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Foreword - Higher Education Statistics 2002/03

Foreword by the Chief Executive of HESA

HESA is pleased to present the annual official statistical overview of higher education in the United Kingdom (UK) for the year 2002/03. This volume is part of a series that was initiated by the then Department for Education in 1993. It is a National Statistics publication.

The volume aims to present the major points of statistical information about all aspects of the UK higher education sector. It is unique in providing the basic figures not only about the students of higher education institutions, but also about applicants, staffing, finance, student support, and other aspects of higher education provision. The volume also includes summary statistics about study at higher education level in further education colleges, and it therefore presents figures illustrating the totality of higher education provision in publicly-funded institutions in the UK.

To comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998, HESA implements a strategy in published and released tabulations designed to minimise the risk of disclosure of personal information about any individual. This strategy involves rounding all headcount and apportioned numbers to the nearest multiple of 5, so the appearance of a zero in the tables does not imply that no individuals are counted in that cell1. Total figures are also subject to this rounding methodology; the consequence of this is that the sum of numbers in each row or column will rarely match the total shown precisely. Further details are included in the definitions.

The volume draws, to a certain extent, on material which is further analysed or elaborated upon in other HESA publications (described at the back of this volume). It also draws on material provided by the Student Loans Company (SLC), the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the National Council for Education and Training for Wales (ELWa), the Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department (SEETLLD), and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DELNI). The Agency appreciates the collaboration of all the bodies that have made data available for the volume, and in particular that of our colleagues in the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), with whom we have worked closely in preparing it.

  • Robin Sibson
  • Chief Executive
  1. 0,1,2 round to 0; 3,4,5,6,7 round to 5; 8,9,10,11,12 round to 10; and so on.

Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2004