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DLHE 2015/16: Coding manual

Back to C15018

For the 2015/16 DLHE collection the online survey platform will be supplied through the newly replatformed Bristol Online Surveys (BOS). In October, HESA announced that it would not be possible to retain precisely the same output file format as previous years. This circular provides details of changes to the output file specification. The online DLHE file layout coding manual page, usually published in March, has also been published in an ad-hoc coding manual release, in order to provide HEPs and software houses with sufficient notice to make any required changes.

  • Files will be available in comma separated value (CSV) and fixed length format, but not XML. The BOS system also offers downloads in Microsoft Excel (.XLSX, .XLS), SPSS (.SAV) and tab separated value (TSV) however HESA will only maintain the output specification for CSV and fixed length format.
  • A separate export file will be provided for the incomplete surveys. Therefore the INCOMPLETE_SURVEY flag will no longer be included
  • TIMESTMP will include the letters ‘UTC’. This extends the field length from 19 to 23.
  • STATUS will no longer complete with ‘XX’ if the file is incomplete. Instead, for all online surveys, STATUS will be ‘04’. Therefore if a HE provider follows up an incomplete survey through an alternative methodology such as a phone call, STATUS should be updated to reflect this.
  • For providers who do not offer teacher training provision, Section C (Newly qualified teacher status only) will not be included in the questionnaire, and therefore will no longer show in the output file. Therefore for these providers, the following columns will no longer be included in the output file
    • NONQTS
    • Q20 Teaching.EMPLDTEACH
    • Q21 Teaching.GTCSTIS
    • Q22 Teaching.TEACHFUND
    • Q23 Teaching.TEACHPHS
    • Q24Teaching.SEEKTEACH

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