Initial Teacher Training 2018/19: Support guides

We collect data across a number of streams. These streams focus on different aspects of higher education.

The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) stream collects data about students on an ITT course leading to Qualified Teacher Status. Details of which students need to be returned to us are included in the Coverage document found in the Coding manual.

The data we collect on behalf of the sector is provided to governments and funding bodies in order to support the regulation of higher education. We also make anonymised data available to the public to enhance understanding of UK higher education and to support its advancement.

Our coding manuals provide you with all the necessary documentation to support your data return. The coding manual contains technical documents giving detailed information on the record's coverage, data specification and submission formats. Familiarising yourself with these documents will help you make an accurate and timely return.

Each collection has its own coding manual which can be found in the Data collection section of our site. By default, you will land on the open collection for each record; you can then select previous or future years.

The coding manuals will be updated throughout the data collection cycle and Record Contacts informed by email when new versions are made live. Be sure to check the manual's Revision history for a summary of changes.

You submit data via our Data Collection system. To access this, you will need to have an appropriate role in our Identity System (IDS). We publish an IDS user guide which includes information on creating and editing your account.

You will need to be given access to the Data Collection system by the relevant Record Contact at your provider.

Once you have access to the system you will be able to upload files and track the progress of the collection.

The coding manual homepage includes all the technical information you require, including:

• The data specification
• File format specifications
• A detailed collection schedule
• Our XML data entry tool (available for some streams)
• Quality rules.

This Support guides page collects together the following resources:

• User guide
• Data collection system: Known issues and release history.

In the Support area of the HESA website, you can find:

• User guides for our Identity System (IDS) and Issue Management System data quality database (HESA subscribers only).
• Support with using XML files
• Our XML amalgamator tool and Validation kits available for some collections.

Our Data innovation section includes information about:

• Open and recently completed record reviews, including information about changes we are implementing
• Our Data Futures programme which will transform the higher education information landscape.

In the About section, you can find:

• Details of who we are and what we do
• Information about data protection 
• Information for providers including the Code of practice for HE data collections, and information about subscription rates and the fixed database facility.

Our expert analysts have a thorough understanding of our records and processes. We are here to support you throughout the data submission process.

Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388 531   

Find out more about Liaison

Changes to the ITT record specification for 2018/19

Changes to the ITT record specification for 2018/19 (including new fields and valid entry changes) are detailed in the Notification of Changes.

These have also been reflected in the C18053 coding manual, any changes to the coding manual are detailed in the Revision History.

Accessing the Data Collection System

As in the previous year, the HESA data collection system can be found at https://datacollection.hesa.ac.uk.  Access to the Data Collection System for the forthcoming C18053 collection will be governed through the HESA Identity System (IDS).

The ITT record contact for each provider will have access to the HESA Data Collection System and through the IDS will be able to invite additional colleagues to also have access to the system to submit data and view reports. Users who have access to the previous C17053 collection will not need to be granted access again for the C18053 return. Further information can be found in the IDS User Guide.

Quality Rules

There is a Quality Rules webpage on the HESA website which presents all the data quality validation in one place, rather than the rules appearing on each page for individual data items. This ensures visibility of the portfolio of rules and searching as well as a downloadable spreadsheet of rules.

Validation Kit

The new HESA Validation Kit for the ITT record is now available to download from the Validation Kit homepage. A user guide for the kit is also available. The new kit has both increased functionality and a greatly improved processing speed

Record contact changes

The record contact is the first point of communication during data collection and access to the Data Collection System (through the HESA Identity System) is managed by the nominated record contact. If these details have changed please ensure you notify [email protected] to prevent any delay in the granting of this access.

Experiencing an issue not listed here? Let us know.