HESA responds to the Office for Students' data strategy

The Office for Students has published its data strategy today, outlining how it will use data to regulate higher education in England.

As the co-regulated agency for collecting, assuring and disseminating higher education data in the UK, and the designated data body for higher education in England, HESA will support HE providers in meeting the data requirements of the OfS.

The OfS data strategy reflects the existing engagement between the OfS and HESA that serves the interests of all those with a stake in higher education. The strategy confirms the essential role of the Data Futures transformation programme to update the data infrastructure and continue to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. It also provides a clear endorsement of HESA’s long term strategies of publishing more open data and of seeking to minimise the burden of data collection on HE providers.

HESA supports HE providers throughout the UK in meeting their data provision obligations to regulators and funding bodies, and the OfS data strategy’s support for the continued availability of UK-wide data will be widely welcomed.

HESA will be launching a consultation in early 2019 to determine how we can best support HE providers in their regulatory and other data needs. The consultation will cover the spectrum of HESA activities from collection and assurance, supporting the sector’s use of data, and the onward publication and sharing of information.