July 2008/25 (web only)
Core funding/operations
Assurance and funding

This report is for information and guidance

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2007-08 statistics derived from ILR data
Guide to HEFCE web facility

This document is a guide to HEFCE's web facility which generates several types of analysis from the Learning and Skills Council's Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Use of the web facility will help further education colleges to return accurate higher education data to the Learning and Skills Council, prepare for the 2009 National Student Survey and to identify errors and forecasting discrepancies in their student data return to HEFCE.

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To:	Heads of further education colleges directly funded by HEFCE Heads of lead institutions of HEFCE-recognised funding consortia Heads of member colleges of HEFCE-recognised funding consortia
Of interest to those responsible for:	Student data, Audit, Finance
Reference:	2008/25
Publication date:	July 2008
Enquiries to:	For enquiries on the use of ILR data to inform the 2009-10 widening participation allocations, contact: Christine Daniel tel 0117 931 7373 e-mail ilr_heifes_stats@hefce.ac.uk For all other enquiries, contact: Marie-Helene Nienaltowski tel 0117 931 7493 Lydia Booker tel 0117 931 7338 e-mail ilr_heifes_stats@hefce.ac.uk

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Table of contents and executive summary (read online)

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Contents

• Executive summary
• Introduction

Annexes

• Annex A - Summary of changes since publication of HEFCE 2007/13
• Annex B - Using the HEFCE web facility
• Annex C - Comparison of HEIFES07 and the HEIFES07 re-creation
• Annex D - Derived statistics that may inform the 2009-10 widening participation allocations
• Annex E - re-creation co-funded employer engagement student numbers (CFEE07) re-creation
• Annex F - Information for leads and members of HEFCE-recognised funding consortia
• Annex G - 2009 Unistats summaries
• Annex H - 2009 National Student Survey (NSS) target list
• Annex I - Lifelong Learning Network (LLN) student summaries
• Annex J - Submitting overrides to derived fields
• Annex K - HEIFES08 non-completion toolkit
• List of abbreviations

Appendices

• Appendix 1   HEIFES07 re-creation algorithms
• Appendix 2   Troubleshooting the differences between HEIFES07 and the HEIFES07 re-creation
• Appendix 3   Problems of fit with the HEIFES07 re-creation algorithms
• Appendix 4   Derived statistics that may inform the 2009-10 widening participation allocation algorithms
• Appendix 5   Co-funded employer engagement 2007-08 (CFEE07) re-creation algorithms
• Appendix 6   2009 Unistats data algorithms
• Appendix 7   Generating 2009 Unistats outputs
• Appendix 8   2009 National Student Survey (NSS) target list algorithms
• Appendix 9   Lifelong Learning Network (LLN) summary algorithms
• Appendix 10   HEIFES08 non-completion toolkit algorithms

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Executive summary

Purpose

1.   This document is a guide to HEFCE's web facility, which further education colleges (FECs) should use to check data for higher education (HE) students on the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) Individualised Learner Record (ILR). It is expected that colleges will use this facility before submitting their 2007-08 ILR F04 and F05 returns to the LSC. It generates the following derived statistics:

1. Higher Education in Further Education: Students Survey 2007-08 (HEIFES07) re-creation.
2. Derived statistics that may be used to inform the 2009-10 widening participation (WP) allocations.
3. Re-creation of the aggregate return to monitor 2007-08 co-funded employer engagement student numbers (CFEE07).
4. Summaries of data for the Unistats web-site.
5. A target list of students to be included in the 2009 National Student Survey (NSS).
6. Lifelong Learning Network (LLN) student summaries.
7. A non-completion toolkit for the Higher Education in Further Education: Students Survey 2008-09 (HEIFES08).

Key points

2.   The use of the web facility is strongly encouraged because it will help colleges to:

• return accurate data to the LSC
• reduce the likelihood of selection for the derived statistics exercise for 2007-08 (selected colleges are typically subject to considerable additional work and potential funding adjustments)
• identify discrepancies between forecasts in HEIFES07 and the outturn position for 2007-08 as generated from their ILR
• identify errors in HEIFES07
• prepare for the 2009 NSS
• ensure that Unistats summaries are fit for publication in 2009
• ensure that LLN student summaries are accurate
• make informed estimations of non-completion rates for HEIFES08.

3.   This document (including the technical appendices which can be downloaded separately) provides:

• guidance on using the web facility
• details of the algorithms used for generating the derived statistics
• guidance on troubleshooting the differences between HEIFES07 and the HEIFES07 re-creation
• details of problems of fit with HEIFES07 re-creation algorithms
• guidance for submitting overrides to our algorithms, and information on when this is appropriate
• guidance for using the HEIFES08 non-completion toolkit.

Action required

4.   HEFCE-funded colleges and members of HEFCE-recognised consortia are required to use the web facility to generate 2009 NSS target lists. Further details about the arrangements for the 2009 NSS will be published later this summer.

5.   More generally, we strongly encourage colleges to use the web facility as part of their data quality processes. Past reviews have confirmed that it is an essential element of most HEFCE-funded colleges' ILR data quality processes, and that colleges that do not use the facility are more likely to be selected for the monitoring exercise described in paragraphs 7 and 8.

6.   Colleges that are members of a HEFCE-recognised funding consortium should also use this web facility to ensure that ILR data errors do not cause their consortium to be selected for our monitoring exercises.