The Student Record contains over 150 pieces of information for each student currently studying a course that leads to a qualification or credit, at a higher education institution. The data contains information on the subject of study chosen, entry qualification and student characteristics. The data is collected for all students who are (or were) actively following a programme of study at sometime during the reporting period (1 August – 31 July). There is First Destinations Supplement to this record, which is submitted separately, detailing the destination of students after graduation.
Used by HESA to:
- Produce a range of annual publications presenting data both in detail and at a more general level
- Complete statistical analysis to inform policy development in the HE sector as well as future development of the HESA database and use of the data elsewhere
- Informs the National Student Survey population
Used by OfS to:
- Verify the HESES return (HESES is recreated using HESA data)
- Generate indicators and benchmarks of performance in the higher education sector relating to:
- Participation of under-represented groups
- Student progression
- Learning outcomes (including non-completion)
- Efficiency of learning and teaching
- Student employment
- Research output
- HE links with industry
Used by other organisations in:
- Newspaper league tables
- Guides to Higher Education, helping prospective students choose which University to apply to
- QAA – HERO website
Used by LJMU for:
- Internal reporting purposes including the Executive Dashboard
What Is HESES?
HESES is an annual survey returned to Office for Students (OfS) about students on recognised higher education courses. All higher education institutions must carry out HESES.
The survey returns the total FTE of enrolled students across each price group for all students except certain groups such as: Writing Up students, Exchange In students, NVQ students and Award Only students.
The return looks at all August to December student enrolments before 1st December, any non-standard students active as of 31st July (e.g. in HESES 13 it would include Jan 13 starters who have not finished by 31st July 13) and asks for a forecast of students who will enrol after 1st December (e.g. in HESES 13 a student who starts a course Jan 14). Thus it is essential that students enrolling before December 1st are fully enrolled with correct data on Campus Solutions before this census date.
Key Points
The return will:
- Give an early indication, of the number of Higher Education students studying in the current academic year (e.g. for government planning purposes).
- Enables OfS to monitor the achievement of the funding agreement targets for the current academic year.
- Perhaps most important of all, HESES helps inform OfS’s allocation of funds for the next academic year so it is obviously essential that we return accurate data.
HESES Process Project Plan
HESES goes through the following main stages each year:
- September to December - Throughout enrolment monitoring we are using the exception reports to check data quality in preparation for HESES
- November 1st to 8th - Missing research student cost centres input by RGS
- November 5th to 26th - Circulate UNIT and Course checks to each faculty for confirmation, it is essential data such as cost centres and funding sources are precise in order to carry out HESES. These should be returned by 26th November
- November 6th to 9th - APIS checks on Unit and Course base details e.g. credits, level applicable to funding etc
- November 19th to 23rd - Any outstanding gaps on exception report fields, e.g. Domicile, to be circulated for urgent attention.
- November 07th to 20th - Forecast confirmations, confirming Non Sept targets are still a reflection on forecast students.
- November 24th - Dummy run of HESES carried out, this helps identify and problems/issues prior to the census date after which data can not be changed. Any urgent issues will be circulated to the relevant people for action
- December 1st - Extract required data from SIS
- December 1st to December 10th - Using bespoke HESES compiler import Campus Solutions extracts and create HESES return reports
- December 10th - Submit HESES return to OfS
- December to January - Respond to any queries OfS send us regarding the HESES return and sign off data.
Other Processes HESES Is Used For
- Financial Forecast
- HESA – HESES Reconciliation
- Council of Validating Universities
- Faculty Plans
- Student Number Target Setting
- Ad hoc requests regarding FTEs and student numbers
* Full-time equivalent. Full-time students count as 1 FTE. Students on their sandwich year-out count as 0.5 FTE. The FTE for part-time students is measured by comparing their learning activity with that for an equivalent full-time course.
This record is an in-year collection covering students in England on a course of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) leading to Qualified Teacher Status. It is compulsory for HEIs to send data for all new and continuing ITT students. The coverage of the record includes Department for Education (DfE)-funded flexible provision, but excludes students on Inset courses as these are not counted as ITT, and students studying for a Masters in Teaching and Learning who already hold QTS. Institutions are not expected to return a record to HESA for students on employment-based routes or SCITT (e.g. GTP, OTT, Teach First and RTP). There are separate systems to collect this data. The reporting period for the collection is 1 August - 31 July.
In general, the Aggregate offshore record should be collected in respect of students studying (to date) wholly outside the UK who are either registered with the reporting institution or who are studying for an award of the reporting institution. This will include all students active at any point in the reporting period, including students becoming dormant part way through the year, and those withdrawing from courses. Students who are dormant for the entire reporting year should be excluded from the return.
There are a few distance learning students studying outside the UK who are funded - e.g. Crown servants overseas and the Services. For these students a full individualised record is needed. In addition, if students studying wholly outside the UK are considered fundable under Funding Council Early Statistics rules, then they should not be included in the Aggregate offshore record; such students should continue to be included in the individualised Student record only. All other distance learning students studying outside the UK who are not fundable distance learning students are required to be included in the Aggregate offshore record.
Where students are studying credits at different levels they should only be included as a headcount once and within the highest level of study. For example, a student following both a PG and an UG course is counted against the PG LEVEL and not against the UG Level
