Model circular letter - Each institution was sent its own individual password information.
| 2 April 2004 |  |
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Circular letter number 08/2004
For further information contact Adrian Day, tel 0117 931 7428, e-mail a.day@hefce.ac.uk
Dear Vice-Chancellor or Principal
Development of HE Business and Community Interaction Survey (formerly HE Business Interaction Survey)
I am writing to update you on developments to the annual survey of interaction between higher education institutions (HEIs) and business and the community, in preparation for the 2004 survey. This letter also explains how we will collect the data this year.
The Government has given a commitment to a permanent third stream of funding. In turn we need to demonstrate that this investment is providing concrete benefits to both the economy and society. It is also our intention that future third stream funding should be, in the main, allocated formulaically based on suitable performance indicators. The HE-BCI survey enables us to meet both these objectives by collecting annually a single minimum range of data, thereby reducing the burden on institutions.
In 2003, the third survey year, all UK HEIs responded to the questionnaire and the subsequent validation process. The results were published as HEFCE 2004/07.
As we set out in the letter announcing the 2003 survey (HEFCE Circular Letter 08/2003), HEFCE and the stakeholders group have reviewed both the questionnaire and the process in advance of this year's collection exercise (for data from academic year 2002-03). Consistent with the White Paper on the future of higher education, and current policy on third stream activity, we are updating the questionnaire by giving more scope not only to the social, civic and cultural impact of higher education on the economy and society, but also to services for public sector and not-for-profit organisations that may still involve commercial transactions but deliver wider social benefits for the public good. Examples could include providing resources or opportunities in regeneration programmes, and consultancy or contract research for public service organisations. One of the most obvious changes is renaming the survey to the Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey (HE-BCI).
To expedite the survey process we will be using the HEFCE extranet. Many of your colleagues will be familiar with this system, which has already been used to collect information on mid-year finance returns and additional student numbers. The survey consists of two sections. Part A is an on-line survey of strategy and activities. Once this is complete, a Microsoft Excel document (Part B) containing questions on numeric and financial outputs will be available to download.
Please pass this letter to the individual who will be your institution's contact for returning information to HEFCE on the institution's strategy and outputs for third stream activities (for example the Head of Business and Community).
The nominated contact should then log on to https://extranet.hefce.ac.uk and register their contact details. Once registration is complete, two password keys are required to complete the HE-BCI survey. The first is for your institution's specific extranet area (not visible to other HEIs) and the second allows the third stream contact to access the survey.
The passwords for <<Institution Name>> are:
Organisation Key <<Extranet Key>>
Group Key <<Extranet Key>>
We will be inviting institutions to share some of their data with other HEI respondents. This will allow more useful benchmarking of activity by HEIs without providing third parties access to institutional level data. Further detailed guidance is available on the extranet. Please can you ensure that your institution's contact registers as soon as convenient. The survey itself will be live by 10 May 2004.
We will also be inviting institutions to attend regional seminars. The purpose of these will be two-fold:
- to explain changes to the content and process of the HE-BC\I survey
- to bring together those active in institutional third stream strategy and delivery, in order to identify sources of good practice, which will be disseminated at a later stage.
If you have any queries about the survey, please contact Adrian Day.
Yours sincerely
Howard Newby
Chief Executive
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