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Student 2019/20 (C19051): Notification of changes

This document summarises the changes to the Student record that will be implemented for 2019/20.

Changes to the Student record for 2019/20

All subject fields will change to use HECoS codes, including course subject, module subject and PGCE subject of undergraduate degree. The maximum occurrences of the fields will increase from 3 to 5, to align with the HECoS principles.

Module subject field will become optional for providers in England, as was previously announced for 2019/20.

The Initiatives field will have four new valid entries:

  • Institute of Technology learner (England only),
  • Transition to Teach (ITT students in England only),
  • Now Teach (ITT students in England only),
  • Accelerated provision (England only). 

The HEAPES population and Regulatory body reference number fields will be removed from the record as these data are no longer required. The latter had already been consulted on for a 2019/20 change.

Providers in Scotland will be removed from the coverage of the Teacher Reference Number (TRN) field as this data is no longer required.

The Course aim field will have new valid entries for those providers who are now required to return data to HESA due to their Tier 4 status:

  • Access course or pathway programme at level 1 *
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 2 *
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 3 *
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 4
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 5
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 6
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 7
  • Access course or pathway programme at level 8

[*Post announcement note: since announcing, we have realised that levels 1, 2 and 3 are not required in the Student record. So these will not be added as new codes.]

General advice for providers in 2019/20
Please note that the Alternative provider (AP) record will remain for 2019/20. 
Approved (fee cap) providers who are currently submitting to the AP record may continue to do so. We will be adding a couple of fields to allow the recording of data that OfS will need to distribute funding to these providers, as explained above. 
New providers in 2019/20 will be given a choice of which record they submit to, in order to make the first year as easy as possible for them. Discussions are ongoing with providers who are now required to return data to HESA due to their Tier 4 status. 

Individualised learner record
HESA has previously announced, in agreement with the ESFA, that we would not continue with the individualised learner record (ILR) generation tool, which means all of the FE fields that were bought into the specification solely for this purpose, will now be removed from the record. A number of providers have expressed the desire for HESA to continue with the ILR generation tool for 2019/20, but unfortunately this will not be possible.