This field collects the grade of qualification obtained on entry to the instance

All Qualification on entry records where the concept of grade applies.

The awarding bodies have given their consent, via the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), for some of the results data that they forward to UCAS to be shared with HEPs for admission purposes, to also be used in preparing student records. This data will be made available to providers by UCAS (through the *J transaction). The HESA record will work to the existing UCAS coding frame.

The coding frame used by HESA contains both Awarding Body Linkage (ABL) and non-ABL qualifications.

The data made available to providers by UCAS (through the *J transaction) only contains ABL qualifications, this results in HESA having a more expansive list than that published by UCAS and a variation in the field length is to be expected.

The qualification grades published by UCAS which have been verified by the ABL process will not be greater than a field length of 10.

Providers are encouraged to provide this information for other full-time undergraduate students, in order to contribute more complete statistical information for the sector.

Grades may be valid with a number of qualifications, so the list below is a list of all grades valid in this field. The meaning of each grade can vary depending on which qualification it is associated with.

Further explanation of which grades belong to which qualification is available from the UCAS website.