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Leavers definitions 2007/08 - 2010/11

The following definitions relate to the HESA Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey 2007/08 - 2010/11.

2011/12-2013/14 leavers definitions

The DLHE survey is linked to the HESA Student Record to provide leavers' student and personal characteristics.

Student definitions

The DLHE survey asks leavers what they are doing on a particular reference (census) date. The exact date varies each year but are intended to be roughly six months after graduation. If the leaver obtained their qualification between 1 August and 31 December the reference date will be mid-April of the following year. If the leaver obtained their qualification between 1 January and 31 July the reference date will be mid-January of the next year. Most first degree leavers have the latter January reference date.

The DLHE target population contains all UK EU domiciled students reported to HESA as obtaining relevant qualifications for the reporting period (the academic year 1 August Year1 to 31 July Year2). Awards from dormant status are not included in the target population. Relevant qualifications exclude professional qualifications. Officially, the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK or the EU. However, they are grouped with and assumed to be part of the UK in the DLHE record.

The data specifications of the Student and DLHE records use the term 'instance' to describe a student's engagement with the institution, which, because a student can have more than one instance of engagement, will exceed the number of students. Unless stated otherwise, DLHE data is based on an instance of engagement.

Relevant qualifications for inclusion in the DLHE record are taken from the qualification awarded to the student instance during the reporting year, usually at the end of an instance. The qualification awarded may be different to the student's qualification aim, and each student instance may have a maximum of two qualifications awarded. Where two relevant qualifications are awarded, the highest award is selected as the relevant qualification for DLHE.

HESA classifies courses according to a framework which aligns with the framework for HE qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ), the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) (of which the framework for qualifications of HE institutions in Scotland is a constituent part) and the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) and Bologna frameworks. Details are available on the Course.COURSAIM field notes in the HESA Student record coding manual. It includes level M for taught masters degrees, and level H for honours degrees.

Relevant qualifications include: doctorate and masters degrees; other postgraduate qualifications obtained primarily through supervised research at level L; qualifications leading towards obtaining eligibility to register to practice with a health or social care or veterinary statutory regulatory body (at level M, H, I and J); integrated undergraduate/postgraduate taught masters degrees on the enhanced/extended pattern; postgraduate bachelors degrees (at level M and level H); Postgraduate Certificates in Education/Professional Graduate Diplomas in Education and Professional Graduate Certificates in Education; other taught qualifications at level M; qualifications leading towards registration with the Architects Registration Board (Parts 2 and 1) (at level M and level H); Diplomas at level M and H (but excluding those specifically for Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector); first degrees with honours/ordinary first degrees (including those leading to qualified teacher status (QTS)/registration with a General Teaching Council (GTC), but excluding those from the intercalated pattern); first degrees with honours on the enhanced/extended pattern at level H; first degrees with honours and diploma; Certificates at level H, graduate diploma/certificates at level H and level I; other qualifications at level H; foundation degrees (including those which on completion meet entry requirement for pre-registration health or social care qualification); Diplomas of Higher Education (DipHE); Higher National Diplomas (HND); Certificates of Education (CertHE); Higher National Certificates (HNC).

The population for the DLHE return does not necessarily represent the full cohort graduating during the reporting period; examples of those excluded are professional qualifications (e.g. associate membership or membership of a body such as the Institute of Bankers).

Eligible DLHE population includes those instances identified in the HESA Student record that met criteria within the DLHE target population based on location of study, domicile, mode of study, end date of instance and qualification awarded.

Known destination includes leavers within the eligible DLHE population who replied to the DLHE questionnaire providing destination information.

Percentage with known destination is the total of known destination expressed as a percentage of the eligible DLHE population.

Explicit refusal includes leavers within the eligible DLHE population who replied to the DLHE questionnaire explicitly refusing to provide information.

Response includes leavers who replied to the DLHE questionnaire (i.e. known destination plus explicit refusals).

Response rate is the number of responses expressed as a percentage of the eligible DLHE population.

 

For data protection reasons we implement a strategy in published and released tabulations designed to prevent the disclosure of personal information about any individual. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest multiple of 5 and suppressing percentages and averages based on small populations.

HESA Standard Rounding Methodology:

  1. All numbers are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5
  2. Any number lower than 2.5 is rounded to 0
  3. Halves are always rounded upwards (e.g. 2.5 is rounded to 5)
  4. Percentages based on fewer than 22.5 individuals are suppressed
  5. Averages based on 7 or fewer individuals are suppressed
  6. The above requirements apply to headcounts, FPE and FTE data
  7. Financial data is not rounded
  8. Median figures (e.g. salary) based on 14 or fewer individuals are suppressed

Total figures are also subject to this rounding methodology after calculation; so the sum of numbers in each row or column may not match the total shown. Suppressed values are normally represented as '..' in published tables.

This methodology is sometimes also referred to as the Heidi Plus Rounding Methodology or the HESA Rounding Methodology depending on context. These names all refer to the same methodology described here.

For more information on the rounding methodology, including worked examples and instructions on how to apply rounding, please see Rounding and suppression to anonymise statistics.

Activity describes the employment category of the leaver based on the values in the Matrix of employment circumstance and further study as follows:

  • A: Full-time paid work only (including self-employed)
  • B: Part-time paid work only
  • C: Voluntary/unpaid work only
  • D: Work and further study
  • E: Further study only
  • F: Assumed to be unemployed
  • G: Not available for employment
  • O: Other
  • X: Explicit refusal

Work and further study includes those who reported that they were in full-time paid work only (including self-employed), part-time paid work only, voluntary/unpaid work only plus work and further study.

Further study only includes those who gave their employment circumstances as temporarily sick or unable to work/looking after the home or family, not employed but not looking for employment, further study or training, or something else, and who were also either in full-time or part-time study, training or research. It also includes those who were due to start a job within the next month or unemployed and looking for employment, further study or training, and who were also in full-time study, training or research.

Assumed to be unemployed includes those students who gave their employment circumstances as unemployed and looking for employment, further study or training, and who were also either in part-time study, training or research or not studying, plus those who were due to start a job within the next month and who were also either in part-time study, training or research or not studying.

In certain analyses the following groupings of activity may be displayed:

Work only includes those who reported that they were in full-time paid work only (including self-employed), part-time paid work only or voluntary/unpaid work only.

Of those working (including work and further study) includes those who reported that they were in full-time paid work only (including self-employed), part-time paid work only, voluntary/unpaid work only or those who reported that they were in work and further study

Of those studying (including work and further study)/Further study (including work and study) includes those who reported that they were in either further study only or work and further study.

Not available for employment and other includes those who reported that they were either not available for employment or other.

Explicit refusal indicates that a leaver did not answer the question relating to the employment circumstances or study.

Age is as at 31 July of the reporting period. That is, the end of the academic year in which the leaver gained their relevant qualification.

This describes the HE leaver's own assessment of the basis and duration of their employment in the work they were doing when surveyed.

Permanent or fixed-term lasting 12 months or longer includes permanent, open-ended and fixed-term contracts of 12 months or longer.

Temporary or fixed-term lasting less than 12 months includes fixed-term contracts shorter than 12 months and those employed temporarily through an agency/other than through an agency.

Duration unknown includes those employed on a self-employed, freelance or other basis, including question not answered.

This field collects the name of the employer. This is a free-text field upon which no specific validation checks are performed.

This field describes the size of the employing organisation by the number of people employed.

This describes, for a leaver who studied part-time, the level of support an employer provided during the programme of study (i.e. tuition fees paidgrant to cover tuition fees and living expensesstudy leavesupported in other ways or no employer support).

In the DLHE survey leavers are able to report separately what they are doing in relation to both employment and study and a matrix of possible outcomes is constructed. This matrix is used to define the key categories of outcomes such as employed and unemployed.

As leavers report separately what they are doing in relation to employment and further study, it is possible to be involved in either employment only, further study only or employment and further study. Therefore where the terms employment and further study are used, it is important to note that:

  • employment includes those in employment only, and those in both employment and further study
  • further study includes those in further study only, and those in both employment and further study.

Employment circumstance describes the HE leaver's employment circumstances on the census date.

Study/Further study identifies whether the leaver was involved in further study, training or research on the census date.

Mode of further study describes whether a leaver completing further study, training or registered as a research student on the census date was in full-time study or part-time study. If not involved in further study, Not studying is reported.

Type of qualification describes the level of study of a further study qualification. Where grouped, postgraduate includes higher degrees by research, higher degrees by taught course and postgraduate diploma or certificate, and other undergraduate includes diploma or certificate, professional and other qualifications.

This is defined in Elias & Purcell's report ‘SOC (HE) A Classification of occupations for studying the graduate labour market'. Categorisations are as follows:

  • Graduate
    which can be further classified as traditional graduate occupations, modern graduate occupations, new graduate occupations, or niche graduate occupations
  • Non-graduate

These figures are extracted from the HESA Destination of Leavers from HE (DLHE) Record, using fields 5 Employment circumstances (EMPCIR) and 11 Standard Occupational Classification (SOCDLHE)

This split of SOC 2000 codes was derived from Elias & Purcell's report ‘SOC (HE) A Classification of occupations for studying the graduate labour market' (Institute for Employment Research, Warwick). This split of SOC 2000 codes produces four categories of graduate level employment (‘Traditional graduate occupations', ‘Modern graduate occupations', ‘New graduate occupations', ‘Niche graduate occupations').

This field describes how the HE leaver found the job they were doing on the census date.

This field describes how the HE leaver is funding their further study/training.

Leavers must only specify one of the valid categories. If more than one is entered their entry is classed as ‘Other'. Leavers coded as ‘question not answered' are those whose method of data collection is not known, are deceased, or their mode of further study is declared as ‘Not in study, training or registered as a research student'.

This field describes the factors that the HE leaver thought were important to their employer in their getting the job they were doing on the reference date. Leavers are asked to identify whether the subject of study, level of study, both subject and level, or none were of importance.

Leavers can only enter one of the specified categories for this field. If more than one is returned then their entry is returned as ‘Question not answered (default)'.

If a leaver is in further study this field identifies the institution where they are enrolled (if a UK HEI), or the type of institution (if not a UK HEI).

This field collects a description of the nature of the of the leaver's job title. This is a free-text field, upon which no specific validation checks are made.

This describes the location of the HE leaver's place of work. Data is supplied to HESA in the form of postcodes (for employment in the UK, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man) or country codes. Postcodes are mapped to counties, unitary authorities, Government Office Regions and UK countries using the Office for National Statistics Postcode Directory (ONSPD). Countries are mapped to geographical regions, informed by the National Statistics Country Classification 2006 grouping of countries (www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/classifications/current-standard-classifications/national-statistics-country-classification/index.html).

Other European Union (EU) includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Other EEA countries includes the European Economic Area countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Other Europe includes Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus (Non-European-Union), Faroe Islands, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City and Europe not otherwise specified.

This field describes whether the HE leaver was involved in study, training or research on the reference date, and if so whether it was full-time or part-time.

This field describes the type of further study or training the HE leaver was undertaking.

This field describes the type of further study or training the HE leaver was undertaking.

This field identifies whether the HE leaver worked for their employer before or during the programme of study leading to their relevant qualification

This field describes the professional subject of training undertaken using the Standard Occupational Classification coding framework.

This field describes whether the HE leaver's qualification was a necessary criteria in gaining the job they were doing on the census date.

These fields describe the HE leaver's reasons for taking another programme of study.

Question asked:

Q23. Why did you decide to undertake further study, training or research?

Link to questionnaire:

  • Reason for taking another course 1 - Because it was a requirement of my employment on 19 April 2010/10 January 2011 that I did
  • Reason for taking another course 2 - To develop a broader or more specialist range of skills or knowledge
  • Reason for taking another course 3 - To change or improve my career options
  • Reason for taking another course 4 - Because I was interested in the content of the course
  • Reason for taking another course 5 - Because I had enjoyed my first course and wanted to continue studying
  • Reason for taking another course 6 - I wanted to go on being a student/I wanted to postpone job hunting
  • Reason for taking another course 7 - I had been unable to find a suitable job
  • Reason for taking another course 9 - Other

Describes the annual salary to the nearest thousand pounds before tax, for leavers in full-time paid work, excluding those that returned a zero salary, or refused to give this information.

Salary band describes the annual salary for leavers grouped into bands, excluding those that returned a zero salary.

Unknown includes respondents who returned zero salary plus those that did not wish to give salary information (information refused).

Average (mean) salary is normally restricted to those in full-time paid work (Employment circumstances = 01) and excludes those that returned a zero salary, or refused to give salary information.

The proportion of survey respondents who disclosed their salary in each year is published in the respective Statistical First Release (SFR) of DLHE data. Each year's SFR can found via this page: http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php/content/view/2077/239/.

The Standard Industrial Classification of economic activities (SIC) provides a framework for the collection, tabulation, presentation and analysis of data about economic activities.

From 2007/08 the aggregations reflect the Standard Industrial Classification economic activity sections as summarised in the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SIC 2007) document on the National Statistics website.

Standard industry codes for economic activity are used to describe the relationship between the inputs and outputs of such activity. In cases where multiple activities take place, classification usually relates to the single most important activity. In the case of DLHE statistics, this will usually be the most important activity undertaken by an employer (or self-employed person). Economic activities are measured by enquiring into the nature of an employer's (or self-employed person's) business.

For a list of SOC codes and their standard grouping see Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) groups.

In 2003 HESA adopted the SOC2000 Standard Occupational Classification (which replaced SOC90), for comparability of sector data with other areas of the economy. A variant of the SOC2000 was created for the coding of occupational information collected in the DLHE survey. The classification is termed SOC (DLHE) and details are available from the Downloadable files section of the HESA DLHE coding manual on the HESA website. SOC DLHE (Updated December 2003).zip.

This identifies the actual and intended destinations (i.e. in a teaching postseeking a teaching postnot teaching nor seeking a teaching post) of HE leavers who completed an initial or pre-service teacher training course.

Specific information is requested from HE leavers that completed a course leading to Qualified Teacher Status or a course of pre-service teacher training as defined by the Scottish Executive (Scottish Government), those who completed an initial or pre-service teacher training course not leading to Qualified Teacher Status nor to registration as a school teacher with the General Teaching Council for Scotland, or a Training and Development Agency (TDA) funded flexible provision (ITT).

This describes, for those in a teaching post, the type of establishment in which the HE leaver is teaching (i.e. primary schoolsecondary schoolboth primary and secondary schoolscollege or other educational establishment).

This describes, for those in a teaching post, the type of school or college the HE leaver is teaching in (i.e. maintained (state) school or collegenon-maintained (independent) school or collegeboth maintained (state) and non-maintained (independent) school or college, or sector not known).

If a leaver is in further study this field describes the level of qualification they are aiming for.