01/03 - November

Dear Colleagues

THE 2001/02 DECEMBER HESA STUDENT RECORD COLLECTION (REF C01011A)

Timescales for Collection

The critical dates in this collection are as follows:

Changes to the December Student Return

Through Circular 01/01, issued in May 2001, HESA informed institutions of the reduction of the 2001/02 (C01011A) and subsequent December collections by 19 fields. Details can be found at index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537&Itemid=233. A reminder that the file structure of this return will not change – but in processing, HESA will not validate or load any of the fields other than those listed in the operational documentation. Institutions therefore do not need to change the software that generates the December file unless they wish to do so.

Changes to the Student Record Coding Manual for 2001/02 were highlighted in Circular 00/03, issued in November 2000, which is available at javascript:alert('Archived content - please email Inst. Liaison');.

Student Record Validation

As with previous recent data collections, two stages of validation take place; ‘Submission-level’ validation and ‘COMMIT-stage’ validation. Validation kits for the submission-level validation rules are available from the ‘Validation’ section of the HESA WWW server at index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=607&Itemid=233. These kits contain all of the validation checks that are run when files are submitted to HESA.

COMMIT-stage validation checks in the C01011A collection

Check Documentation

Once a return has successfully passed the COMMIT-stage, check documentation will be downloadable from the web site. HESA will also begin scrutiny of the return at this point and may wish to raise quality issues with the Student record contact at this time. A copy of the check documentation template, along with the definitions used in the analyses, can be found on the HESA WWW site at index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=233.

Method of Returning Student data to HESA

The Data collection utilises a web-based data collection system; this system is designed to provide institutions with greater usability and a faster response to submissions. Colleagues in institutions will need to register as users of the data collection system in order to administer their submission. Registration requires an access code, which will be emailed to record contacts once the system is live for a particular collection. Colleagues who have already created user accounts for the web-based data collection system can use these accounts for the December Student Record collection, but will need the access code issued to enter this collection. Existing user account holders will then need to add themselves to the group for this particular collection through the ‘Registration Details’ section of the data collection system.

The web address for the data collection system is http://submit.hesa.ac.uk. This site provides step-by-step instructions on how to send a Student Record to HESA. The data collection system operates via a web interface and uses transactions to identify the processes to be undertaken. The INSERT transaction adds your return and the DELETE transaction allows you to replace your return. The web interface removes the need for any control files. Errors, Warnings, Check Documentation and other information will be downloadable from this web site and will not be emailed or posted to you.

To make full use of the data collection system you need to use one of the following web browsers:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or above (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/)
Netscape Navigator 3.0 or above (http://www.netscape.com/)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 with the file upload add-on installed any other RFC 1867-compliant browser.

Most browsers can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet. The browsers above can be obtained from the addresses in brackets next to them. You may wish to ask your local IT support team to do this for you.

The data collection system is an interactive system, allowing institutions full control of their data submissions. However, colleagues should note that they need to be pro-active in requesting feedback information from the system - Errors, Warnings and Check Documentation need to be downloaded from the web page (simply by clicking on the appropriate icon) - these reports will not be emailed or posted to you. Similarly, whilst using the system, you may need to re-activate the web page by pressing the ‘Refresh’ button - otherwise you may think the system has not responded simply because your screen is no longer showing you the live picture.

Collection and system news will be displayed on the system through the collection, please read these items as they provide information regarding the ongoing data collection operations.

Clarification about the use of UCAS data in making HESA returns

As announced in Report 01/02, published by HEFCE in January, UCAS, HESA and the funding councils, in consultation with government education departments, have agreed an implementation plan designed to improve the links between data captured by UCAS and data that institutions provide to HESA.

Record contacts may not be aware that currently there are a series of transfer records available from the UCAS on-line record transfer system (MARVIN) that should be used to assist institutions in the use of UCAS data in making returns to HESA in 2001-02. Following Report 01/02, UCAS and HESA have identified where each of the items in the HESA Student Record originally coded by UCAS appear in these UCAS transactions. For clarification therefore details of these MARVIN transactions are contained in a table that is published on the websites of both organisations. Where mapping from the MARVIN source is necessary, as indicated in the table, the underlying algorithms are also available via the web. Descriptions of the processing checks applied to this data by UCAS are also shown in the table. These documents can be found on the HESA website at http://www.hesa.ac.uk/datacoll/ucas-hesa/ucas-hesa.htm.

Institutions should use these MARVIN transactions in making their 2001-02 submissions and feed back to UCAS/HESA any comments arising from experience of their use. Where the status of a field is ‘Compulsory for UCAS entrants’, it is acceptable for institutions to simply incorporate into the HESA returns the information that UCAS provides, as already coded by UCAS. Institutions may take further steps to improve the accuracy of this information, but are not obliged to do so in 2001-02. In the case of entrants for whom UCAS has supplied a ‘not known’ value in a particular field, institutions may simply copy this across into the HESA returns: it is not necessary to ask the students concerned for the missing information. (In these cases the default ‘not known’ or ‘not stated’ codes should be used, rather than returning a blank). Institutions should carry forward the information obtained from UCAS into their HESA returns for these students for subsequent years of the programme of study.

New computer systems

As a result of the data quality checking applied to institutions’ data, we are increasingly aware of problems arising when institutions change computer packages. We would therefore recommend that institutions ensure that when installing a new computer system a facility is in place to migrate the data from the old system to the new system. Fields such as Field 21 Highest qualification on entry (QUALENT2) will often see a large increase in ‘Not known’ values after a new computer system is installed. Although not now a required field for the December student return, it is particularly critical that Field 151/136 Student instance number (NUMHUS) is migrated correctly for all continuing students in advance of reporting for the July student return. This field [Field 151/136 Student instance number (NUMHUS)] contains valid entries of up-to 20 character alphanumeric code. Software must therefore be capable of holding up to 20 characters in this field – we are aware that this is not currently the case for certain software. If the student instance number is changed during the migration to a new computer system this can result in all continuing students for the institution being marked as non-completers. Institutions must ensure that, regardless of software changes, previous student instance numbers are maintained for continuing students.

Further Guidance on the Student Record 2001/02 (first given in Circular 01/02, issued in June 2001, for C00011B - the July 2000/01 collection)

As a result of analysis of this field and visits to institutions by HEFCE, it has been identified that many institutions are inferring this information about students from Highest qualification on entry, rather than directly asking the question. Institutions should be requesting this information from students during the enrolment/registration process. The New entrant to HE field is used to indicate whether the student has previously studied at higher education level, at a UK institution, and whether or not the course resulted in success. This field is also important to the DfES to quantify ‘initial entrants’ to HE.

Medical students

Students on freestanding pre-clinical medicine and dentistry courses should have Subject of qualification aim coded as A1 (pre-clinical medicine) or A2 (pre-clinical dentistry) and code the Qualification aim as 19 (Degree with eligibility to practice). The course length should be coded appropriately for the freestanding course alone and should not take account of any potential future courses required to become a doctor. On completion of the course these students should have their Qualification obtained coded as 21 and not 19.

HND to Degree bridging courses

Institutions have flexibility in deciding whether to maintain a HIN link between HND and degree programmes. However, where a student moves directly from an HND or Foundation degree to a bridging course and then on to a degree, subsequent analysis using the HESA record is simplified if institutions treat this as a single student instance. We would therefore ask institutions to maintain the same HIN. In many cases this will cause the year of programme of study to become non-standard, but institutions should treat this as being part of a standard year of programme of study. Where a student takes a significant break between the HND and the bridging course or the bridging course and the degree these may be treated as separate student instances.

Students who leave before 1 Dec

Institutions are required to return records on both the December and July returns for all students active within the HESA reporting periods. However, it was recognised that this requirement would place a considerable burden on institutions. Guidance in the 1998/99 HESA Student Record Coding Manual was therefore amended to permit ‘anyone who leaves a programme of study so early that they are discounted as a starter in the institution’s own records’ need not be returned to HESA. Following work carried out by the HEFCE, wide variation in practice has been discovered. To allow consistent analysis of the HESA record the following guidance is intended to replace that previously given.

Institutions need not return records for students who start a course and leave within the first two weeks without completing. Students who start a course and do not leave within the first two weeks will need a record returned on all applicable datasets. It should be noted that Statutory Customers and HESA will exclude from progression analyses any records returned for students who start a course and leave within the first two weeks without completing. If a student is registered at the institution on the 1 December they must be returned to HESA whether they leave within the first two weeks of the programme or not. There are no current plans to create Performance Indicators (PIs) based on early leavers but there is a policy interest in the extent to which students leave early in their course.

Who to Contact During Data Collection

Institutions should consider Institutional Liaison as a general first point of contact for any HESA issue.

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