Higher Education Statistics for the UK 2009/10

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 2009/10. This is the latest edition in a series that was initiated by the then Department for Education in 1993. It is a National Statistics publication.

The volume aims to present a comprehensive set of statistical information about a range of 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. Additionally, figures for The University of Buckingham, a non-publicly-funded institution voluntarily providing data to HESA, are included.

Sources of data

The information in this volume is derived from a wide range of sources as listed below. More detailed descriptions of these sources are given in the Definitions section at the back of the volume.

The majority of the data come from the various data streams collected annually by HESA:

Other sources used are:

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).

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 Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Welsh Government, Scottish Government and the Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland) with whom we have worked closely in preparing it, in accordance with the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Alison Allden
Chief Executive

© Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2011