This field describes the previous provider attended by the student.

Compulsory for all students on designated courses where EntryProfile.DOMICILE = XF, XG, XH, XI, XK, XL, GG, JE, IM and Course.COURSEAIM = M22, M26, M28, H00, H11, H16, H18, H22, H23, I00, I11, I16, J10, J16, J20, J26, J30, C20, C30. Not required for students submitted for UNISTATS.

The identifier for the primary provider of teaching entered in this field must be obtained from the UK Register of Learning Providers.

Submitted UKPRNs will be verified against a valid list obtained from the UKRLP.

For students entering through UCAS this information will be available from UCAS via the *J transaction. It is not expected that the information contained within the *J will be updated by providers, however where updates are made these should be made with reference to the listing issued by UCAS to providers.

Where UCAS cannot provide a current UKPRN, they will map to the generic codes below.

UCAS holds the provider from which the UCAS application was received. HESA recognises that this will give a small percentage statistical error in the data for this field.

For non-UCAS entrants providers may use the generic codes and not provide details of individual named providers. The generic codes are:

UKPRN mapping file

A downloadable file is available here which maps the majority of PREVINST codes used in previous collections to the equivalent UKPRN, or where one is not available, one of the five generic codes described above. UKPRNs may not be available in circumstances where the establishment ceased to exist prior to the first issue of UKPRNs.

The file comprises mappings for:

• HE providers which are/have been part of the HESA constituency,
• schools provided by UCAS from their schools database,
• other schools added from the Department for Education's Edubase website, which are not included in the above categories.

Please note that the file is not exhaustive, and a number of codes previously valid are not included as they cannot be definitively mapped to a new valid entry. Where this occurs, please consult the UKRLP or use one of the generic codes as appropriate. UCAS have mapped a number of codes to 9999 'Unknown', and this is acceptable as a PREVINST value if no other information exists to allow a generic code to be identified.

To monitor school, etc., background of students and to assist the tracking of students through their experience of higher education.