PIs 2005/06: Definitions (applicable to tables T3, T4 and T5)
Definitions (applicable to tables T3, T4 and T5)
Coverage
Higher education (HE) students are those students on programmes of study for which the level of instruction is above that of level 3 of the National Qualifications Framework, i.e. courses leading to the Advanced Level of the General Certificate of Education (GCE A-levels), the Advanced Level of the Vocational Certificate of Education (VCE A-levels) or the Advanced Higher Grade and Higher Grade of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Advanced Highers/Highers).
The data used in constructing the indicators have been taken from the HESA database. The HESA Student Record contains information about individual enrolments, which, because a student can be enrolled on more than one programme of study, will exceed the number of students. Postdoctoral students are not included in the HESA Student Record.
All students included in the tables are those whose normal residence is in the United Kingdom, excluding the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. This information comes primarily from the HESA POSTCODE field, with the DOMICILE field used if there is no valid postcode supplied. If neither field supplies valid information, it is assumed that the student is resident in the UK. Incoming and visiting exchange students and students studying for the whole of their programme of study outside the UK are excluded from the tables.
Age
Many of the tables are split between young and mature students, defined as follows:
- Young students are those who are aged under 21 at 30 September of the academic year in which they are recorded as entering the institution. So for students recorded as entering an institution in 2004/05, young students are those born after 30 September 1983.
- Mature students are those who are aged 21 or over, also at 30 September of the academic year in which they are recorded as entering the institution.
Students whose date of birth is not given, or whose date of birth suggests that they are under 10 years, are allocated to age group ‘unknown’. For tables which provide information about young students, mature students, and all students, this means that the numbers under ‘All students’ are not necessarily the sum of ‘Young students’ and ‘Mature students’.
Mode of study
- Full-time students are those recorded as studying full-time at an institution, or on thick or thin sandwich courses, provided that the length of the course is at least 24 weeks.
- Part-time students are those recorded as studying part-time, or full-time on courses lasting less than 24 weeks.
Level of study
The level of study is taken from the qualification aim of the student. Only undergraduate students are included in Tables T3 to T4 at present. First degree students are those studying for any type of first degree; other undergraduate students are those studying for foundation degrees, diplomas, certificates and other undergraduate courses. The codes for qualification aims (HESA field QUALAIM) used to define the level are shown below.
| 2005/06 QUALAIM codes | |
| First degree | 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 |
| Other undergraduate | 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 61, 97 |
Entrants (applicable to tables T3 and T4)
Tables T3 to T4 provide information about entrants to an institution. These are defined as students who started a programme of study at that institution during the academic year of interest. This is based on the commencement date of the student’s study (HESA field COMDATE). While most entrants go into the first year of a programme of study, some will start on the second, or later, year of programme, for example if they transfer from another institution. Entrants who are recorded as leaving before 1 December (HESA field DATELEFT) have not been included in the calculations, unless the record contains important information such as a qualification. It has been agreed that students leaving this early in their studies should be disregarded for the purposes of the performance indicators.
Starters (applicable to table T5)
Table T5 is based on starters at an institution. The concept of a starter has been used to be consistent with the method of projecting outcomes. Students at a particular institution are defined as starters if they are full-time degree students who have not been studying at that institution full-time for a degree in either of the two years prior to the academic year of interest. This means that students who were on a diploma course in the previous year at the current institution and have transferred to a degree course in the current year will count as starters (unless they had been on a degree course there in either of the two previous years). Such students will not necessarily count as entrants. On the other hand, a student who has spent one year at an institution on a degree course, then spends a year out of studies but comes back onto a different degree course, will not be counted as a starter, but may be counted as an entrant.
Qualifications obtained
In looking at progression statistics, we have had to look at students obtaining a qualification. We have generally distinguished between students obtaining a degree and those obtaining some other undergraduate qualification. For the research indicators, we have also looked at the number of students awarded doctorate degrees by research. This information comes from the highest qualification obtained field (the highest value of QUAL1 and QUAL2) using the codes given below. For progression purposes, we have assumed that students found subsequently on a postgraduate course have qualified with a first degree.
| 2005/06 QUAL1 or QUAL2 codes | |
| Degree | 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 |
| Other undergraduate | 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52 |
Low-participation neighbourhoods
This definition uses work carried out into the rates of participation in higher education of young people. Full details are provided below. Areas for which the participation rate is less than two-thirds of the UK average rate have been defined as low-participation neighbourhoods. Students have been allocated to these neighbourhoods on the basis of their postcodes, using the Super Profiles classification.
Benchmarks
For definitions of the fields used to create the benchmarks, please refer to the benchmarks document. These fields include:
- subject of study
- entry qualifications.
Context statistics
Please refer to the participation definitions for full details.
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. 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.
This rounding strategy is also applied to total figures; the consequence of which is that the sum of numbers in each row or column will rarely precisely match the total shown.
Average values, proportions and FTE values prepared by HESA will not be affected by the above strategy, and will be calculated on precise raw numbers. However, percentages and indicators calculated on populations which contain less than 20 individuals will be suppressed and represented as a blank value.
Enquiries
Press: Call 01242 211120 or email pressoffice@hesa.ac.uk.
General enquiries should be sent to piteam@hesa.ac.uk.
Enquiries regarding the Performance Indicators Steering Group (PISG)
should be directed to the HEFCE Press Office on 0117 931 7307
