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HESES99

Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey 1999-2000

This electronic version of the document contains the body of the document only. The full document is also available - see below.

To

Heads of HEFCE-funded higher education institutions
Heads of DENI-funded universities

Of interest to those responsible for

Student data; Funding

Reference

99/57

Publication date

October 1999

Enquiries to

Hannah Falvey tel 0117 931 7478
e-mail heses@hefce.ac.uk

Executive summary

  1. Purpose

  2. This document asks institutions to complete the annual survey on full-time equivalent student load on recognised higher education (HE) courses.

    Key points

  3. The data will:
    1. Give us an early indication of the number of students studying in the academic year 1999-2000.
    2. Enable us to compare student load with allocations made for the academic year 1999-2000.
    3. Together with data supplied to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), inform our allocation of teaching funds for the academic year 2000-01.

  4. This document provides:
    1. Guidance notes for completing the Higher Education Students Early Statistics Survey 1999-2000 (HESES99).
    2. Definitions used in the HESES99 survey.
    3. Examples of the survey tables, which will be distributed on computer disk.

  5. Information contained in the annexes will help institutions to complete the survey.

    Annex A:

    Summary of changes since HESES98 and clarifications

    Annex B:

    Table descriptions

    Annex C:

    Description of columns in tables

    Annex D:

    HESES99 student population

    Annex E:

    Countable years of programme of study

    Annex F:

    Student load

    Annex G:

    Long years of programme of study

    Annex H:

    Definition of residential and funding status

    Annex I:

    Definition of level of study

    Annex J:

    Definition of mode of study

    Annex K:

    Definition of price groups

    Annex L:

    Definition of recognised HE courses

    Annex M:

    Approximation to the year of programme of study

    Annex N:

    Links between HESA and HESES data

    Annex O:

    Validation checks

    Annex P:

    Workbook notes

    Annex Q:

    Sample tables

    Annex R:

    Glossary

    Action required

  6. Survey data, on disk with a hard copy, should be returned by 7 December 1999. Disks will be dispatched to institutions by 10 November 1999.

    The HESES99 Survey

  7. The following sources of data will inform our allocation of funds for 2000-01:
    • HESES99
    • the HESA July 1998-99 individualised student record
    • Research Activity Survey 1999.
  8. HESES99 should be completed by all higher education institutions (HEIs) receiving HEFCE recurrent funds for teaching. The Research Activity Survey 1999 will be issued in October 1999: it should be completed by all institutions that will receive HEFCE funding for research in 1999-2000, or that expect to receive such funding in 2000-01.
  9. Coverage of the HESES99 survey is given in Annex D. Definitions of when activity should be counted are in Annex E. Annexes F to L explain how to record different categories of activity.
  10. All activity that meets the criteria set out in Annexes D and E should be reported, even if it will not be used directly to allocate funds.
  11. The following fields from the HESA record will also be used for funding purposes:
    1. Date of birth (to determine if a student qualifies for the mature student premium).
    2. Disability allowance (to determine if the student is in receipt of disability allowance).
    3. Postcode (the home postcode is used to determine whether the student should count towards the calculation of the widening participation premium).
  12. Institutions should note that further education colleges make a similar return to HEFCE on the Higher Education in Further Education: Students Survey 1999-2000 (HEIFES99).

    Data collection and verification

  13. Enquiries about this survey should be addressed to Hannah Falvey (tel 0117 931 7478, e-mail heses@hefce.ac.uk). A web page featuring answers to frequently asked questions and additional examples will be on the HEFCE’s website, www.hefce.ac.uk, under ‘Questions’.
  14. A computer disk, containing an Excel workbook, will be dispatched directly to institutional contacts by 10 November 1999. Notes on the disk are at Annex P.
  15. The disk contains a number of validation checks, detailed in Annex O, and we will carry out further checks when we receive it. Once data have been validated, institutions will be asked to verify their returns. We may refuse to accept amendments once data have been verified.

    Outline timetable and process for the 2000-01 funding round

  16. Institutions are required to return their HESES survey by 7 December 1999, both on disk and in hard copy. Once we receive the data, we carry out a number of validation and credibility checks, and calculate whether institutions have met their funding contract for 1999-2000. During December, we will write to institutions, enclosing a printout of their HESES data and comparison and holdback reports generated from them. Institutions will be asked to:
    • verify that the data are accurate, or make corrections
    • answer any questions we may have on the data
    • submit any appeals for mitigation of holdback.
  17. By mid January 2000, all institutions must have signed off their HESES data as being correct as at the census date of 1 December 1999. The timetable for this is tight: if corrections to data are made, we then reissue the data for re-verification by institutions. We will expect responses to questions about data within six working days.
  18. During January we will consider appeals for mitigation of holdback. Institutions will be notified of the outcomes of their appeals in February. At the end of January we will also announce the provisional Maximum Student Number (MaSN) for 2000-01. Institutions will have one week in which to appeal for a change to their MaSN. The outcomes of any MaSN appeals will also be announced in February. We will announce provisional allocations of recurrent grant and confirm MaSNs for 2000-01 in March.
  19. In January 2001, we will compare HESES99 data with the July 2000 HESA student record. Changes in funding may result from this comparison.

    Returns

  20. Survey data, on disk with a hard copy, should be returned to:

    Joanne Iles
    Analytical Services Group
    HEFCE
    Northavon House
    Coldharbour Lane
    BRISTOL BS16 1QD

    Returns may be made by e-mail to j.iles@hefce.ac.uk, but a hard copy should still be sent to the above address.

  21. Returns should be received no later than 7 December 1999.

    Late returns

  22. Where an institution fails to return data on time, without prior authorisation, or the returned data is not accurate, we may base the allocation of funds on our own estimate of student activity.

    Audit

  23. We will audit HESES99 data. Institutions should therefore keep an adequate audit trail recording how the data were derived.
  24. As part of our audit process we will compare HESES99 data with a variety of other data, most notably individualised HESA data as these become available. We may make retrospective adjustments to funding in the light of these comparisons. Details of how we will compare data are given in Annex N. Currently it is not possible to create an exact mapping between individualised data and HESES data. Institutions should therefore consider the guidance given in Annexes D to L as definitive. Annexes M and N, though not definitive, describe our monitoring process. We will also compare data returned on HESES99 and data returned on the Research Activity Survey 1999. We may refuse to accept data where there are significant differences.

You can also obtain:

Full document and Annexes in Word (464Kb).

Full document and Annexes in RTF (8Mb).

Sample tables - Excel workbook