The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is the official dataset of quantitative information about higher education in the United Kingdom. The dataset is managed by Jisc, our data partner.
To ensure HESA data aligns with our definitions of faculty staff and students numbers, we apply the following filters to the HESA data sets. All HESA data (except for Graduate Employment Rate) are provided as FTE (full-time equivalent) numbers.
Faculty staff:
| HESA field | HESA values included | HESA values excluded |
| Academic employment function | Research only / Teaching & research / Teaching only | Neither teaching nor research |
| Contract levels (grouped) | Assistant professional staff, Administrative staff / Function head / Head of Schools / Senior Function head / Junior Administrative Staff, Clerical Staff, Technician/Craftsmen, Operative / Non-Academic section manager, Senior/principal lecturer, Reader, Principal Research fellow / Professor / Senior Administrative staff (Professional/technical) Research assistant, Teaching assistant / Senior Management / Senior Professional (Technical), Lecturer, Research fellow, Researcher (senior research assistant), Teaching fellow / Team Leader (Professional, Technical, Administrative), Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Senior Research Fellow | Routine task provider / Simple task provider |
| Length of contract | More than or equal to 3 months | |
| End date of contract (YYYY/MM) | October of the reporting period onwards (e.g. October, November etc. of 2021 onwards for the reporting period of 2021/22 academic year) | Any date before October of the reporting period (e.g. September, August etc. of 2021 onwards for the reporting period of 2021/22 academic year) |
Students:
| HESA field | HESA values included | HESA values excluded |
| Length of study | More than or equal to 3 months | Less than 3 months |
| Incoming exchange students | All HESA values excluded in the Inbound exchange students (see below), i.e. Unknown and Not an incoming exchange or visiting student | All HESA values included in the Inbound exchange students (see below) |
International students:
| HESA field | HESA values included | HESA values excluded |
| Nationality | Everything that is not excluded | UK, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Stateless, Unknown |
| Length of study | More than or equal to 3 Months | Less than 3 months |
| Incoming exchange students | All HESA values excluded in the Inbound exchange students (see below), i.e. Unknown and Not an incoming exchange or visiting student | All HESA values included in the Inbound exchange students (see below) |
Inbound exchange students:
| HESA field | HESA values included | HESA values excluded |
| Incoming exchange students | Incoming ERSASMUS+ student, Incoming reciprocal Turing Scheme student, Student studying mainly in UK as part of a collaborative programme between reporting provider and an overseas provider, Student studying mainly overseas as part of a collaborative programme between reporting provider and an overseas provider, Other incoming exchange or visiting student | Unknown, Not an incoming exchange or visiting student |
| Length of study | More than or equal to 3 months | Less than 3 months |
Outbound exchange students:
| HESA field | HESA values included | HESA values excluded |
| Mobility type | Study abroad |
Work abroad, Volunteering, Unknown |
| Mobility Scheme | Erasmus+, Turing Scheme, Sandwich placement, Provider, Other scheme | - |
| Mobility duration | More than or equal to 3 months | Less than 3 months |
| Length of study | More than or equal to 3 months | Less than 3 months |
Graduate Employment Rate:
| HESA field | HESA values included | HESA values excluded |
| Activity |
Full-time employment, Part-time employment, Unknown pattern of employment, Unemployed, Total with known outcomes, Total * |
All other activities |
| Interim study | Include significant interim study | - |
* This values are used to construct the target metrics:
- Graduate Employment Rate: (FT employment + PT employment + Unknown pattern of employment) / (FT employment + PT employment + Unknown pattern of employment + Unemployed)*100
- Employment survey's response rate: Total with known outcomes / Total
