This field records the sex of the student.

All students.

Continuing students should be asked this question every year, and the data must be updated throughout a student’s Engagement where applicable.

Recommended question: What is your sex?

This question is vital for equality monitoring in Higher Education. The SEXID field records the sex of the data subject. Respondents considering how to answer should use the sex recorded on one of their legal documents such as birth certificate, Gender Recognition Certificate or passport. If there is any conflict, the newest document should be referenced.

Providers are not expected to verify the sex of every student although they must make reasonable efforts to ensure that in aggregate the data for the provider is accurate.

Advance HE has a number of resources relating to gathering information across the protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010. If you have any further queries regarding equality monitoring, please view https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/.

Data protection considerations behind the design of this field can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/innovation/records/reviews/data-protection-considerations-fields#sex-identifier-sexid

Guidance on valid entries

It is expected that providers survey their students to gather this information. Providers are expected to reconfirm this information with the student on at least an annual basis.

12 ‘Other’: this code should only be used for a third sex that is legally recognised by another country – this will recognise the scenarios where, for example, an international student has a legal sex other than male or female.

96 ‘Information refused’: this code should be returned when a student has explicitly stated that they do not want to disclose the information. As data on sex is fundamental to use of the data it is expected that the ‘Information refused’ option is not presented to the student by default when surveying.

99 ‘Not available’: this code should be used in cases where it is not possible to supply the information (such as a cyber-attack). This option should not be presented to students when surveying.