Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2006/07

Definitions

Finance data

Reference dates

Financial data relates to the institutions’ financial year, i.e. 1 August 2006 to 31 July 2007.

Sources of income

Funding council grants

Funding council grants include 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 (DELNI).

Grants for higher education (HE) provision includes recurrent grants 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 grants includes the block grant (or main and associated grants) for teaching (recurrent - teaching), research (recurrent - research) and other recurrent grants (recurrent - other including special funding) as shown in the annual grant letter or additional grant letter from the funding councils.

Release of deferred capital grants includes the release of deferred capital grants from the funding councils in respect of estate project funding and minor work grants (building), and equipment grants, for the purchase of assets that have been capitalised.

Grants for FE provision 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 grants & contracts

This includes all income received in respect of fees for students on 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 now administration specific.

Full-time HE fees (England and Northern Ireland only) includes all fees for full-time and sandwich degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses for home and European Union (EU) domiciled students.

Part-time HE fees (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland) includes all fees for part-time degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses for home and EU domiciled students.

Full-time HE fees - standard rates (Scotland only) includes standard fees for full-time and sandwich degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses for home and EU domiciled students.

Full-time HE fees - non-standard rates (Scotland only) includes all other fees for full-time and sandwich degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses for home and EU domiciled students.

Full-time HE fees - new (Wales only) includes fees for all full-time degrees and sandwich degree, diploma and similar award-bearing 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 degrees and sandwich degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses with a start date prior to the current reporting period.

Part-time HE fees (Wales only) includes fees for all part-time degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses.

Welsh Full-time HE fees - new, Full-time HE fees - continuing and Part-time HE fees are further divided between courses for home domiciled students and EU domiciled students.

Non-EU domicile students includes fees for all degree, diploma and similar award-bearing courses for non-home and non-EU domiciled students.

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 but excludes any element that is passed on by the institution as a student stipend or bursary.

Source of fees are grouped into three categories comprising: The Student Loans Company (SLC), Local Education Authority (LEA), Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) or the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DELNI); Department of Health (DH) (including the National Health Service (NHS) Workforce Development Confederations and NHS Trusts), Regional Offices of the NHS Executive (RONE) or the Scottish Home and Health Department (SHHD); or other sources not covered above, including individual students.

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.

DIUS Research Councils includes all research grants and contracts income from Research Councils sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). They are:

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

Research income from the British Academy and the Royal Society is also included under this heading.

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 Inland Revenue in Scotland.

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 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 (unless shown separately), excluding bodies in the UK.

EU other includes all research grants and contracts income from all non-government bodies operating in the EU, outside the UK.

Other overseas sources includes all research grants and contracts income from overseas bodies operating outside the EU.

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 are further broken down into the Income activities of Academic departmental cost centres, Academic services and Administration & central services, the definitions of these activities are the same as those of the same name found under the Expenditure activities header below.

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 grants & contracts. EU government bodies includes all non-research income from all government bodies operating in the EU, including the European Commission but excluding the UK. European Social Fund grants are included in this category.

Other sources 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

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 may be taken to mean Other income - other services rendered plus Other income - other as defined above, unless shown separately.

Endowment & investment income

This includes income from specific endowment asset investments, general endowment asset investments, other investment income and other interest receivable.

Joint ventures

These are jointly controlled contractual arrangements between the institution and one or more parties to undertake common objectives, in which the institution holds an interest on a long-term basis.

Categories of expenditure

Staff costs

Staff costs covers all, and only, those full-time and part-time staff 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, whose primary function is planning, directing and undertaking 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.

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 equipment capitalised according to where the assets being depreciated are located.

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

Expenditure activities

Academic departmental cost centres

This includes all expenditure directly 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. They are:

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     IT & 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 on 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 on central administration, staff and student facilities and amenities and general educational expenditure.

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 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 educational 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 further required to separate out national and institutional specific bursaries from General education expenditure under the following headings: National Bursaries, Institutional specific bursaries & scholarships, Other general expenditure. The list of expenditure incurred is as detailed under General educational 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. Expenditure incurred on the maintenance of premises including the pay of staff involved (including estates administrative staff) and maintenance provision charges are included in this category.

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 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

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

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. 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. 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 record is collected in two sections; the person table and the contract table. The person table contains one record for every person employed by an institution during the 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.

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 FTE of zero are also not counted in this population.

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

The HESA staff atypical session population is an indicator of those individuals who had only atypical contracts that were active during the reporting period. Atypical staff contracts 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.

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. These tabulations are derived from the HESA non-statutory populations and may differ slightly from those published by related statutory bodies. 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 that recorded in the contract and measures the equivalence to full-time 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 (i.e. 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).

In Resources of Higher Education Institutions all staff tables, apart from the FTE tables (4, 4a, 4b, 25, 26a, 26b and 26c) and the inflow/outflow tables (14a, 14b, 15 and 24), show counts of Full-person equivalents.

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 the atypical category 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 describes 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.

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 former 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

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

Staff principally financed by the institution are paid mainly from general institution funds and partly from another source.

Other sources of finance – these staff are paid mainly or wholly from sources other than general institution funds. These other sources include NHS/General Medical or General Dental practice or Department of Health, DIUS Research Councils, UK charities, UK central government bodies and local authorities, UK industry, commerce & public corporations, European Union (EU) sources, 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 to mean Principally financed by the institution plus Other sources of finance.

Academic employment function

The academic employment function of a member of staff relates to the 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 they are employed only to undertake research.

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

Grade (academic staff only)

The grade structure indicates a staff member’s grade for a particular contract of employment. Groups of grades have been devised with regard to the different grading scales used within different institutions. Grades have not, however, been linked to salary information.

Professors includes heads of departments, professors, former UAP scale researchers (grade IV), clinical professors and those appointed professors on a locally determined scale.

Senior lecturers & researchers includes principal lecturers, senior lecturers (former UAP/CSCFC scales), former UAP scale researchers (grade III), clinical senior lecturers and those appointed senior or principal lecturers on a locally determined scale.

Lecturers includes lecturers, senior lecturers (former PCEF scale), clinical lecturers and those appointed lecturers on a locally determined scale.

Researchers includes all research grades not listed above and those researchers appointed on a locally determined scale.

Other grades includes other grades of academic staff not listed above.

Analysis by ‘staff grade’ is only meaningful where institutions have reported their staff within nationally recognised grade structures or within internal grade structures which facilitate differentiation on a similar basis.

Several institutions, including some large post-1992 universities, report their academic staff on a single grade structure, which does not have an independent category for the professor grade. Hence staff on the professor grade at institutions using the single grade scale cannot be distinguished from the senior lecturer grade, leading to the number of professors being under-counted for these institutions and for the sector as a whole. This under-counting will have a consequential effect on the proportions of professors within particular subject areas, cost centres and by gender.

No attempt has been made to collect grade information for non-academic staff as the wide range of grade structures used up to now in institutions could not straightforwardly or meaningfully be mapped to a set of national grades.

It is recognised that there have been significant changes and developments in higher education employment conditions in recent years. Central to this is the Framework Agreement on Pay Modernisation in Higher Education that was agreed in 2004. The Agreement provides a framework to modernise pay arrangements with the specific aim of promoting equality, transparency and harmonisation to ensure equal pay is delivered for work of equal value. Institutions negotiated grade structures for all staff locally against a nationally agreed pay spine. An increasing number of institutions have therefore moved away from nationally recognised grade structures. Since implementation of the Framework Agreement was completed by the sector in August 2006, the existing coding frame in the HESA Staff Record has become somewhat outmoded. However, a decision is awaited as to how best to reflect the Agreement in terms of institutions reporting grade statistics at a national level.

The Agency therefore advises caution in analysis of staff by grade.

Cost centre groups and cost centres

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 operations

57 Residences & catering

Age

Age is as at 31 August in the reporting period.

Movement of staff

Starter - a member of staff who commenced their employment after 1st December of the previous collection period and before or on 1st December of the current collection period.

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

Leaver - a member of staff for whom all contracts ended on or after 1st December of the previous collection period and before 1st December of the current collection 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.

Ethnicity

It is HESA’s intention to adopt national classifications where they exist and are appropriate. However, in this instance, there is no coding structure for ethnicity that is applicable throughout the UK, as variations to the Census 2001 ethnicity coding were adopted in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. To accommodate requirements for institutions in these regions 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 following entries have been grouped together and this may mean that the ethnicity groupings used in previous years may not now be comparable:

The ethnic category ‘White’ includes the entries: White
White - British
White - Irish
White - Scottish
Irish Traveller
Other White background.

The ethnic category ‘Other (including mixed)’ includes the entries:
Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
Mixed - White and Black African
Mixed - White and Asian
Other mixed background
Other ethnic background.

Disability

Disability indicates whether a member of staff is disabled on the basis of their own self-assessment and is consistent with those used in respect of HE students. Staff are not obliged to report a disability and as a result some institutions have not returned disability data for some of their staff. HESA therefore advises that the figures reported in analyses are derived from a subset which may not be representative of the total staff population.

Nationality

Nationality defines the country of legal nationality.

UK nationality staff are those whose country of legal nationality is the UK, including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

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

Location of institution

The allocation of an institution to a geographical region relates only to the administrative centre of that institution.

There may be staff employed at institutions who are working in regions other than that of the administrative centre of the institution.

The Open University is counted as a wholly English institution. Their administrative centre is located in England, although the Open University teaches throughout the UK.

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:

1       Managers
2A    Academic professionals
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 instruction occupations
4A    Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants
4B Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists
5      Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers
6      Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupations
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 HE institutions. 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.