Students, staff / Effective Date:
Ongoing / Responsible Dept:
Registry / Equality Analysis Undertaken:
No
Last updated by/date:
Registry - P Aldous, July 2011 / Next review date:
July 2012 / Associated links & web pages: Student Administration Staff Support > Data Quality / QA Reference:
DQ04
Guide to Statutory Student Data Returns (HESES, HESA, ITT)
1HESES Return
What is the HESES return, and why is it required?
The Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey, better know as the HESES return, is a student numbers return which is made to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The return requires total student numbers and full-time equivalents (FTEs) to be identified within the following categories:
- Level: Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Postgraduate Research
- Price Group: A Clinical Subjects, B Laboratory based, engineering and technology, C Intermediate cost subjects with studio, laboratory or fieldwork element, D Other subjects.
- Mode: Full-time, Sandwich and Part-time
- Fundability: HEFCE fundable, non-fundable, Islands/Overseas
The HESES return is a statutory return that is made by all Higher Education (HE) institutions to HEFCE. The return confirms, or otherwise, that the institution has achieved the student numbers that it is contracted to achieve within a given academic year. The information contained in the return (in addition to successful additional numbers bids) is also used in determining the HE institutions contracted student numbers for the forthcoming academic year.
What are the census and submission dates for the HESES return?
The census date for the HESES return is the 1st December in any given academic year. It captures information on students who are actively studying at that date, plus forecast registrations relating to students likely to commence study between the 1st December and the 31st July.
The submission date for the HESES return is normally 7 days following the census date.
What are the implications of student numbers in the HESES return not agreeing with those that an institution is contracted to achieve?
If an institution under-achieves their student numbers there is likely to be “claw-back”, where money allocated for funding is claimed back from the Institution by the Funding Council. If contracted student numbers are exceeded, the Funding Council may request that an action plan is drawn up, which will outline the institution's plans to bring student numbers back in line with those that the institution has been contracted to achieve. Recruitment of additional students may not necessarily result in additional funding from the Funding Council.
How do HEFCE ensure that the information contained in the HESES return is correct?
There is a rolling programme of audits carried out by HEFCE, where HESES returns are checked and tracked back to individual students, attending specific programmes of study. The frequency of these audits is determined by a number of factors. One important factor is the consistency with which the student data, returned to the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA), agrees with the student numbers/fte’s recorded in the HESES return. If, for example, the number of students in the HESA return is much lower than those returned in the HESES return, it is likely that an audit will follow.
2HESA Returns
What is HESA?
The Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) was set up in 1993 to establish more coherence in higher education statistics. It acts as a central agency for the collection and distribution of data relating to higher education institutions and supports the Government in determining higher education policy and the allocation of funding.
What returns are made to HESA?
Every higher education institution has to submit data to HESA. The returns, which are required in each academic year, cover the following categories:
- Student Record Collection
- Aggregate Overseas Record Collection
- Initial Teacher Training (ITT) In-Year Record Collection
- Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) Collection
- Staff Record Collection
- Financial Statistics Return (FSR) with HE-BCI Survey Collection
- Non-Credit Bearing (NCB) Record Collection (discontinued)
- Campus Information Collection
- Estates Management Statistics (EMS) Record Collection
- Key Information Set (KIS) Record Collection
Census and submission dates for HESA vary depending on the return being submitted.
What happens to the information?
Most importantly to individual institutions is the use of HESA data as the basis of formulae-driven funding allocations, with respect to student numbers, access and widening participation. This emphasises the importance of the integrity of the data held within the student return which is submitted to HESA.
The data returns are also used for the compilation of performance indicators by the Higher Education Funding Council and the Training and Development Agency for Schools. In the private sector data is used to compile and publish league tables, produced in both the Times and the Guardian newspapers.
How do we ensure the integrity of student data?
The Registry: Student Administration team undertake various data integrity checks on all student data to ensure they are accurate. This is an on-going process which continues throughout the year. The Deputy Registrar has overall responsibility for this work and, where necessary, liaises with the Faculties, Finance and other central departments to ensure the data standards are continually improved.
HESA also provide software known as validation kits which can be downloaded from their website. It is possible to compile the HESA data and then run it through the validation kit to pick up any inconsistencies before it is submitted.
What are data audit reports?
To further improve the data quality and timeliness of the University’s statutory returns, the Registry: Student Administration team send out monthly data audit reports to faculties, listing missing data, and asking for their assistance in identifying the gaps.
Data may be missing for many reasons, but in the majority of cases it is because students have not engaged with our standard online enrolment processes which capture the data needed for the returns. The faculties are reminded that students are required to enrol within one month of the start of their programme and Registry is currently considering penalties for those who do not.
Initially, reports will be produced for the following missing data items:
- Date of birth
- Ethnicity
- Nationality
- Gender
- Home postcode
- Highest qualification on entry to the course
- New entrant to HE
- Parental education.
When received, faculties are asked to fill in the missing data on the reports and return to Registry, who will then enter the data onto SITS. The reports will be kept for audit purposes.
If I have queries concerning student records and HESA requirements where should I go?
For guidance in this respect please contact Hazel Eldred (6926), Bridget Galvin (6933) or Terry Madeley (6856) from the Registry: Information and Student Administration team.
3Initial Teacher Training Census
What is the ITT Trainee Numbers Census, and why is it required?
The ITT Trainee numbers census is, as the name indicates, a student numbers return, which is made on an annual basis to the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). The census requires actual student numbers to be returned in the following categories:
- Level: Undergraduate, Postgraduate
- Mode: Full-time, Sandwich and Part-time
- Phase: Primary/Secondary/Flexible
- Year: Identifying the year of study within the total year of programme (ie yr 1 of 4)
- Commencement Date: Month within the academic year
- Subject: Various
Additional information is also required on numbers of students: with disabilities; of an ethnic background; and the number of male students within each entry.
The Initial Teacher Trainee numbers census is a statutory return that is made by all Teacher Training providers to the Training and Development Agency. The return confirms, or otherwise, that the institution has achieved the student numbers that it is contracted to achieve within a given academic year. The information contained in the return (in addition to successful additional numbers bids) is also used in determining the providers' contracted student numbers for the forthcoming academic year.
What are the census and submission dates for the ITT Trainee Numbers Census?
The census date for the ITT trainee numbers census is normally the first week in October and the submission date is one week after the census date.
What are the implications of student numbers in the ITT trainee numbers census not agreeing with those that an institution is contracted to achieve?
If an institution does not achieve its contracted student numbers there is likely to be 'claw-back', where money allocated to the institution is claimed back by the Funding Council. If an institution exceeds its contracted student numbers, their student numbers allocation for the forthcoming year may well be reduced to ensure that they remain within the same overall contracted student numbers. Additional student registrations will not necessarily result in additional income.
How do the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) ensure that the information contained in the trainee numbers census is correct?
There is a rolling programme of audits carried out by the TDA. The frequency of these audits is determined by a number of factors. One important factor is the consistency with which the student data, returned to the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA), agrees with the student numbers/FTEs held in the ITT trainee numbers census. If, for example, the number of students in the HESA return is much lower than those returned in the ITT trainee numbers census, it is likely that an audit will follow.
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