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Definitions - Resources 2008/09

Finance Statistics Return

Coverage

The annual HESA Finance Statistics Return (FSR) is the main source of historical financial information on the total activities of all UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The FSR provides data in respect of the consolidated income and expenditure account, statement of recognised gains and losses, balance sheet and cash flow statement. The figures recorded for the consolidated income and expenditure account, balance sheet headings, statement of recognised gains and losses and cash flow statement should be the same as those recorded in the HEI’s audited/published financial statements. The financial statements should be prepared in accordance with the Statement of recommended practice: accounting for further and higher education (SORP), published by Universities UK, and comply with the financial reporting requirements contained in any UK legislation relevant to their constitution, such as the Companies Act and the Charities Act. The FSR uses the principles in the SORP to analyse the financial statements in greater detail than is required for published financial statements.

Financial data relates to the institutions' financial year, i.e. 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.

All values in the FSR are shown in units of £1,000, and where necessary rounded to the nearest £1,000; the consequence of which is that sum of individual values in each row or column may not match the total value.

The categories used in the FSR for the HEI income and expenditure figures are defined below.

Income

Total income identifies the gross income position, i.e. it includes income attributable to a share in joint venture(s).

Less: share of income in joint venture(s) is used to deduct the share of income in joint venture(s) from the total income.

Net income is total income less the share of income in joint venture(s).

Joint venture is an entity in which the reporting HEI holds an interest on a long-term basis, and is jointly controlled by the HEI and one or more ventures under a contractual arrangement. The HEI’s share of income (and expenditure) should be recognised in the HEI’s income (and expenditure) account.

Surplus/(deficit) for the year is calculated as net income minus total expenditure.

Sources of income

Income is analysed by five main income sources: funding body grants; tuition fees & education contracts; research grants & contracts; other income; endowment & investment income. The total of each of these headings should be the same as the HEI's financial statement, showing the gross position for the HEI.

Funding body grants

Funding body grants includes those from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC), the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DEL(NI)).

Grants for HE provision (SFC grants for all provision) includes recurrent and capital grants as defined below in respect of higher education (HE) provision, except in Scotland where this category also includes grants for further education (FE) provision.

Recurrent (Teaching) includes the total grant (or main and associated grants) for teaching, including widening participation and tuition fee compensation, as shown in the annual grant letter or additional grant letter from the funding councils.

Recurrent (Research) includes the total grant (or main and associated grants) for research as shown in the annual grant letter or additional grant letter from the funding councils.

Recurrent - Other (including special funding) includes all other recurrent grants and grants to support special initiatives as stated in the annual grant letter or additional grant letter from the funding councils. Income relating to non-capitalised expenditure, for example Learning and Teaching Capital Investment Fund or Research Capital Investment Fund (RCIF) are included in this category.

Release of deferred capital grants – Buildings comprises the release of deferred capital grants where capital funding has been applied to the purchase of an asset that has been capitalised. This includes grants from the RCIF and Strategic Development Fund (SDF).

Release of deferred capital grants – Equipment comprises the release of deferred capital grants where the equipment grant (including grants from the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF), SDF, Project Capital Allocation (PCA) and Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) has been applied to the purchase of furniture or other assets that have been capitalised.

Grants for FE provision (not applicable to SFC) includes all funding council grants for the provision of FE. Grants from HE funding councils and FE funding councils are added together. This category does not apply to SFC funded institutions, as they do not receive separately identified grants for non-advanced/FE provision.

Tuition fees & education contracts

This includes all income received in respect of fees for students on all courses for which fees are charged. Where fees are waived in whole or in part, the income due, though not received, is included.

Following the introduction of variable student fees in the 2006/07 academic year for institutions in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, this information is administration specific. From 2008/09 postgraduate fee income from research and taught students has been separated.

Full-time HE fees (England and Northern Ireland only) includes all fees for full-time and sandwich undergraduate or postgraduate courses for home and European Union (EU) domiciled students.

Part-time HE fees (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland) includes all fees for part-time undergraduate or postgraduate courses for home and EU domiciled students.

Full-time HE fees - standard rate (Scotland only) includes standard fees for full-time and sandwich undergraduate or postgraduate courses for home and EU domiciled students.

Full-time HE fees - non-standard rate (Scotland only) includes all other fees for full-time and sandwich undergraduate or postgraduate courses for home and EU domiciled students.

Full-time HE fees - new (Wales only) includes fees for all full-time and sandwich undergraduate or postgraduate courses with a start date on, or after, the beginning of the current reporting period.

Full-time HE fees - continuing (Wales only) includes fees for all full-time and sandwich undergraduate or postgraduate courses with a start date prior to the current reporting period.

Part-time HE fees (Wales only) includes fees for all part-time degree undergraduate or postgraduate courses.

(Welsh HE fees are further divided between courses for home domicile students and EU domicile students.)

In HESA analyses, the administration specific categories may be grouped as home domicile and EU domicile full-time undergraduate, full-time postgraduate, part-time undergraduate and part-time postgraduate HE course fees.

Non-EU domicile students includes fees for all HE courses for students whose normal residence prior to commencing their programme of study was outside the EU.

Non-credit-bearing course fees includes all fee income received in respect of non-credit-bearing liberal adult education, continuing education or extra-mural courses.

FE course fees includes fee income received for the provision of FE/non-advanced courses.

Research training support grants includes all grants made by Research Councils and other bodies in support of the training of research students. This includes bench fees and Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) awards. It also includes income from Doctoral Training Grants and Collaborative Training Accounts (or similar postgraduate grants) including the tuition fee element.

The Source of fee for tuition fees & education contracts is grouped into one of three categories:

SLC/LEAs/SAAS/DEL includes the Student Loans Company (SLC), Local Education Authorities (LEA), Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DEL(NI)).

DH/RONE/SHHD includes the Department of Health (DH) (including the National Health Service (NHS) and NHS Trusts), Regional Offices of the NHS Executive (RONE) and the Scottish Home and Health Department (SHHD).

Other includes sources not covered above, including individual students.

The definitions of domicile, mode, and level of study should be those consistent with the HESA Student record and are summarised below:

Domicile

Home domicile students are those whose normal residence is in the UK.

EU domicile students are those whose normal residence is those not already defined as UK, and which were European Union (EU) members as at 1 December of the reporting period.

Mode

Full-time students are those normally required to attend an institution for periods amounting to at least 24 weeks within the year of study, on thick or thin sandwich courses, and those on a study-related year out of their institution. During that time students are normally expected to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience which amount to an average of and at least 21 hours per week.

Part-time students are those recorded as studying part-time, or studying full-time on courses lasting less than 24 weeks, on block release, or studying during the evenings only.

Level of study

HESA classifies courses according to a framework which aligns with the framework for HE qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ), the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) (of which the framework for qualifications of HE institutions in Scotland is a constituent part) and the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) and Bologna frameworks. Details are available on our website . It includes level M for taught masters degrees, and level H for honours degrees.

Undergraduate courses are programmes of study at level H, I, J and C including, but not limited to, first degrees (including eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body), first degrees with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)/registration with a General Teaching Council (GTC), postgraduate bachelors degrees at level H, enhanced first degrees, first degrees obtained concurrently with a diploma and intercalated first degrees, Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE at level H), foundation degrees, diplomas in higher education (including those leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body), Higher National Diploma (HND), Higher National Certificate (HNC), Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE), Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE), foundation courses at higher education level, National Qualifications Framework (NQF) levels 4 and 5, post-degree diplomas and certificates at undergraduate level, professional qualifications at undergraduate level and other undergraduate diplomas and certificates including post-registration health and social care courses. Entrants to these programmes of study do not usually require a higher education qualification.

Postgraduate courses are those leading to higher degrees, diplomas and certificates (including Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE at level M) and professional qualifications) which usually require a first degree as an entry qualification (i.e. already qualified at level H).

Postgraduate taught includes doctorate and masters degrees, postgraduate bachelors degrees at level M and postgraduate diplomas or certificates not studied primarily through research, including PGCE at level M and professional qualifications.

Postgraduate research includes doctorate and masters degrees and postgraduate diplomas or certificates (not PGCE at level M) studied primarily through research.

Research grants & contracts

This includes all income in respect of externally sponsored research carried out by the institution or its subsidiary undertaking for which directly related expenditure has been incurred.

BIS Research Councils, The Royal Society, British Academy & The Royal Society of Edinburgh

This includes all research grants and contracts income from Research Councils sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), The Royal Society, British Academy & The Royal Society of Edinburgh. This is broken down as follows:

  • AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council
  • BBSRC Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council
  • EPSRC Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council
  • ESRC Economic & Social Research Council
  • MRC Medical Research Council
  • NERC Natural Environment Research Council
  • STFC Science & Technology Facilities Council

Other includes BIS Research Councils, The Royal Society, British Academy & The Royal Society of Edinburgh sponsored research grants and contracts income not included above.

UK-based charities includes all research grants and contracts income from all charitable foundations, charitable trusts, etc. based in the UK which are registered with the Charities Commission or those recognised as charities by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) in Scotland. Income from UK-based charities is split between those with an open competitive process for the allocation of funds and other charities.

UK-based charities (open competitive process) includes research grants or contracts income from UK-based charities that was available to more than one institution through direct competition, awarded to the institution that demonstrated the highest quality research proposal according to external peer review. It also includes grants where it can be shown that the charity took external expert advice on its choice of institution, and either the charity had made it known that it was open to grant applications from other institutions, even though an open invitation to bid for the particular grant was not issued; or the charity restricted the funding opportunity on a reasoned basis in that particular requirements of the project could only be met by a limited number of institutions (i.e. where a project required highly specialist expertise or facilities, or a specific regional focus).

UK-based charities (other) includes research grants or contracts income from UK-based charities that does not meet the definition of open competition.

UK central government bodies, local authorities, health & hospital authorities includes all research grants and contract income from UK central government bodies, UK local authorities and UK health and hospital authorities, except Research Councils and UK public corporations. This includes government departments and other organisations (including registered charities) financed from central government funds. Research grants and contracts from non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) such as the British Council are also included in this source of income.

UK industry, commerce & public corporations includes all research grants and contracts income from industrial and commercial companies and public corporations (defined as publicly owned trading bodies, usually statutory organisations with a substantial degree of financial independence) operating in the UK.

EU government bodies includes all research grants and contracts income from all government bodies operating in the EU, which includes the European Commission, but excludes bodies in the UK.

EU-based charities (open competitive process) includes research grants or contracts income from EU bodies with exclusively charitable purposes (consistent with the definition set out in the Charities Act 2006 and which exists for the public benefit in a manner which is consistent with the Public Benefit Guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales), that was available to more than one institution through direct competition, awarded to the institution that demonstrated the highest quality research proposal according to external peer review. It also includes grants where it can be shown that the charity took external expert advice on its choice of institution, and either the charity had made it known that it was open to grant applications from other institutions, even though an open invitation to bid for the particular grant was not issued; or the charity restricted the funding opportunity on a reasoned basis in that particular requirements of the project could only be met by a limited number of institutions (i.e. where a project required highly specialist expertise or facilities, or a specific regional focus).

EU industry, commerce & public corporations includes all research grants and contracts income from industrial and commercial companies and public corporations (defined as publicly owned trading bodies, usually statutory corporations, with a substantial degree of financial independence) operating in the EU outside of the UK.

EU other includes all research grants and contracts income from EU-based non-competitive charities and any other EU income not otherwise specified.

Non-EU-based charities (open competitive process) includes research grants or contracts income from non-EU bodies with exclusively charitable purposes (consistent with the definition set out in the Charities Act 2006 and which exists for the public benefit in a manner which is consistent with the Public Benefit Guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales), that was available to more than one institution through direct competition, awarded to the institution that demonstrated the highest quality research proposal according to external peer review. It also includes grants where it can be shown that the charity took external expert advice on its choice of institution, and either the charity had made it known that it was open to grant applications from other institutions, even though an open invitation to bid for the particular grant was not issued; or the charity restricted the funding opportunity on a reasoned basis in that particular requirements of the project could only be met by a limited number of institutions (i.e. where a project required highly specialist expertise or facilities, or a specific regional focus).

Non-EU industry, commerce & public corporations includes all research grants and contracts income from industrial and commercial companies and public corporations (defined as publicly owned trading bodies, usually statutory corporations, with a substantial degree of financial independence) operating outside the EU.

Non-EU other includes all research grants and contracts income from all non-EU-based non-competitive charities and any other non-EU income not otherwise specified.

Other sources includes all research grants and contracts income not covered above. This includes income from other higher education institutions (HEIs) where the HEI is the original contractor.

Where research grants & contracts income is further analysed by academic departmental cost centres, academic services and administration & central services activity, the definitions can be found under the expenditure activities/research grants & contracts income activities heading.

Other income

Other income - other services rendered

This includes all income in respect of services rendered to outside bodies, including the supply of goods and consultancies.

UK central government bodies, local authorities, health & hospital authorities and EU government bodies includes all non-research income from UK central government bodies, non-departmental public bodies, UK local authorities and UK health and hospital authorities (except any included under tuition fees & education contracts), plus all non-research income from all government bodies operating in the EU, including the European Commission but excluding the UK. This includes European Social Fund (ESF) grants.

Other includes all non-research income for services rendered to industrial and commercial companies and public corporations. It includes all validation fees for courses such as those run by other institutions.

Other income – other

This includes all other income not included in other services rendered.

Residences & catering operations (including conferences) includes the gross income from residences, catering and conference operations.

Grants from local authorities includes income from local authorities providing capital or revenue for the purpose to which the grant will be applied.

Income from health & hospital authorities (excluding teaching contracts for student provision) includes income received from UK health or hospital authorities for the funding of any employees of the institution, including posts in academic teaching, except for those relating to the provision of a service, and excluding income provided for research.

Release of deferred capital grants includes an institution’s capital grant from a source other than a Funding Council, to finance, or partly finance, the construction or acquisition of a fixed asset.

Income from intellectual property rights includes all income received from intellectual property rights such as licences and patents.

Other operating income includes all other operating income not covered above such as Trans-European Mobility Scheme for University Studies (TEMPUS) and European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) grants.

Where the heading other income appears, this is other income - other services rendered plus other income - other as defined above.

Endowment and investment income

This includes income from specific endowment asset investments, general endowment asset investments, other investment income and other interest receivable. Any net credit from pension scheme assets and from interest on pension scheme liabilities are included in this category.

Categories of expenditure

Staff costs

This covers the costs of all staff for whom the institution is liable to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions and/or who have a contract of employment with the institution, and includes any redundancy or restructuring payments (that are not treated as exceptional items) made to these staff.

Academic staff costs includes costs in respect of academic professionals (Standard Occupational Classification Group 2A, as defined in the HESA Staff record), whose primary function is planning, directing and undertaking academic teaching and/or research, paid from within the budgets of academic departments and allocated to the appropriate cost centre.

Other staff costs includes costs in respect of all other staff paid from within the budgets of academic departments and allocated to the appropriate cost centre.

Where the heading staff costs appears, this is academic staff costs plus other staff costs as defined above.

Other operating costs

Other operating expenses includes costs in respect of payments to non-contracted staff or individuals, all other non-staff costs incurred, except for depreciation and interest payable. Equipment that has not been capitalised, expenditure on maintenance contracts and telephone costs (calls, rental and non-capitalised equipment) if not charged to departments, are also included in this category.

Depreciation includes depreciation costs on capitalised equipment according to where the assets being depreciated are located (i.e. academic departments, academic services, administration and central services, premises, research grants and contracts or other expenditure).

Interest and other finance costs includes costs in respect of interest payable on premises, residences and catering operations (including conferences) and other expenditure.

Where the heading other costs appears, this is other operating expenses, plus depreciation, plus interest and other finance costs as defined above.

Expenditure activities/Research grants & contracts income activities

Categories of expenditure and research grants and contracts income may be further analysed by the activities across which the expenditure is incurred or research grants and contracts income is received.

Categories of expenditure and research grants and contracts income may both be analysed by academic departmental cost centres, academic services or administration & central services. Categories of expenditure may additionally be analysed by costs incurred from the activities associated with premises, residencies & catering operations, research grants & contracts and other expenditure.

Note: the definitions listed below detail the activities for expenditure, against which research grants and contracts income may also be attributed.

Academic departmental cost centres

This includes all expenditure incurred by, or on behalf of, academic departments (including departments of continuing education), and expenditure incurred in connection with special and short courses which is not reimbursable by research councils or other bodies in respect of work carried out on their behalf. There are 34 departmental cost centres to which this expenditure can be attributed:

  • 01 Clinical medicine
  • 02 Clinical dentistry
  • 03 Veterinary science
  • 04 Anatomy & physiology
  • 05 Nursing & paramedical studies
  • 06 Health & community studies
  • 07 Psychology & behavioural sciences
  • 08 Pharmacy & pharmacology
  • 10 Biosciences
  • 11 Chemistry
  • 12 Physics
  • 13 Agriculture & forestry
  • 14 Earth, marine & environmental sciences
  • 16 General engineering
  • 17 Chemical engineering
  • 18 Mineral, metallurgy & materials engineering
  • 19 Civil engineering
  • 20 Electrical, electronic & computer engineering
  • 21 Mechanical, aero & production engineering
  • 23 Architecture, built environment & planning
  • 24 Mathematics
  • 25 Information technology & systems sciences & computer software engineering
  • 26 Catering & hospitality management
  • 27 Business & management studies
  • 28 Geography
  • 29 Social studies
  • 30 Media studies
  • 31 Humanities & language based studies
  • 33 Design & creative arts
  • 34 Education
  • 35 Modern languages
  • 37 Archaeology
  • 38 Sports science & leisure studies
  • 41 Continuing education.

Academic services

This includes expenditure incurred by centralised academic services such as the library and learning resource centres, central computers and computer networks (including maintenance and operating costs), expenditure on centrally run museums, galleries and observatories, and any other general academic services not covered elsewhere.

Administration & central services

This includes expenditure incurred by central administration & services, general education expenditure, and staff & student facilities.

Central administration & services includes expenditure in respect of central administrative staff and such payments to Heads of Institutions, Professors, Deans, Tutors, Faculty Officers and the like as are made in respect of central (as distinct from departmental) administrative work. This category also includes expenditure associated with the running costs of an administrative computer system and the following other costs if not charged to their relevant academic cost centre: public relations, advertising, recruitment, removal expenses of all staff, publications (excluding educational publications), rating or council tax advisors, security of wages, bank charges (excluding interest), central postage, superannuation management, expenses of head of institution, legal and audit fees, general insurance costs not included elsewhere and telephone costs where centrally charged.

General education expenditure includes expenditure incurred on examinations, fellowships, scholarships, prizes and other expenditure of a general educational nature. It includes the direct costs of examinations for example of external examiners, salaries, printing, etc. Also included are fee remission and provisions for bad debts in respect of unpaid fees and the following items that cannot be appropriately charged elsewhere: educational publications, public lectures, concerts and exhibitions, subscriptions and contributions to learned societies and similar bodies, contributions to representative bodies and agencies, works of art, contributions to the institution's Press, research projects not returned under other heads, representation at conferences, explorations and expeditions, administration of non-departmental arts centres, widening participation activity and student recruitment costs from home and overseas.

Institutions in Wales are required to separate the expenditure return of general education expenditure into national bursaries, institutional specific bursaries & scholarships and other general expenditure. The list of expenditure incurred by these three activities is as detailed under general education expenditure.

Staff & student facilities includes expenditure incurred on the provision of facilities and amenities for the use of students and/or staff, e.g. Careers Advisory Service, all grants to student societies, emoluments to wardens of halls of residence, accommodation office, athletic and sporting facilities (excluding maintenance) and the institution's health service.

Premises

This includes all expenditure incurred (whether centrally or departmentally) on the management of premises (including academic buildings, central academic services, art centres, institution’s health service premises, pavilions, sports buildings, etc) and on roads and grounds, except residences and catering.

Repairs and maintenance expenditure includes the maintenance of premises including the pay of staff involved (including estates administrative staff) and maintenance provision charges.

Other expenditure includes rates (the uniform business rate charged by local authorities), payments made for the rental of premises, recurrent costs of energy, water and sewerage, depreciation of all buildings except residential, catering and conference buildings, costs of insuring all premises and their contents, cost of cleaning (i.e. salaries, wages and materials, and payments in respect of contract cleaning) and the cost of portering and security services.

Residences & catering operations (including conferences)

This includes the gross expenditure incurred in providing the residence, catering and any conference operations, including the cost of maintenance of residential and catering premises, salaries and any other identifiable costs relating to these operations. The depreciation costs and financing costs of these operations are included in the appropriate categories of expenditure.

Research grants & contracts

This includes the total of the direct costs attributed to research grants & contracts as detailed for research grants & contracts income.

Other expenditure

Pension cost adjustment includes any adjustment made to staff pension costs in the income and expenditure account (i.e. the difference between actual contributions made and current service cost figure).

Other includes the total direct costs attributed to other services rendered and all other expenditure not covered above.

Location of institution

The allocation of an institution to a geographical region is done by reference to the administrative centre of that institution. There may be students registered at institutions who are studying in regions other than that of the administrative centre of the institution.

Although The Open University teaches throughout the UK, its administrative centre is located in South East England, and except where shown separately, is counted as a wholly English institution.

Staff data

Coverage

The staff record provides data in respect of the characteristics of members of all academic and non-academic staff employed under a contract of employment by a higher education institution (HEI) in the UK. Staff employed under consultancy contracts, or on the basis of payment of fees for services, without a contract of employment, are not included in the record.

The reporting period for the 2008/09 HESA staff record is 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.

The record is collected in three sections; the staff person table, the staff contract table and the staff grade table. The person table contains one record for every person employed by an institution during the HESA reporting period and contains attributes of the individual such as birth date, gender and ethnicity. Each person's employment with an institution will be governed by a legally-binding contract and each contract that exists is recorded on the contract table. If a person has a single contract with the institution there will be one record on the person table and one record on the contract table. If a person has three contracts with an institution there will be one record on the person table and three records on the contract table. A requirement to collect grade-based data nationally was introduced for 2008/09. The grade table provides details of institutions' local grade structure(s). Nationally recognised structures are not required to be included in this table.

The range of data required about an individual and the contract(s) that they hold, and the completion of the grade table, will depend on the nature of those contracts and also the classification of the activity for which the contract exists.

Atypical staff are those members of staff whose contracts are those with working arrangements that are not permanent, involve complex employment relationships and/or involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider.

For atypical staff only a minimum data set is required.

Staff (excluding atypical) are those members of staff where one or more of the contracts held during the reporting period cannot be defined as atypical, and includes open-ended/permanent and fixed-term contracts.

For these staff there is a requirement to return a wider range of data (which may include salary information and start and end dates of employment and contracts).

Academic staff are defined as academic professionals who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking academic teaching and research within HE institutions. They also include vice-chancellors, medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing or research activities.

Non-academic staff are defined as those that do not have an academic employment function such as managers, non-academic professionals, student welfare workers, secretaries, caretakers and cleaners.

The HESA staff atypical population is an indicator of those individuals who have only atypical contracts within the reporting period.

The HESA staff atypical population is used in analyses of atypical staff person attributes by full-person equivalents (FPE).

The HESA staff contract population is an indicator of those contracts that were active on 1 December within the reporting period. Atypical staff contracts are not counted in this population. Other staff with a default (or unknown) contract start date, a default (or unknown) contract end date and a contract full-time equivalent (FTE) of zero are also not counted in this population.

The HESA staff contract population is used in analyses of staff contract attributes by full-person equivalents (FPE).

The HESA staff contract session population is an indicator of those contracts that were active during the reporting period. Atypical staff contracts are counted in this population.

The HESA staff contract session population is only used in analyses of staff cost centre activity, or when summing full-time equivalents (FTE) from the contract table, during the reporting period.

Rounding strategy

Due to 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 prevent the disclosure of personal information about any individual. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest multiple of 5. A summary of this strategy is as follows:

  • 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0
  • All other numbers are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.

So for example 3 is represented as 5, 22 is represented as 20, 3286 is represented as 3285 while 0, 20, 55, 3510 remain unchanged.

This rounding strategy is also applied to total figures, the consequence of which is that the sum of numbers in each row or column rarely matches the total shown precisely. Note that staff data calculated by full person equivalents (FPE) will also be rounded in accordance with this strategy.

Average values, proportions and FTE values prepared by HESA are not usually affected by the above strategy, and are calculated on precise raw numbers. However, percentages calculated on populations which contain 52 or fewer individuals will be suppressed and represented as '..' as will averages based on populations of 7 or fewer.

Data on financial affairs of higher education institutions does not fall within the definition of 'personal data' under the Data Protection Act 1998, and is therefore exempt from the above provisions.

Full-time equivalent

Staff full-time equivalent (FTE) is defined by the contract(s) of employment and is proportioned to each activity's cost centre. FTE indicates the proportion of a full-time year being undertaken over the course of the reporting period 1 August to 31 July. The FTE is therefore counted using a population of staff who were active during the reporting period, not just on a given snapshot date (using the HESA staff contract session population).

Full-person equivalent

Individuals can hold more than one contract with an institution and each contract may involve more than one activity. In analyses staff counts have been divided amongst the activities in proportion to the declared FTE for each activity. This results in counts of full person equivalents (FPE). Staff FPE counts are calculated on the basis of contract activities that were active on 1 December of the reporting period (using the HESA staff contract population).

Atypical full-person equivalent

Individuals can hold atypical contracts with an institution and each contract may involve more than one activity. In analyses staff counts have been divided amongst the activities in proportion to the declared FTE for each activity. This results in counts of full person equivalents (FPE). Atypical staff FPE counts are calculated on the basis of those individuals who have only atypical contracts that were active during the reporting period (using the HESA atypical staff population).

Mode of employment

Full-time staff are those whose contracts state that their mode of employment is full-time. This includes staff who work full-time for part of a year and term-time only staff who work full-time during the term.

Part-time staff are those staff that work anything less than full-time. This includes atypical (unless shown separately) where institutions were unable to assign staff contracts to either the full-time or the part-time category.

Mode of employment is an attribute of the contract, not the person. Therefore, a person will be counted as wholly part-time, even if they hold a number of part-time contracts that sum to one FTE. The FPE allocated to the full-time category will only reflect the people that hold a full-time contract. This is consistent with the treatment of other attributes of the contract.

Terms of employment

Terms of employment describe the type of contract(s) a member of staff has with the institution at the date the data is returned to HESA, or date of leaving if earlier.

Open-ended/Permanent staff are those who are employed on a contract of employment that states the member of staff as permanent or on an open-ended contract. This includes term-time only staff who are employed on an open-ended contract.

Fixed-term contract staff are those employed for a fixed period of time or have an end date on their contract of employment. This includes staff on rolling fixed-term contracts.

Atypical staff are those whose working arrangements are not permanent, involve complex employment relationships and/or involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider. These may be characterised by a high degree of flexibility for both the work provider and the working person, and may involve a triangular relationship that includes an agent. Source: DTI Discussion Document on Employment Status, July 2003, paragraph 23.

In addition to this definition from the DTI, some HE specific guidance has been devised by HESA in consultation with institutions. Atypical contracts meet one or more of the following conditions:

  • Are for less than four consecutive weeks - meaning that no statement of terms and conditions needs to be issued.
  • Are for one-off/short-term tasks - for example answering phones during clearing, staging an exhibition, organising a conference. There is no mutual obligation between the work provider and working person beyond the given period of work or project. In some cases individuals will be paid a fixed fee for the piece of work unrelated to hours/time spent.
  • Involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider - but not as part of teaching company schemes or for teaching and research supervision associated with the provision of distance learning education.
  • Involve a high degree of flexibility often in a contract to work as-and-when required - for example conference catering, student ambassadors, student demonstrators.

Source of basic salary

Source of basic salary indicates whether contract salaries are paid wholly or in part from funds other than general institution funds. Whether income can be regarded as general institution funds or not depends on the distinction between general and specific income as defined in the Statement of recommended practice: accounting for further and higher education (SORP), published by Universities UK. Specific income is that which can only be applied to a specific purpose or activity so designated by the grantor or donor.

Wholly institutionally financed staff contracts are those paid wholly from general institution funds.

Principally financed by the institution staff contracts are paid mainly from general institution funds and partly from another source. Principally financed by the institution is defined as that where the proportion financed by the institution equals, or is greater than, 50% of the basic salary.

Other sources of finance staff contracts are paid mainly or wholly from sources other than general institution funds. Other sources of finance describes those contract salaries where the proportion financed by other sources is greater than 50%. These sources (unless shown separately) include: NHS/General Medical or General Dental practice or Department of Health, BIS Research Councils (including research councils - not specified), UK central government bodies and local authorities, UK industry, commerce and public corporations, Charities (including Cancer Research UK, Wellcome Trust, other Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and other charitable foundations), EU government bodies, EU other, Other overseas sources, and Other sources not listed.

Where all other sources of finance appears in conjunction with wholly institutionally financed it should be taken that all other sources of finance includes principally financed by the institution plus other sources of finance.

Where not applicable/not required appears this is because atypical staff may be returned without a Source of basic salary.

Academic employment function

The academic employment function of a member of staff relates to the academic contract of employment and not the actual work undertaken.

Teaching only staff are those whose contracts of employment state that they are employed only to undertake teaching.

Teaching & research staff are those whose contracts of employment state that they are employed to undertake both teaching and research.

Research only staff are those whose contracts of employment state that the primary academic employment function is research only, even though the contract may include a limited number of hours teaching.

Neither teaching nor research staff are those whose contracted academic employment function is neither teaching nor research, e.g. Vice-Chancellor.

Where Not applicable/not required appears this is because atypical staff may be returned without an Academic employment function.

Movement of academic staff

Starters are academic members of staff who commenced their contract of employment on or after 1 December in the previous reporting period and before or on 1 December in the current reporting period. This category does not include atypical staff.

Inflow - where a starter whose contract of employment in the previous reporting period is not the current institution or another UK higher education institution, they are deemed to be new to higher education service.

Leavers are academic members of staff for whom all contracts ended on or after 1 December in the previous reporting period and before or on 1 December in the current reporting period.

Outflow - where a leaver whose destination on leaving is not the current institution or another UK higher education institution, they are deemed to have left higher education service.

Professorial status

Professor indicates whether the contract confers the title of professor to the holder, regardless of whether an institution's local grade structure contains a professor grade.

Salary range

Salary range is based on the contract salary for members of staff at each institution where applicable, at 31 July in the reporting period, or the end date of the contract if earlier.

For analysis purposes the contract salaries are grouped into six salary ranges, the upper and lower of each range aligned with salary spine points used in the Framework Salary Spine, as detailed in the document Single pay spine for academic and HE support staff 2006-09 www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/manual_documents/C08025_spine_2006-09_oct_5.pdf (salary from October 2008 column).

Contract salary not applicable includes members of staff for whom the concept of a per annum contractual salary does not apply e.g. hourly paid staff, staff with zero hour contracts etc.

Contract salaries reported to HESA based on the reporting of the Framework Salary Spine, the Framework Clinical Spine, plus salaries not set against a nationally negotiated pay spine are included in this analysis. Where HESA is provided with both a salary point (within the Framework Pay Spine or Framework Clinical Spine) and an enhanced salary figure (e.g. London weighting), the actual enhanced salary is used.

Staff with atypical contracts are not included in the Salary range analysis.

Note: staff salary relates to the entire contract and not the individual activities that may be associated with that contract. Therefore, whilst a staff contract may be assigned to more than one activity group, the salary displayed will reflect the entire contract.

Cost centre groups

In certain analyses cost centres have been assigned into cost centre groups, which reflect both academic similarities and comparable resource requirements.

Medicine, dentistry & health

  • 01 Clinical medicine
  • 02 Clinical dentistry
  • 04 Anatomy & physiology
  • 05 Nursing & paramedical studies
  • 06 Health & community studies
  • 07 Psychology & behavioural sciences
  • 08 Pharmacy & pharmacology.

Agriculture, forestry & veterinary science

  • 03 Veterinary science
  • 13 Agriculture & forestry.

Biological, mathematical & physical sciences

  • 10 Biosciences
  • 11 Chemistry
  • 12 Physics
  • 14 Earth, marine & environmental sciences
  • 24 Mathematics.

Engineering & technology

  • 16 General engineering
  • 17 Chemical engineering
  • 18 Mineral, metallurgy & materials engineering
  • 19 Civil engineering
  • 20 Electrical, electronic & computer engineering
  • 21 Mechanical, aero & production engineering
  • 25 IT & systems sciences & computer software engineering.

Architecture & planning

  • 23 Architecture, built environment & planning.

Administrative, business & social studies

  • 26 Catering & hospitality management
  • 27 Business & management studies
  • 28 Geography
  • 29 Social studies
  • 30 Media studies.

Humanities & language based studies & archaeology

  • 31 Humanities & language based studies
  • 35 Modern languages
  • 37 Archaeology.

Design, creative & performing arts

  • 33 Design & creative arts.

Education

  • 34 Education
  • 38 Sports science & leisure studies
  • 41 Continuing education.

Academic services

  • 51 Total academic services.

Administration & central services

  • 54 Central administration & services
  • 55 Staff & student facilities.

Premises

  • 56 Premises.

Residences & catering

  • 57 Residences & catering.

Age

Age is as at 31 August in the reporting period.

Gender

From 2007/08 the specification for student gender falls within the scope of the Aligned Data Definitions adopted by the Information Standards Board (ISB) for education, skills and children's services (escs).

Indeterminate gender means unable to be classified as either male or female, and intended to identify students who are intersex, and not trans-gender nor as a proxy for not-known.

Ethnicity

It is HESA's intention to adopt national classifications where they exist and are appropriate. However, in the case of the Census 2001 ethnicity coding, there is no coding structure applicable throughout the UK, as variations exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland. To accommodate requirements for institutions to report locally to their devolved administrations, the coding frame has been revised.

Staff may choose not to reveal their ethnicity and therefore HESA advises that the figures reported in analyses are derived from a subset which may not be representative of the total staff population.

The ethnic category groupings from 2007/08:

White includes:

  • White - British
  • White - Irish
  • White - Scottish
  • Irish Traveller
  • Other White background.

Other (including mixed) includes:

  • Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
  • Mixed - White and Black African
  • Mixed - White and Asian
  • Other mixed background
  • Other ethnic background.

Disability

Following introduction of the new Disability Equality Duty, information is required about the nature of disability. From 2008/09 HESA has, on the recommendation of the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), adopted a version of the coding frame developed by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) which includes additional detail specifically relevant in education (www.dotheduty.org/files/Furtherandhighereducation.pdf). From 2008/09 a second disability field has been added to the staff person table to allow the return of two disability codes.

Disability indicates whether a member of staff is disabled and the type of disability on the basis of their own self-assessment. Staff are not obliged to report a disability, and therefore HESA advises that the figures reported in analyses are derived from a subset which may not be representative of the total staff population.

The full label descriptions for each disability are available here.

Staff of known disability status includes those members of staff that answered they have 'No known disability', plus those that reported a disability.

Staff declared disabled includes those members of staff that reported a disability.

Multiple disabilities includes those members of staff that reported a disability in both the first and second disability field.

Unknown disability includes those members of staff that were reported as 'Question not answered'.

Nationality

Nationality defines the country of legal nationality. This is not necessarily the domicile.

UK nationality staff are those whose country of legal nationality is the UK, and for the purposes of analysis include Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. (Officially, the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK or the EU.)

Non-UK nationality staff are those whose country of legal nationality is a country other than that defined as UK nationality.

Location of institution

The allocation of an institution to a geographical region is done by reference to the administrative centre of that institution. There may be staff employed in regions other than that of the administrative centre of the institution.

Although The Open University teaches throughout the UK, its administrative centre is located in South East England, and except where shown separately, is counted as a wholly English institution.

SOC - Occupational coding for higher education staff

The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) provides a national standard for categorising occupational information. SOC forms the basis of occupational classification in a variety of national surveys that collect statistical information such as the Labour Force Survey and New Earnings Survey. The utilisation of SOC for classifying occupations within the HE sector therefore both allows for the heterogeneity of occupations that exist and enables comparisons to be made with other sectors of the economy and from a variety of data sources.

However, some difficulties emerge in the direct application of SOC for occupational coding within the HE sector. At the most aggregate level, SOC distinguishes nine broad categories termed Major Groups. The titles associated with these Major Groups, which by necessity have to be general in their nature to encompass all occupations, do not provide an intuitive method of classifying the occupations within HE. Additionally, the coding manuals of the Standard Occupational Classification contain information on many occupations and job titles that are not relevant to the HE sector.

The classification of occupations within higher education has therefore necessitated the development of a variant of the national standard that is relevant for the HE sector. This enables the classification of job titles found within the HE sector to fall into one of 13 broad occupational categories. In certain analyses these 13 activities have been assigned to one of four occupational groups.

Activity

Academic staff

  • 2A Academic professionals.

Managerial, professional and technical staff

  • 1 Managers
  • 2B Non-academic professionals
  • 3A Laboratory, engineering, building, IT & medical technicians (including nurses)
  • 3B Student welfare workers, careers advisers, vocational training instructors, personnel & planning officers
  • 3C Artistic, media, public relations, marketing & sports occupations.

Clerical staff

  • 4A Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants
  • 4B Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists.

Manual staff

  • 5 Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers
  • 6 Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupation
  • 7 Retail & customer service occupations
  • 8 Drivers, maintenance supervisors & plant operatives
  • 9 Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters & maintenance workers.

Academic staff are defined as academic professionals who are responsible for planning, directing and undertaking academic teaching and research within HEIs. They also include vice-chancellors, medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing or research activities. All academic staff fall into group 2A of the SOC classification, regardless of their discipline (e.g. science, engineering, social sciences, humanities, languages).

Non-academic staff are defined as members of staff who fall into one of the remaining 12 occupational categories such as managers, non-academic professionals, student welfare workers, secretaries, caretakers and cleaners.

Clinical status

Clinical academic staff are those members of staff that fall into group 2A (academic professionals) of the SOC classification and includes doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives (registered with the relevant professional council) who normally undertake clinical duties in addition to teaching and/or research; doctors and dentists who, as part of their training, undertake a period of dedicated research; registered clinical academic health professionals, plus other academic staff involved in the delivery of patient care as well as teaching and/or research.

Note: clinical academic staff are not necessarily paid on a clinical academic pay scale.

Non-clinical academic staff are those members of staff who do not meet the conditions of clinical academic above.

Higher Education - Business and Community Interaction Survey

Coverage

The Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey (HE-BCI) is the main vehicle for measuring the volume and direction of interactions between UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and business and the wider community. The survey collects information on the infrastructure, capacity and strategy of HEIs, and also numeric and financial data regarding third stream activity (that is, activities concerned with the generation, use, application and exploitation of knowledge and other university capabilities outside academic environments, and distinct from core activities of teaching and research).

The HE-BCI Survey is mandatory for HEIs in England and Wales, excluding The University of Wales (central functions). The HE-BCI Survey is not mandatory for HEIs in Scotland, although the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) strongly advise that HEIs in Scotland return it. In 2008/09, five institutions in Scotland did not submit HE-BCI data.

HE-BCI data relates to the institutions' financial year, i.e. 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.

All financial values in the HE-BCI Survey are shown in units of £1,000, and where necessary rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Research related activities

Collaborative research involving public funding

This includes research projects' public funding from at least one public body, and a material contribution from at least one external non-academic collaborator. The collaborative contribution may be cash or 'in-kind' (if this is specified in a collaborative agreement and auditable). In-kind contributions include contributions to the project from the non-academic collaborators (for example staff time, use of equipment and other resources, materials, provision of data etc.) as described in the project collaboration agreement.

Collaborative research involving public funding is analysed as follows:

BIS Research Councils includes all research income from Research Councils sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), The Royal Society, British Academy & The Royal Society of Edinburgh. They are:

  • AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council
  • BBSRC Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council
  • EPSRC Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council
  • ESRC Economic & Social Research Council
  • MRC Medical Research Council
  • NERC Natural Environment Research Council
  • STFC Science & Technology Facilities Council.

plus other research income from BIS Research Councils, The Royal Society, British Academy & The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Other UK Government departments includes income from other UK government departments and includes income from Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs).

EU Government includes all research income from all government bodies operating in the EU, which includes the European Commission but excludes bodies in the UK.

Other includes charities, public and not-for-profit organisations as well as commercial businesses.

Contract research

This includes contract numbers and income identifiable by the institution as meeting the specific research needs of external partners, excluding any already returned in collaborative research involving public funding and excluding basic research council grants.

Contract research numbers and income are further analysed by:

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) includes enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. SMEs include micro, small and medium enterprises and sole traders.

Other (non-SME) commercial businesses includes other commercial businesses which do not match the above definition of SMEs.

Non-commercial organisations includes organisations from which its shareholders or trustees do not benefit financially.

Regional Development Agency contract research numbers and income for the current year is subtotalled in subtotal RDA area.

Business and community services

Consultancy contracts

This includes contract numbers and income associated with consultancy, which are crucially dependent on a high degree of intellectual input from the institution to the client (commercial or non-commercial) without the creation of new knowledge. Consultancy may be carried out either by academic staff or by members of staff who are not on academic contracts, such as senior university managers or administrative/support staff.

Consultancy contracts are further analysed by SMEs, other (non-SME) commercial businesses and non-commercial organisations, as defined under Contract research.

Facilities and equipment related services - organisations involved and income

This includes the use and income associated with the HEI's physical academic resources by external parties, and captures provision which can be uniquely provided by an HEI. Examples may include aerospace company use of a HEI's wind tunnel, or media company use of a digital media suite. It does not include simple trading activities such as commercial hire of conference facilities or academic conferences.

Facilities and equipment related services - organisations involved and income are further analysed by SMEs, other (non-SME) commercial businesses and non-commercial organisations, as defined under Contract research.

Courses for business and the community - Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses and Continuing Education (CE) (excluding pre-registration funded by the NHS or TDA)

This includes revenue generated by Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, defined as a range of short and long training programmes for learners already in work who are undertaking the course for purposes of professional development, upskilling or workforce development.

CPD course revenue is further analysed by SMEs, other (non-SME) commercial businesses and non-commercial organisations.

CE and CPD course revenue is additionally analysed by CE and CPD for individuals which includes revenue from individuals that approach the HEI for CE and CPD to develop or enhance specific employability or professional skills.

Regional Development Agency business and community service numbers and income for the current year is subtotalled in subtotal RDA area.

Total learner days of CPD/CE courses delivered includes contact time for lectures, tutorials, field study and small group study periods. Learner days are calculated using the assumption that one day is equivalent to one person receiving eight hours of teaching/training.

Regeneration and development programmes

Regeneration funding is an important way for HEIs to invest intellectual assets in economic, physical and socially beneficial projects. It is returned as income from the allocating public body.

The majority of regeneration funding comes from European sources, specifically ERDF income (European Regional Development Fund), ESF income (European Social Fund (ESF)), UK Government regeneration funds and development agencies in the UK including RDA programmes (Regional Development Agencies). However, any funding that enhances or increases knowledge transfer between the HEI and business and community partners may be included, which if not categorised above, is included in other regeneration grants and income from local and regional bodies or other sources.

Intellectual property (IP)

Intellectual property (IP) is a vital indicator for the value added by the HEI when interacting with a range of external partners. It is commonly in the form of licenses granted to private companies, allowing them to exploit an invention protected by a patent. IP includes patents, copyright, design registrations and trademarks.

Disclosures and patents filed by or on behalf of the HEI

Number of disclosures includes the cumulative total of disclosures for the academic year.

Number of new patent applications filed in year includes all Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) applications.

Number of patents granted in year includes all individual patents and any individual national patents.

Cumulative patent portfolio includes the number of individual active and live patents. Active patents are those currently registered under licence to an external party. Live patents are those registered but yet to be licensed.

The number of new patent applications filed in year, number of patents granted in year and cumulative patent portfolio figures are subtotalled in subtotal overseas to allow the calculation of UK and total international filings.

Licence numbers

This includes the number of all active licences granted from: licence agreements; assignments; exercised option agreements; licences to spin-outs; income-generating Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs).

Licences granted are further analysed by non-software licences granted and software only licences granted.

Regional Development Agency licence numbers for the current year are subtotalled in subtotal RDA area.

Total licence numbers are subtotalled in subtotal overseas to allow the calculation of UK and total international numbers.

IP income

This includes the IP income from upfront or milestone fees, royalties and patents cost reimbursement.

IP income is further analysed by SMEs, other (non-SME) commercial businesses and non-commercial organisations, as defined under Contract research.

Regional Development Agency IP income for the current year is subtotalled in subtotal RDA area.

Subtotal IP income for the current year is subtotalled in subtotal overseas to allow the calculation of UK and total international numbers.

Total IP revenues includes the gross income to the HEI, including the sale of shares in spin-offs, before disbursements to investors and other interested parties. As such this total differs from that recorded in the HESA Finance Statistics Return (FSR) Income analysed by source table (table 6b), sub-head 4f Income from intellectual property rights, for the same reporting period.

Total costs includes the cost of IP expenditure, such as salary and related costs of specialist IP staff, patent and other protection fees and legal expenses.

Spin-off activity

Spin-offs are companies set-up to exploit IP that has originated from within the HEI. All investment from the HEI and external partners are included but any investment from HEFCE/BIS third stream funds (such as the Higher Education Innovation Fund in England or the Third Mission Fund in Wales) is excluded.

Spin-offs with some HEI ownership are companies set-up to exploit IP that has originated from within the HEI, where the HEI continues to have some ownership.

Formal spin-offs, not HEI-owned are companies set-up based on IP that has originated from within the HEI but which the HEI has released ownership (usually through the sale of shares and/or IP).

Staff start-ups are companies set-up by active (or recent) HEI staff but not based on IP from the institution.

Graduate start-ups include all new business started by recent graduates (within two years) regardless of where any IP resides, but only where there has been formal business/enterprise support from the HEI.

Spin-off activity is further analysed by:

The number of new spin off companies for the reporting period; the number still active which have survived at least 3 years; the number of active firms (the 'number' and 'number still active which have survived at least 3 years' plus those companies which have been active between one and three years); estimated current employment of all active firms (FTE); estimated current turnover of all active firms (£000s) and estimated external investment received (£000s) (from external partners but excluding investment from HEFCE/BIS third stream funds).

Note: estimated current employment of all active firms (FTE), estimated current turnover of all active firms (£000s), and estimated external investment received (£000s) (from external partners but excluding investment from HEFCE/BIS third stream funds) are provided by HEIs where possible.

Social, community and cultural engagement: designated public events

This includes social, community and cultural events intended for the external community, and is designed to measure the impact of activities where financial income is an inappropriate proxy for impact. Impact is returned in terms of attendees and academic staff time (days) (where one day is equal to 8 hours), for both free events and chargeable events.

Public lectures includes attendee and academic staff time associated with lectures that are open to the public. It is possible that academic staff time as a proxy for impact may not be relevant for non-academic public lectures.

Performance arts (music, dance, drama, etc.) includes performances of music, dance, and the dramatic arts. Staff time is only for the event itself, and not time committed to the preparation of the event through supervising students during core studies.

Exhibitions (galleries, museums, etc.) includes permanent and temporary exhibitions held at museums and galleries owned by the reporting institution. Staff time is only for the event itself, and not time committed to the preparation of the event through supervising students during core studies.

Museum education includes all forms of museum education held at museums and galleries owned by the reporting institution, including lectures, workshops and children's clubs.

Other includes alternative public events held by the HEI, which cannot be categorised above. This can include viewing and listening figures for television and radio programmes produced by institutions, and downloads from institutional websites.

Key indicators from HE-BCI Survey part A

These indicators are displayed as a percentage of the number HEIs in each administration that responded to the specific question, divided by the total number of HEIs in each administration that completed the HE-BCI Survey part A.

Although The Open University teaches throughout the UK, its administrative centre is located in South East England, and is counted as a wholly English institution.