutory framework in which HESA operates please see the document 'Data Protection Guidance for the HESA Records' which can be found at Data Protection Guidance for the HESA Records
Data Protection Requirements
Personal data collected by HESA comprises the following records:
- Student Record
- Destinations of Leavers from HE
- Staff Record
Processing of these records must therefore comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Principle 1 of this Act requires information to be provided, or made readily available to data subjects so that they are not deceived or misled as to the purposes for which their data is to be processed. In order to satisfy this principle with respect to individual student records submitted to HESA, institutions are asked to make the collection notice contained in the document at Data Protection Guidance for the HESA Records available to their students. Institutions should provide this statement to students in the same way as the statement that covers their own uses of the data.
The collection notices for the above records have been put together by a working group comprising representatives of HESA and each of its Statutory Customers, since it was felt that the HEIs could not be expected to know exactly the scope of what is done with the HESA records after submission. These notices cover the uses made by HESA and each of its Statutory Customers and so are necessarily fairly general. The relevant Funding Council has supplied each HE Institution with text for collection notices and each country in the UK will have its own implementation arrangements. In addition, institutions should ensure that their own uses of the data are similarly covered in a statement provided to the leavers.
For more information on collection notices and other data protection issues, please see the data protection section of the HESA website (Data protection information), and the document at Data Protection Guidance for the HESA Records
For further information on Data Protection issues of particular relevance to the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) return see the Frequently Asked Questions document.
Timescales for Data Collection
The DLHE return includes those in the POPDLHE population for whom valid and complete data should be returned to the Agency by 31 March 2008. In order to be accepted by HESA, data must pass HESA validation checks. Institutions are encouraged to test their data locally using the validation kits made available by HESA before submitting data to the collection. Data which fails validation will not be considered to have been returned to the Agency.
Completion of the Record
Please refer to the DLHE Methodology 2006/07 document.
HESA Data Collection System
File Format
Data can be submitted in either its standard raw format (fixed-length or comma separated ASCII files) or compressed using PKZip/WinZip. Compressing data can sometimes solve the problem of not being able to send large amounts of data through the institution's Firewall (the protection between your computer and the Internet). In order for data to be processed successfully at HESA each Zip archive must contain one file only. The submission of data to HESA goes through three main stages; submission-level operations, the COMMIT transaction and return-level operations. If you require information about the HESA data collection system please click here http://submit.hesa.ac.uk and go to Help Guide.
Who to Contact During Data Collection
Institutions should consider Institutional Liaison (IL) as general first point of contact during (and outside of) data collection. Please therefore contact the agency’s IL team at HESA or email liaison@hesa.ac.uk.
Reference Dates
The reference dates for this collection of DLHE will be 16 April 2007 and 14 January 2008. Thus for the majority of students completing a programme in either autumn 2006 or summer 2007 the reference date will be six months after completion. Institutions should report firmly determined destinations in place at the reference dates. Note that despite there being two data capture reference dates, there is only one data collection - the return date for which is 31 March 2008.
TopCoverage of the Record
General definition
The individualised Student Record is collected in respect of all students registered in the reporting institution who follow programmes of study leading to the award of a qualification or institutional credit.
The Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) record supplements the Student Record in so far as it is linked to it and collects information about what those completing their HE experience go on to do. The record is in two parts: an early survey and a longitudinal follow up. However, this Manual describes only the part of the record to be collected by institutions in 2006/07, which is the early survey with two reference dates.
The definition of the population to be surveyed as part of the DLHE as at each of 16 April 2007 and 14 January 2008 is set out below with reference to the individualised Student Record.
Specification of DLHE Target Population (POPDLHE)
In terms of coding within the individualised Student Return
A student is counted within the POPDLHE population when
QUAL1 or QUAL2 =
02 Doctorate degree mainly by research.
03 Doctorate degree not mainly by research.
04 Masters degree mainly by research.
05 Masters degree not mainly by research.
06 Postgraduate bachelors degree mainly by research.
07 Postgraduate bachelors degree not mainly by research.
08 Postgraduate diploma or certificate (not PGCE) not mainly by research.
12 Ordinary PGCE.
13 Articled PGCE.
14 Postgraduate diploma or certificate (not PGCE) mainly by research.
18 First degree leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a Health or Social Care or Veterinary statutory regulatory body.
20 First degree with Qualified Teacher Status/registration with General Teaching Council.
21 First degree.
22 Enhanced first degree.
23 First degree and diploma (to be obtained concurrently).
28 Foundation degree.
29 Diploma of Higher Education.
30 Certificate of Higher Education.
33 Diploma in HE leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care regulatory body.
41 HND.
42 HNC.
and
LOCSDY <> 7 (Whole of the programme outside the UK)
and
RSNLEAVE <> 05 ( Death)
and
MODE <>
63 Dormant - previously full-time.
64 Dormant - previously part-time.
and
DOMICILE =
1610 - Austria
1614 - Belgium
1638 - Cyprus
1639 - Czech Republic
1641 - Denmark
1651 - Finland
1653 - France
1656 - Germany
1659 - Gibraltar
1661 - Greece
1670 - Hungary
1676 - Irish Republic
1678 - Italy
1693 - Luxembourg
1700 - Malta
1710 - Netherlands (Holland)
1727 - Poland
1728 - Portugal
1751 - Spain
1755 - Sweden
1831 - Estonia
1832 - Latvia
1833 - Lithuania
1850 - Slovakia
1835 - Slovenia
3826 - Channel Islands
4826 - Isle of Man
5826 – England
6826 – Wales
7826 – Scotland
8826 – Northern Ireland
(In addition, if Domicile information is not provided, then an assumption of UK is made unless DOMICILE = ‘1782’ or ‘1783’ and FEEELIG = ‘2’.)
From this population:
Those for whom 01-08-06 <=DATELEFT<=31-12-06 should be surveyed with reference to 16 April 2007
Those for whom 01-01-07 <=DATELEFT<=31-07-07 should be surveyed with reference to 14 January 2008
The Dataset
The record includes 56 fields, not all of which will be relevant for all leavers – the selection of appropriate fields will depend on their individual circumstances. The record specification has been devised in such a way that institutions are required to return a valid entry in all fields for all respondents. Where appropriate default values are available the notes to each field set out the circumstances in which these defaults should be used.
A ‘core’ dataset has been specified which identifies those fields which institutions must complete in order to provide a valid response for an individual leaver. These ‘core’ fields do not allow any default values for the leavers to whom they apply. The core fields are fields F1-F6, F9, F10, F33, F36, F47-F50.
Institutions are required to meet the full data specification. Doing so will enable the higher education community to present the best possible statistics, and therefore the best possible statement of its total contribution. It will also enable HESA to have in place a sound basis for time series comparisons for future years. HESA is firmly of the view that HE institutions have nothing to lose, and much to gain, from the provision of comprehensive information about their work.
Target Response Rates
For 2006/07 each institution has a target response rate of 80% for UK-domiciled (i.e. home) leavers who previously studied full-time. Similarly the target response rate for those UK-domiciled leavers who studied part-time is 70%. For all other EU students the target response rate is 50%. The target response rate for research council funded students is 80%; these students are not however identified specifically in the POPDLHE list.
Survey Instrument
The survey instrument is a standard questionnaire available in various formats. The paper questionnaire is produced centrally and distributed to institutions. A centrally-hosted, (that is, hosted by HESA) DLHE questionnaire is available for graduates to complete online and their submitted questionnaires are held at HESA, until the data is required by the institutions and downloaded. An HTML version for institutions to host locally is also available, as is a PDF version, which institutions can send as an attachment to an email. Telephone scripts are also produced centrally and are a subset of the questions featured on the questionnaire. Institutions will be able to use the mix of data collection methods that best suits them to ensure they achieve the best possible response to the survey.
The paper questionnaire is available in an A3 flat sheet, or folded into A4 or A5. It has space for institutions to overprint names and addresses or attach labels. Paper questionnaires and telephone scripts will be distributed in March 2007 for the April 2007 survey and in September 2007 for the January 2008 survey. Any instructions for the centrally-hosted online questionnaire, including the control panel and access codes, will be made available two weeks prior to the census date for the April 2007 survey, and during November 2007 for the January 2008 survey. The HTML and PDF versions will be made available to institutions by way of the HESA website in February for the April 2007 survey and will be added to the HESA website for use in the January 2008 survey later in the year.
Detailed Arrangements for Survey Management
Data capture for the April 2007 survey should not begin until after the reference date of 16 April 2007 and initial contact with the graduate should be made within the first two weeks (16 to 30 April 2007). Data capture for the January 2008 survey should begin in November 2007; initial contact with the graduate taking place between 19 and 30 November 2007. The timetable for the collection is set out in the Data Schedule.
Coding
HESA is investigating the most appropriate way of ensuring consistent and accurate coding of SOC and SIC for occupation and industry coding. In order to allow for a possible range of options, the record specification includes text fields for institutions to return the job title and employer’s business information to HESA.
In an attempt to ease the burden of DLHE on institutions, and with agreement of the statutory users, the return of text information in Fields 7, MAKEDO and 10, JOBTITLE has again this year been made voluntary. If institutions intend to key the text of job titles and/or employers business for their own purposes then they are asked to return the information to HESA, but they are not required to key it if they have no need for it internally. If your institution does not choose to return the text information in one or both of fields 7, MAKEDO and 10, JOBTITLE then default codes 'XXXX' should be used in the fields.
TopDLHE - Computer-Assisted Coding of Text (CASCOT)Coding tool - SIC and SOC
CASCOT is designed to assign a code to a string of text. In the case of the SOC this string of text is typically a job title obtained from the DLHE survey. It has been developed by the Warwick Institute for Employment Research, and released under licence to institutions via HESA for the purpose of assisting with coding of text in the DLHE return.
Queries
If you have any queries arising concerning data collection, or need advice on completing this record, please contact the Agency's Institutional Liaison team at HESA (liaison@hesa.ac.uk).
