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HESA Student Record 2007/08 - Start date of instance

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HESA Student Record 2007/08

All Fields

Start date of instance


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Short nameCOMDATE
Typefield
Description

This field indicates the date of the student's initial commencement of studies for this student instance and may relate to a date prior to the current academic/financial year. Exchange-in students should have the date they commenced their studies at the reporting institution.

Applicable toEngland Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Coverage

All instances where Instance.REDUCEDI = 00, 01, 02 or 03

Base data typexs:date
Field length10
Part of
Minimum occurrences0
Maximum occurrences1
Reason required

To determine whether to include a student in any particular population definition; to calculate the duration of a student's education

Examples

1. A student obtains a first degree and then enrols for a one year Masters course. These are two distinct courses at different levels (undergraduate/postgraduate) and therefore would have two Student instance numbers. In this case:

2. A student transfers after two years from an HND course to the second year of a degree course (with or without being awarded the HND). This may be represented in two different ways, depending on how it is viewed by the institution.

If within the institution this is regarded as a seamless continuation of studies, then it is the same student instance and the same Instance.NUMHUS is kept and Instance.YEARSTU increments by one year. In this case:

However, if within the institution this is regarded as two student instances, then a new Instance.NUMHUS is allocated and Instance.YEARSTU re-sets to 01. In this case:

When an institution does not have a clear preference between the two methods of reporting the progression to degree via study for an HND, it is recommended that the first method, using a single student instance, is used. This general guidance would also apply to other similar cases.

Notes

If a student transfers from one HEI to another, the date they entered the current HEI for this qualification aim should be returned in this field.

All date fields in the Student Record must be completed using the ISO8601 format of YYYY-MM-DD. The specification of this field falls within the scope of the MIAP Common Data Definitions project.

Relationship with Instance.NUMHUS and Instance.YEARSTU:

For a single student instance, the same Student instance number is kept. Instance.YEARSTU would be expected to increment each year. However there would be no up-dating of Instance.COMDATE nor of other fields in the Entry profile - an exception being, if, for example, an error had been found in the information provided in the previous year).

With the commencement of a new student instance, a new Instance.NUMHUS would be allocated. Instance.YEARSTU would be expected to be 01. Instance.COMDATE should all be up-dated and a new Entry profile should be submitted.

Where a student transfers from one course to another, the date should not be updated if the same Instance.NUMHUS is kept. For example, changes of subject without change of general qualification aim will not usually reset date of commencement of instance.

Neither should the field be re-set where a student registers for an 'intermediate' qualification aim with the clear intention (acknowledged by both student and institution) that, subject to satisfactory performance, s/he will progress seamlessly (and usually without being awarded the intermediate qualification) onto a 'higher' qualification aim. For example, if a student registers first for an MPhil then switches to a PhD, and this is regarded as normal progression in the institution, such that the same Student instance number is kept, the Instance.COMDATE should not be reset.

Where Y0/Y1/Y2 appear in business rules, these refer to the reporting period Y1-Y2 (e.g. for the 2007-08 reporting period, Y0 is 2006, Y1 is 2007 and Y2 is 2008).

OwnerManaging Information Across Partners - Common Data Definitions
Version1.2
Date modified2008-04-30
Change management notesNote added to clarify meaning of Y0/Y1/Y2 in business rules
Business rules
1(Error)

Instance.COMDATE must exist where Instance.REDUCEDI = 00, 01, 02 or 03

2(Error)

Instance.COMDATE must not be less than 1991-01-31

4(Error)

Instance.COMDATE must be less than Y2-08-01

Schema components
Element: COMDATE

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