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ZBUSCOUNTRY_1.1.2

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Field description Field abbreviation Field version Field length Field type
Country of self-employment / own business ZBUSCOUNTRY 1.1.2 4 Char

Valid entries

Code Label
AF Afghanistan
XQ Africa not otherwise specified
AX Åland Islands
AL Albania
DZ Algeria
AS American Samoa
AD Andorra
AO Angola
AI Anguilla
XX Antarctica and Oceania not otherwise specified
AG Antigua and Barbuda
AR Argentina
AM Armenia
AW Aruba
XS Asia (Except Middle East) not otherwise specified
AU Australia
AT Austria
AZ Azerbaijan
BS Bahamas, The
BH Bahrain
BD Bangladesh
BB Barbados
BY Belarus
BE Belgium
BZ Belize
BJ Benin
BM Bermuda
BT Bhutan
BO Bolivia [Bolivia, Plurinational State of]
BQ Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
BA Bosnia and Herzegovina
BW Botswana
BR Brazil
VG British Virgin Islands [Virgin Islands, British]
BN Brunei [Brunei Darussalam]
BG Bulgaria
BF Burkina Faso
BI Burundi
KH Cambodia
CM Cameroon
CA Canada
IC Canary Islands
CV Cape Verde
XW Caribbean not otherwise specified
KY Cayman Islands
CF Central African Republic
XU Central America not otherwise specified
TD Chad
XL Channel Islands not otherwise specified
CL Chile
CN China
CX Christmas Island
CC Cocos (Keeling) Islands
CO Colombia
KM Comoros
CG Congo
CD Congo (Democratic Republic) [Congo (The Democratic Republic of the)]
CK Cook Islands
CR Costa Rica
HR Croatia
CU Cuba
CW Curaçao
XA Cyprus (European Union)
XB Cyprus (Non-European Union)
XC Cyprus not otherwise specified
CZ Czech Republic
DK Denmark
DJ Djibouti
DM Dominica
DO Dominican Republic
TL East Timor [Timor Leste]
EC Ecuador
EG Egypt
SV El Salvador
XF England
GQ Equatorial Guinea
ER Eritrea
EE Estonia
ET Ethiopia
XP Europe not otherwise specified
EU European Union not otherwise specified
FK Falkland Islands [Falkland Islands (Malvinas)]
FO Faroe Islands
FJ Fiji
FI Finland
FR France
GF French Guiana
PF French Polynesia
GA Gabon
GM Gambia, The
GE Georgia
DE Germany
GH Ghana
GI Gibraltar
GR Greece
GL Greenland
GD Grenada
GP Guadeloupe
GU Guam
GT Guatemala
GG Guernsey
GN Guinea
GW Guinea-Bissau
GY Guyana
HT Haiti
HN Honduras
HK Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China) [Hong Kong]
HU Hungary
IS Iceland
IN India
ID Indonesia
IR Iran [Iran, Islamic Republic of]
IQ Iraq
IE Ireland
IM Isle of Man
IL Israel
IT Italy
CI Ivory Coast [Côte D'ivoire]
JM Jamaica
JP Japan
JE Jersey
JO Jordan
KZ Kazakhstan
KE Kenya
KI Kiribati
KP Korea (North) [Korea, Democratic People's Republic of]
KR Korea (South) [Korea, Republic of]
QO Kosovo
KW Kuwait
KG Kyrgyzstan
LA Laos [Lao People's Democratic Republic]
LV Latvia
LB Lebanon
LS Lesotho
LR Liberia
LY Libya
LI Liechtenstein
LT Lithuania
LU Luxembourg
MO Macao (Special Administrative Region of China) [Macao]
MK North Macedonia
MG Madagascar
MW Malawi
MY Malaysia
MV Maldives
ML Mali
MT Malta
MH Marshall Islands
MQ Martinique
MR Mauritania
MU Mauritius
YT Mayotte
MX Mexico
FM Micronesia [Micronesia, Federated States of]
XR Middle East not otherwise specified
MD Moldova [Moldova, Republic of]
MC Monaco
MN Mongolia
ME Montenegro
MS Montserrat
MA Morocco
MZ Mozambique
MM Myanmar (Burma) [The Republic of the Union of Myanmar]
NA Namibia
NR Nauru
NP Nepal
NL Netherlands
AN Netherlands Antilles
NC New Caledonia
NZ New Zealand
NI Nicaragua
NE Niger
NG Nigeria
NU Niue
NF Norfolk Island
XT North America not otherwise specified
XG Northern Ireland
MP Northern Mariana Islands
NO Norway
PS Occupied Palestinian Territories [Palestine, State of]
OM Oman
PK Pakistan
PW Palau
PA Panama
PG Papua New Guinea
PY Paraguay
PE Peru
PH Philippines
PN Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands [Pitcairn]
PL Poland
PT Portugal
PR Puerto Rico
QA Qatar
RE Réunion
RO Romania
RU Russia [Russian Federation]
RW Rwanda
WS Samoa
SM San Marino
ST Sao Tome and Principe
SA Saudi Arabia
XH Scotland
SN Senegal
RS Serbia
SC Seychelles
SL Sierra Leone
SG Singapore
SX Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
SK Slovakia
SI Slovenia
SB Solomon Islands
SO Somalia
ZA South Africa
XV South America not otherwise specified
GS South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands
SS South Sudan
ES Spain
LK Sri Lanka
BL St Barthélemy
SH St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
KN St Kitts and Nevis
LC St Lucia
MF St Martin (French Part) [St Martin]
PM St Pierre and Miquelon
VC St Vincent and The Grenadines
SD Sudan
SR Suriname
SJ Svalbard and Jan Mayen
SZ Eswatini
SE Sweden
CH Switzerland
SY Syria [Syrian Arab Republic]
TW Taiwan [Taiwan, Province of China]
TJ Tajikistan
TZ Tanzania [Tanzania, United Republic of]
TH Thailand
TG Togo
TK Tokelau
TO Tonga
TT Trinidad and Tobago
TN Tunisia
TR Turkey
TM Turkmenistan
TC Turks and Caicos Islands
TV Tuvalu
UG Uganda
UA Ukraine
AE United Arab Emirates
XK United Kingdom, not otherwise specified
US United States
VI United States Virgin Islands [Virgin Islands, U. S.]
UY Uruguay
UZ Uzbekistan
VU Vanuatu
VA Vatican City [Holy See (Vatican City State)]
VE Venezuela [Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of]
VN Vietnam [Viet Nam]
XI Wales
WF Wallis and Futuna
EH Western Sahara
YE Yemen
ZM Zambia
ZW Zimbabwe
Z Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man
GREU Geographic region - Other European Union
GRAF Geographic region - Africa
GRAS Geographic region - Asia
GRAU Geographic region - Australasia
GRME Geographic region - Middle East
GRNA Geographic region - North America
GROE Geographic region - Other Europe
GRSA Geographic region - South America
NOTK Not known

Dependent fields

  • XBUSLOCUC
  • XBUSLOCGR

Depend upon fields

  • BUSEMPCOUNTRY
  • BUSEMPCOUNTRY_OTHER

Additional information

This algorithm cleans up the data provided by a graduate responding to the Graduate Outcomes survey question "In which country is your place of work?", combining data from BUSEMPCOUNTRY and BUSEMPCOUNTRY_OTHER. It uses country labels to validate the string returned.

ZBUSCOUNTRY contains a valid UK or overseas country code or overseas geographic region code or NOTK.

Technical Specification

The algorithm uses the HESA Data Management table D_country which is created from an overseas lookup and restricted to the November YYYY update (country mapping is valid at this date), where YYYY represents the year following the academic year of collection. For graduate outcomes 2017/18, the November 2019 ONSPD data is used. The table includes the following fields: Country Code (CountryCode, VARCHAR(2)), Country Name (Country, NVARCHAR(255)), Alternate Country Name (CountryAlternateName, NVARCHAR(255)), Alternate Country Name (version 2) (DW_CountryAlternateName_GO, NVARCHAR(255)), Geographic Region Code (GeographicGroupCode, NVARCHAR(4)), Region Name (GeographicGroup, NVARCHAR(255)) and Alternate Region Name (DW_GeographicGroupAlternateName_GO, NVARCHAR(255)).

1. Convert the string from BUSEMPCOUNTRY_OTHER to upper case

2. Trim white space from beginning and end of string

3. Remove any bracketed information from the string

4. Replace "&" with " and "

5. Replace special characters (see list below*) with a single space

6. Remove multiple spaces within, retaining only one

7. Map empty string to NULL

8. Carry out the following steps, taking a top down approach stopping when criteria is satisfied:

  • if 'NORTHERN IRELAND' is contained in string, return XG
  • if 'NORTHER IRELAND' is contained in string, return XG
  • if D_Country.CountryAlternateName** is contained in string and corresponds to a unique CountryCode, return CountryCode
  • if D_Country.DW_CountryAlternateName_GO** is contained in string and corresponds to a unique CountryCode, return CountryCode
  • if D_Country.DW_GeographicGroupAlternateName_GO** is contained in string and corresponds to a unique CountryCode, return GeographicGroupCode
  • else return NOTK.

9. Where BUSEMPCOUNTRY is not NULL and not equal to OTHER or the empty string, copy the values from BUSEMPCOUNTRY into ZBUSCOUNTRY (note: due to routing, only NOTK values should be overwritten with values from BUSEMPCOUNTRY)

*Special characters include: ! " # $ % ' ( ) * + , \ - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~

**Take the upper case version of the string D_Country. The individual words must match within the string e.g. "UK" is contained within "Ukraine", but does not match the entire string.

Revision history

Date Version Notes
2020-05-01 1.1.2 Add in special case to pick up Northern Ireland
2019-11-12 1.1.1 Field Created

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