Topical statistics

An article circulated in several local newspapers on Monday 16 May 2016 claimed to show the "top 20 least employable degrees". The article claims that HESA is the source of this list and has since been copied and shared widely. Here's the truth...

In 2013/14, there were 236,580 first year non-UK domiciled students studying at UK HE providers. Nearly a quarter of these students came from China (there was a 4.0% increase in the number of students from China in 2013/14 from 2012/13). The chart below shows the Top 20 countries of domicile in 2013/14 alongside a table showing the percentage change from 2012/13 to 2013/14. There was nearly a 20% increase in students from Italy in 2013/14 from 2012/13.

Cheltenham Literature Festival is an annual event celebrating the written word. As it is based in the same town as our offices, it seemed appropriate to delve into our data to learn about students, qualifiers and leavers who had 'Literature' in their course title during 2013/14.

Bike Week 2015 is encouraging people to use their bikes to cycle to work. Our Estates management record (EMR) collects information about the total number of cycle spaces at higher education providers and an estimated percentage of students and staff who travelled to and from their providers by bicycle. Note it is not mandatory for providers to return this information to HESA but in practice the majority do (149 of the 159 returned data in 2013/14).

On 7 May 2015 we released the Estates management record for 2013/14. This record collects standardised, reliable and useful property information for managers to aid understanding of current performance, promote sharing of best practice and drive improvements.

On the topic of Walk to Work Week, the Estates management record usefully includes an estimated percentage of students and staff who travel to and from the HE provider. Note it is not mandatory for providers to return this information but in practice they often do.

3.5 years after graduation in the winter of 2012/13, the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) Longitudinal survey contacted a cohort of students who completed a higher education course at a UK HE provider in 2008/09. One of the questions in the survey asked leavers 'how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your career to date?' Here is what the respondents had to say...

There were 396,000 staff employed at UK HE providers in 2013/14, of whom 194,000 (49%) were academic staff.

The graphic below attempts to display some of the key characteristics of staff contracts across the sector, as well as displaying the gender split among different types of contracts. The table below the graphic provides the numbers for each breakdown.

In 2012/13 there were 425,265 non-UK domiciled students studying at UK HE providers. This was a fall in numbers from 435,235 the year before following a continuous year-on-year rise since HESA started collecting data in 1995. Unsurprisingly the highest numbers of students came from the world's two most populous countries, China and India.

10% of full-time first degree students studied on sandwich courses in 2012/13. However sandwich courses were less popular with female students. 7% of female students studied on sandwich courses compared with 12% of male students.

In 2012/13 7,275 students started HE level chemistry courses at UK HE providers. 42% of those students were female and 20% were from outside the UK.