09/01 - October

Dear Colleagues

2008/09 HESA Financial Statistics Return with HE-BCI Survey (Ref.: C08031)

This Circular contains links to documents and further guidance that are required for the C08031 Finance Statistics Return (FSR) with Higher Education-Business and Community Interaction Survey (HE-BCI) data collection. Institutions are therefore requested to review the information contained in the C08031 FSR with HE-BCI coding manual.

Key deadlines

Institutions are required to send complete data that has passed validation to HESA by 23 December 2009.

To meet this deadline institutions are required to submit all three components: 08031 FSR, 08032 HE-BCI Survey Part B, and 08033 HE-BCI Survey Part A. For those institutions in Scotland opting not to participate in the HE-BCI Survey a Nil Return form should be completed and returned to HESA.

The last submission of files must be made no later than 15 January 2010 - also the date the collection is to be signed-off.

Completion of the FSR (08031) and HE-BCI Survey Part B (08032) templates

Institutions must use the Excel templates provided for 08031 FSR and 08032 HE-BCI Part B. Please note that data must be returned to HESA using the most recent version of the template provided; the template version is detailed in cell D2 of each Excel spreadsheet.

Institutions are reminded to complete each template with the UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) and country code (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) in cells B3 and B4 respectively. The UK Provider Reference Number is the unique identifier allocated to institutions by the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP) and you can find your institution's UKPRN from here.

Completion of the HE-BCI Survey Part A (08033) web form

The web form for HE-BCI Survey Part A will be made available to institutions when the data collection system opens at the beginning of December. In preparation for the completion of Part A institutions are advised to familiarise themselves with the following articles Changes to the HE-BCI Survey Part A (pdf) and HE-BCI Survey Part A questions and guidance.

Nil return form

The completion of the HE-BCI Survey is not compulsory for institutions in Scotland. All institutions in Scotland are required to complete a Nil Return form to indicate whether or not the institution will be submitting HE-BCI Survey Part A and Part B. This form will be made available to download from the C08031 coding manual webpage. All institutions in Scotland are required to complete and return this form to Institutional Liaison by 23 December 2009.

Previously announced changes to the FSR with HE_BCI Survey Collection for 2008/09

Institutions should ensure that they refer to the most recent version of the C08031 FSR with HE-BCI Survey Collection coding manual, as detailed in the C08031 Revision history. Institutions have previously been advised of all changes to the coding manual for the 2008/09 year; these are listed in the Summary of changes for C08031. From 2008/09 onwards the collection of the HE-BCI Survey has been transferred to HESA to be collected with the HESA Finance Statistics Return. Details of the transfer of this survey can be viewed in the Transfer of the HE-BCI Survey from HEFCE to HESA (pdf).

Additional Guidance

1. HE_BCI Survey Part B Table 1: Collaborative Research

Institutions should note that for 2008/09 HE-BCI the focus on contributions to collaborative projects has changed, moving away from including contributions made by the University itself.

'Collaborative research' should involve

grant-in-aid from at least one public body, and
a material contribution (which may be cash or 'in kind' if specified in the collaborative agreement and auditable) from at least one external non-academic collaborator.

Thus note that the text of paragraph 3 in General Guidance on Table 1: Research related activities, Head 1: Collaborative research involving public funding, reads: "In-kind contributions include contributions to the project from the non-academic collaborators (for example staff time, use of equipment and other resources, materials, provision of data etc) as described in the project collaboration agreement."

2. HE-BCI Survey Part B Table 5: Specifying other forms of social, cultural and community engagement

Institutions completing Sub-heads 1e and 2e 'Other' are required to complete the appropriate text boxes located on this sheet of the template to specify alternative public events which are classified as social, cultural and community engagements.

Data quality

Institutions are asked to pay particular attention to the data quality reports (check documentation) produced and to the queries raised during data collection. Institutions are requested to endeavour to resubmit data promptly in order to resolve quality issues where they arise. For 2008/09 Statutory Customers have advised HESA that they expect more attention to be paid to data quality in order for there to be confidence in onward use of the dataset.

The following specific checks are undertaken as part of the verification procedure:

1. Published accounts

HESA will be checking for consistency between the FSR and the published accounts.

Institutions in Wales and Scotland are requested to send a copy of their published accounts to Institutional Liaison at HESA as soon as they become available but no later than 18 December 2009. (The published accounts for institutions in England will be forwarded to HESA by HEFCE by this date).

2. Electronic accounts returned to HEFCE

Institutions in England and Northern Ireland return electronic financial accounts to HEFCE as part of the Annual accountability return. HESA will be checking for consistency between the FSR, the published accounts and the electronic financial accounts.

Colleagues responsible for completing the FSR should therefore refer to these electronic financial accounts before submitting data to HESA.

3. Check documentation

Institutions are advised to ensure that sufficient time is spent examining the check documentation produced through a successful commit to ensure that new errors have not been introduced which would cause degradation to data quality.

i. Cost centres

HESA will be checking for the consistent use of cost centres across all data streams, and as such, the distribution of student FTE, staff FTE, expenditure and research income by cost centre will be checked.

ii. Summary statistics

The check documentation contains a series of summary statistics taken from Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4 for institutions to verify. The check documentation also presents the Key Financial Indicators as published in the heidi web-based management information service.

iii. Year-on-year checks

The check documentation includes previous and current year comparative checks (including restated figures) using a combination of absolute values and ratios.

4. Comparative checks between 08031 FSR and 08032 HE-BCI Survey Part B

HESA will be conducting cross-checks between the data submitted in these two spreadsheet returns. Details of the checks that will take place are listed on the front page of the HE-BCI B template.

Access and PIN codes

HESA places a great deal of importance on the security of the systems that process HESA data. Following a review of security mechanisms that support the HESA Data Collection System (known as "Aardvark") the Agency has introduced some changes to the user registration process which are now being implemented across the various streams of data collection. In the past record contacts at institutions used an emailed Access Code to create accounts and/or add new permissions to existing accounts.

From now on, in addition to the Access Code, users will also need a PIN code to create new accounts and/or add permissions to existing accounts. The PIN code will be distributed by letter a few days in advance of the Access Codes which will continue to be distributed by email. Both the Access Code emails and the PIN letters are sent to the nominated FSR with HE-BCI Survey Record contact at institutions. It is therefore imperative that any changes to contact details are notified to HESA immediately by contacting Institutional Liaison.

Sign-off procedure

This procedure is designed to increase awareness of the importance of the verification stage as an integral part of making the return.

It is required that the sign-off slip for this return is completed by the Head of the reporting institution, or by a person with suitable authority. Once HESA has analysed submitted data, and this data has been deemed credible, an automated email will be sent to the Head of the institution. The sign-off slip will be attached to this email.

The deadline for completion and return of the FSR with HE-BCI Record sign-off slip is 15 January 2010.

Post-collection amendments to HESA return (Fixed database)

Since 2004/05 exceptional amendments, previously handled by the appropriate Funding Council, are being collected via HESA. This Fixed database process is separate from the main data collection and will only be available to an institution on the explicit instruction of the appropriate Statutory Customer e.g. Funding Council. Furthermore, Statutory Customers will only approve specific changes to the collection and so institutions will need to obtain approval for every field they wish to change. Institutions should also be aware that onward use of information, for example in HESA publications will be based on the original data collected and not on any amended data.

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

Yours sincerely

C. Jane Wild

Director of Operations