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HESA Aggregate return for student studying wholly overseas 2012/13 Coverage of the record

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Version 1.0 Produced 2012-10-26

General definition

In general, the Aggregate offshore record should be collected in respect of students studying (to date) wholly outside the UK who are either registered with the reporting institution or who are studying for an award of the reporting institution. This will include all students active at any point in the reporting period, including students becoming dormant part way through the year, and those withdrawing from courses. Students who are dormant for the entire reporting year should be excluded from the return.

There are a small number of distance learning students studying outside the UK who are funded - e.g. Crown servants overseas and the Services. For these students a full individualised record is needed. In addition, if students studying wholly outside the UK are considered fundable under Funding Council Early Statistics rules, then they should not be included in the Aggregate offshore record; such students should continue to be included in the individualised Student record only. All other distance learning students studying outside the UK who are not fundable distance learning students are required to be included in the Aggregate offshore record.

Where students are studying credits at different levels they should only be included as a headcount once and within the highest level of study. For example, a student following both a PG and an UG course is counted against the PG LEVEL and not against the UG Level.

Link between coverage of the Student record and the Aggregate offshore record

If it is known at the beginning of the course that a student will spend eight or more consecutive course weeks in the UK as part of their programme then they should be included on the Student record throughout. For reporting years in which they spend no time in the UK they should be coded as 'S -Studying abroad and included in the Student record as student has spent or will spend more than 8 weeks in the UK' in Instance.LOCSDY.

If a period of time of eight weeks or more is an optional part of the programme then the student should be included in the Student record only if they come to the UK for more than eight consecutive course weeks, and for the reporting year in which they come to the UK onwards. The Instance.COMDATE should reflect the start date of the instance abroad.

If a student is expected to spend less then eight consecutive course weeks in the UK during their entire programme they should be included on the Aggregate offshore record throughout.

Where students on distance learning programmes move between UK and overseas locations as a consequence of changes in personal circumstances they will need to remain on the Student record.

For years where the student spends the whole year at the reporting institution, use code 'X - At returning and/or franchised institution for whole year' in Instance.LOCSDY. For years where the student spends part or all of the year abroad, use code 'S -Studying abroad and included in the Student record as student has spent or will spend more than 8 weeks in the UK' in Instance.LOCSDY.

In addition, there may in any year be a small number of UK-domiciled (probably research) students who, due to the nature of their research, spend their entire studies overseas. These students will need to be included in the HESA Student record. Such students should be coded 'F On study year abroad for the year as a whole' in Instance.LOCSDY, for each year of their instance, with the appropriate full-time or part-time codes used for Instance.MODE. Given the likely small numbers of such students it this combination of coding will be accepted by means of a validation switch.

Courses completed in the UK

Some students may commence their studies outside the UK and subsequently come to continue their studies within the UK. In such cases, up until the point at which they enter the UK, these students are to be included in the Aggregate offshore record; however, once they enter the UK to study, a full individualised record is required instead. Students who spend a sandwich, language or other year abroad as part of their overall course, which is otherwise UK based, are not to be included in the Aggregate offshore record. For these students a full individualised record is needed for all years of the course.

Articulation arrangements

Students studying under articulation arrangements but who do not meet the criteria of being either registered with the reporting institution or studying for an award of the reporting institution are not included in the Aggregate offshore record.

For clarification, under articulation arrangements the students are neither registered at a UK HEI nor do they receive a UK HEI award, but the UK HEI has guaranteed entry to a UK HEI course on successful completion of a programme at an overseas partner institution, where the students work for a qualification and follow a course of study that has been approved (and in some cases developed) by a UK HEI. With such arrangements the UK HEI is often seen as having a presence in the country concerned. The main reason for not collecting information on such arrangements in the return is that it is difficult to obtain a robust definition, and also the many and varied interpretations possible of the terms likely to be used.

Consortia arrangements

In the case of consortia arrangements, involving two or more UK HEIs, only one of the institutions should include the students in making returns to HESA. This should be the institution at which the students are registered and/or which will be making the award. Where this is not clearly distinguishable, it is up to the institutions concerned to agree which one should be responsible for making the returns to HESA, and for which years of the course (or for which students on a particular year of the course), as seems most appropriate, given the particular administrative arrangements in place.

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