Nearly two-thirds of non-academic staff are female
Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2003/04 published
In 2003/04 there were 338,105 staff at publicly funded institutions in the UK HE sector. With the introduction of the new Staff Record2 HESA has, for the first time, been able to determine the occupation types of staff – both academic and non-academic. 150,230 staff, or 44.4 per cent, were recorded as academic professionals.
After academic professionals the next largest group of staff are library assistants, clerks and general administrative assistants at 13.2 per cent. Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters and maintenance workers make up 9.7 per cent and laboratory, engineering, building, IT and medical technicians (including nurses) 8.1 per cent.
Of the 187,875 non-academic staff 41.5 per cent were managerial, professional and technical, 34.1 per cent were secretarial and clerical and 24.3 per cent were involved in manual occupations. The table below shows in more detail the activities of all staff in 2003/04.
| All staff in all UK institutions by activity, mode of employment and gender 2003/04 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All modes | ||||||
| Full-time | Part-time | Female | Male | Total | Percentage | |
| All activities | 227525 | 110580 | 177045 | 161060 | 338105 | 100.0% |
| Managers | 10740 | 925 | 5380 | 6280 | 11665 | 3.4% |
| Academic professionals | 106900 | 43330 | 60145 | 90085 | 150230 | 44.4% |
| Non-academic professionals3 | 17190 | 9980 | 14580 | 12590 | 27170 | 8.0% |
| Laboratory, engineering, building, IT & medical technicians (including nurses) | 23200 | 4045 | 9355 | 17885 | 27245 | 8.1% |
| Student welfare workers, careers advisors, vocational training instructors, personnel & planning officers | 4835 | 2435 | 5310 | 1960 | 7270 | 2.2% |
| Artistic, media, public relations, marketing & sports occupations | 3480 | 1225 | 2595 | 2110 | 4705 | 1.4% |
| Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants | 28610 | 15905 | 36190 | 8325 | 44515 | 13.2% |
| Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists | 12485 | 7115 | 18490 | 1110 | 19595 | 5.8% |
| Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers | 4845 | 665 | 1000 | 4510 | 5515 | 1.6% |
| Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupations | 2980 | 1930 | 2615 | 2295 | 4910 | 1.5% |
| Retail & customer service occupations | 590 | 535 | 855 | 265 | 1125 | 0.3% |
| Drivers, maintenance supervisors & plant operatives | 1260 | 275 | 335 | 1200 | 1540 | 0.5% |
| Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters & maintenance workers | 10415 | 22215 | 20185 | 12445 | 32630 | 9.7% |
Women made up 52.4 per cent of all staff, however, this figure is 40.0 per cent when looking at just academic staff and 62.2 per cent for non-academic staff. 32.7 per cent of all staff worked part-time, with this figure being 28.8 per cent for academic staff. 35.8 per cent of non-academic staff worked part-time.
In previous years information on ethnicity was available only for academic staff4, but the new Staff Record collects this data for all staff. The table below shows four broad-brush staff groups and mode of employment. In previous publications staff ethnicity data has been restricted to those of UK nationality. This is now not the case and should be borne in mind if consideration is given to this data with figures published for previous years.
| All staff by ethnicity and mode of employment 2003/04 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Staff of known ethnicity | Staff of known ethnicity as a percentage of total staff | Ethnic minority staff | Ethnic minority staff as a percentage of staff of known ethnicity | |
| All staff | 338105 | 297835 | 88.1% | 26515 | 8.9% |
| Academic staff | 150230 | 129445 | 86.2% | 13600 | 10.5% |
| Full-time | 106900 | 97095 | 90.8% | 10690 | 11.0% |
| Part-time | 43330 | 32350 | 74.7% | 2910 | 9.0% |
| Non-academic total | 187875 | 168395 | 89.6% | 12915 | 7.7% |
| Full-time | 120625 | 109795 | 91.0% | 7605 | 6.9% |
| Part-time | 67245 | 58600 | 87.1% | 5310 | 9.1% |
| Managerial, professional and technical staff3 | 78050 | 71045 | 91.0% | 4655 | 6.6% |
| Clerical staff | 64110 | 59160 | 92.3% | 4505 | 7.6% |
| Manual staff | 45715 | 38190 | 83.5% | 3755 | 9.8% |
Of all staff, 88.1 per cent reported their ethnicity. The percentage of staff for whom ethnicity data is known did not vary greatly by staff group and mode of employment, with the exception of the relatively low figure of 74.7 per cent for part-time academic staff. Among staff of known ethnicity, the proportion from ethnic minority groups varied considerably, with greater representation among academic staff at 10.5 per cent than among non-academic staff at 7.7 per cent.
Notes to editors
- Press enquiries should be directed to:
- HESA Press Officer
- 01242 211133
- [email protected]
- 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ.
- From the 2003/04 academic year the Higher Education Statistics Agency has introduced a new record of staff data that combines and replaces the several staff data streams that were collected previously. Because of this change caution should be exercised when comparing 2003/04 staff data with that published from the previous staff records. Press release 84, which was released in February, covers this in more detail.
- The Open University inadvertently classified approximately 7500 Associate Staff as SOC 2B (Non-academic professionals) instead of SOC 2A (Academic professionals).
- Data collected in the previous staff record (2002/03 and earlier) only covered those of at least 25 per cent of a full-time equivalent member of staff. This will have had the effect of excluding some part-time staff from the record.
- Resources of Higher Education Institutions 2003/04 is published annually by HESA. It is available to the public from HESA Customer Services, telephone 01242 211155 for more information. In addition to staff data it also contains data on HE finances.
Ends
