Higher Education Statistics for the UK 2006/07 reveals widening gender gap in teaching qualifications

The newly released Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom 2006/07 publication from the Higher Education Statistics Agency provides an official overview of the UK's higher education sector. The publication contains data from HESA, along with information from a wide range of other bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Student Loans Company and UCAS. It has been released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Key findings from the volume include a widening gender gap in students gaining teaching qualifications from Higher Education Institutions. Between 2005/06 and 2006/07 the number of female students gaining teaching qualifications at UK Higher Education Institutions rose by 2.0% from 23,865 to 24,335, while the number of male qualifiers fell from 8,065 to 7,610, a fall of 5.7%.

The table below shows the number of UK domicile students gaining teacher training qualifications in 2005/06 and 2006/07, and the proportion of male qualifiers.

In 2006/07 male qualifiers made up less than a quarter of all teaching qualifications obtained.

Some other key points from this year's publication are:

• The total number of HE level students at UK HE & FE institutions rose from 2,522,035 in 2005/06 to 2,540,115 in 2006/07
• 651,060 students obtained HE qualifications from UK higher education institutions in 2006/07, up from 640,850 students in 2005/06
• The sector had a total income of £21.3bn, up 9.0%, from £19.5bn in 2005/06
• 364,165 staff (excluding atypical) were working at UK HE institutions, of which 169,995 were academic staff
• A further 180,710 staff were classed as ‘atypical', of which 85,000 were academic
• There were 534,495 UCAS applicants for 2007 entry, of which 77.3% (413,430) were accepted.

The Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom 2006/07 reference volume provides a statistical overview of higher education in the UK. It is available for purchase from HESA Customer Services by calling (01242) 211155. Back issues of this publication are also available for purchase.

Further information is available online at or from the HESA Press Office on 01242 211120.

Notes for Editors

1. Press enquiries should be directed to:
   
   • Simon Kemp
   • HESA Press Officer
   • 01242 211120
   • [email protected]
   • 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ.
2. In the above data 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
3. 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 Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), with whom we have worked closely in preparing it, in accordance with the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
4. HESA data is collected from all publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK, plus the University of Buckingham, which is a non-publicly-funded institution. The 2006/07 data covers 169 HEIs (133 in England, 12 in Wales, 20 in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland).
5. HESA cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the data by third parties.
6. Definitions of the terms used in this press release follow:
   

   Definitions

   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 5. A summary of this strategy is as follows:

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

   HESA student data

   Coverage (Students)

   Higher education (HE) students are those students on programmes of study for which the level of instruction is above that of level 3 of the National Qualifications Framework, e.g. courses leading to the Advanced Level of the General Certificate of Education (GCE A-levels), the Advanced Level of the Vocational Certificate of Education (VCE A-levels) or the Advanced Higher Grade and Higher Grade of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Advanced Highers/Highers).

   The HESA Student Record contains information about individual enrolments, which, because a student can be enrolled on more than one programme of study, will exceed the number of students. Postdoctoral students are not included in the HESA Student Record.

   The HESA standard registration population has been derived from the HESA Student Record and ensures that similar activity is counted in a similar way irrespective of when it occurs. The population splits the student experience into ‘years of programme of study'; the first year of which is deemed to start on the commencement date of the programme with second, and subsequent years, starting on, or near, the anniversary of that date. Registrations are counted once for each ‘year of programme of study'. Short course registrations are counted in the standard registration population regardless of whether they are active on 1 December of the reporting period. However students who leave within two weeks of their start date, or anniversary of their start date, and are on a course of more than two weeks duration, are not included in the standard registration population. Dormant students, incoming visiting and exchange students from overseas and students studying for the whole of their programme of study outside of the UK are also excluded from this population.

   Coverage (Qualifiers)

   The HESA qualifications obtained population is a count of student enrolments associated with the award of an HE qualification (excluding HE institutional credits) during the period 1 August 2006 to 31 July 2007 inclusive. This population includes qualifications obtained during the 2006/07 reporting year, which were returned to HESA by 31 October 2007.

   The qualifications obtained population excludes qualifications awarded to incoming visiting and exchange students and students studying for the whole of their programme of study outside of the UK. This population includes awards from dormant status.

   Initial Teacher Training (ITT)

   ITT qualifiers are those completing an initial or pre-service teacher training course leading to qualified teacher status or to registration as a school teacher with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

   Domicile

   Domicile data is supplied to HESA in the form of postcodes (UK domiciled students) or country codes. Postcodes are mapped to counties, unitary authorities and UK nations using the National Statistics All Fields Postcode Directory. Countries are mapped to geographical regions following consultation with the Department for Education and Skills. Where no data is supplied about the student's domicile, fee eligibility is used to determine whether domicile is European Union, including the UK, or not.

   UK domiciled students are those whose normal residence is in the UK, including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

   HESA staff data

   Coverage (Staff)

   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 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.

   Full-person equivalent

   Individuals can hold more than one contract with an institution and each contract may involve more than one different activity. In published analyses staff counts have been divided amongst their 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 only atypical contracts with an institution and each contract involves only one activity. In published analyses staff counts have been divided amongst their 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).

   HESA finance data

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

   UCAS data

   Coverage

   The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) system processes applications for full-time higher education courses, sandwich first degree, foundation degree, Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE), Higher National Diploma (HND) and Higher National Certificate (HNC) courses. These include member institutions in the United Kingdom (UK).

   The UCAS member institutions include all UK universities (with the exception of The Open University and those colleges of the University of London (Institutes and activities) which do not offer full-time undergraduate courses), most colleges and institutes of higher education (HE) and some colleges of further education (FE).

   The number of member institutions in the UCAS scheme can vary from year to year due to institutions joining (or leaving) the UCAS scheme, and institutional mergers. In the 2007 entry cycle there were 308 member institutions.

   Population

   Applicants are those who sent an application form to UCAS containing at least one first degree, foundation degree, DipHE, HND or HNC course application to a UCAS member institution. Each applicant is permitted to make up to six applications on the application form. Applicants are classed as home (UK) or overseas based on the area of permanent residence given by them on the application form. There is no direct correlation between the classification used in these UCAS tables and that used as a basis for fees assessment.

   Applications data is the sum of applications from applicants who submitted their application at any time before 30 June but excludes direct applicants and those applicants who applied directly into Clearing. Direct applicants include those who returned a Record of Prior Acceptance (RPA) or an Overseas Partnership Form (OPF).

   UCAS Extra gives applicants holding no offers the chance to make additional applications prior to Clearing, providing them with the opportunity to be accepted at an earlier stage in the application cycle.

   Accepted applicants are those who were offered and subsequently accepted a place at a UCAS member institution regardless of the route taken. Accepted applicant data includes applicants who were accepted for deferred entry.

   HE students in FE institutions

   Figures for FE institutions in England were obtained from the Learning and Skills Council standard files and based on final ILR FE F05 06/07. Figures were supplied as a census count (snapshot date) as at 1 December 2006, where full-time full year students are normally required to attend more than 450 guided learning hours over 3 periods and where full-time part year students and required to attend more than 150 hours over one period within the year of programme of study.

   Figures for FE institutions in Wales were obtained from the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR) data collection. The count is of HEFCW funded programmes where full-time students are those with 450 or more guided contact hours per year.

   Figures for FE institutions in Scotland were supplied by the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) as a session count (actively studying anytime during the academic year), where full-time students are those normally required to attend an institution for periods equal to 25 weeks or more within the year of programme of study.

   Figures for FE institutions in Northern Ireland were supplied by the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland as a full-year count for the 2006/07 academic year, where full-time students are those normally required to attend an institution for periods amounting to a minimum of 15 hours per week, with at least seven sessions a week.

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