Introduction

1. This circular informs higher education providers (HEPs) of the higher education (HE) data used for the following purposes:
• the calculation of funding allocations;
• monitoring National Measures;
• monitoring equality and diversity;
• providing data to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol about Welsh medium provision;
• publications;
• analysing HESA student record data quality;
• monitoring part-time fee waivers;
• monitoring degree apprenticeships;
• monitoring PGT Master’s bursaries;
• informing policy.

2. In this circular, HEPs include further education institutions (FEIs) providing higher education and higher education institutions (HEIs), that are funded by Medr. Also included are new subscribers to HESA that are not funded by Medr, but have specifically designated HE course provision. The new subscribers are not included in the extractions and analysis relating to funding but are included in some of the other data extractions and analysis presented in this publication. Inclusion by provider type is signalled under the individual headings below and is further summarised in the table in Annex Q.

3.The mappings in the annexes that relate to student data are based on Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record data being collected by Jisc  for the 2023/24 data collection year. The mappings presented have been tested on data returned on the HESA student record for 2022/23, the first year of collection of student data under the Data Futures programme. We welcome any feedback that providers have on the mappings in the annexes, either during the 2023/24 submission process so that we can make immediate changes to the Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS) programs as necessary, or to feed into our review of these mappings ready for next year. Any comments that providers have should be sent to [email protected]. Mappings for the end of year monitoring data extraction are contained in Annex K of the End of Year Monitoring (EYM) circular which was emailed to HE data contacts on 16 August 2024 and available via request from [email protected] if required. Comments on that mapping are also welcomed. Any significant changes to the mappings either in this document or in the EYM circular, made during the submission process, will be communicated to providers.

4. Should there be any major problems with the data extractions during the submission process, for example, issues with the mapping, the IRIS system or issues at individual providers, which mean that some or all of the IRIS outputs are not usable, then there is a possibility of re-extraction post-collection. If this is likely, we will inform providers.

5. Funding methods for 2025/26 are not final at the time of publication of this circular and some allocation methods may change. The funding methods included in this circular are those for 2024/25. It is assumed for the sake of extraction of data that the funding methods will remain the same for 2025/26.

Main changes for 2023/24 compared to 2022/23

6. The main changes included in this publication compared to HEFCW circular W23/37HE: Higher Education Data Requirements 2023/24 HESA Data Futures – Final Update, comprise:
• HEFCW no longer exists as an organisation and is now part of the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (Medr). Therefore, throughout the circular, references to HEFCW have been updated to Medr, and any references to Medr should be assumed to also cover the previous arrangements under HEFCW.
• All annexes that include student data have been updated to refer to any IRIS specific changes resulting from the outcomes of consultation of changes for EYM 2023/24, for example, to include previous year’s data in the outputs and to add additional identification fields.
• A new annex describing data used to calculate student full-time equivalent to be used in Capital funding.
• A new annex describing data used to calculate Wales Research Environment and Culture funding.
• A new annex to outline the specific IRIS outputs and sign offs required for HEIs, funded FEIs and new HESA subscribers.

Sources of Data

7. Medr uses data from its own surveys, data collected by HESA and data from the National Student Survey (NSS) in carrying out the purposes described in paragraph 1 above. Other data such as Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data are also used to inform policy and provide information about the HE sector in Wales.

8. Medr collects data from HEPs in Wales through:
• the higher education students early statistics (HESES) survey; and
• the student and finance forecasts requests (HEIs only).

9. Jisc collects data from all HEIs in the UK on the HESA records on:
• student activity, including graduate outcomes;
• information for students through the DiscoverUni return;
• finance;
• higher education business and community interaction (HE-BCI);
• staff; and,
• estates management.

10. Jisc collects the following data on the HESA records from Welsh FEIs providing HE directly funded by Medr and Welsh FEIs and alternative providers with specifically designated HE course provision:
• student activity, including graduate outcomes;
• information for students through the DiscoverUni return.

11. Readers of this circular are assumed to be familiar with the HESES and EYM surveys, the HESA records and surveys to include changes relating to the implementation of HESA Data Futures, the IRIS system and the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) (HEIs only). The latest HESES, EYM and forecasts circulars are available on the data collection page of the Medr website; the latest HESA data manuals are available on the HESA website and REF circulars are available on the REF 2021 website. Links or references to relevant circulars can also be found throughout this circular.

Ensuring the accuracy of data

12. HESA data used in the allocation of funding are subject to confirmation by HEPs that Medr have correctly extracted the data from the HESA records. In general, HEPs are not permitted to make amendments to data during the confirmation process if their HESA data are incorrect. The exception to this is when there are changes to the methods of extraction or the data used in funding, or where a different source of data is used. In these cases, we will allow amendments to the extracted data at the confirmation stage. As 2023/24 is the second year of the new student record under Data Futures, and given the difficulties in the implementation of the new record, we are allowing changes to be made to all IRIS outputs at the sign off stage. Providers should provide an explanation of any changes made. The new HESA subscribers do not need to sign off any of the IRIS outputs provided to them.

13. It is important that HEPs are confident that all their HESA data are correct before final returns are made to HESA and the data are signed off. HEPs should take note of any discrepancies in their HESA data that have been found in past years, including those flagged up as part of any data quality analyses carried out by Medr, issues found in HEPs’ own scrutiny of the summaries output by IRIS, problems that HESA or Medr have brought to their attention, and issues and errors found through internal or external audits. In particular, HEPs should ensure that they study in detail the reports produced by HESA when they commit their data and make any necessary amendments as a result before signing off the data to ensure their data are credible. We recognise that 2023/24 is the second year of operation of the new HESA data platform, with extensive changes to the data collection resulting from the Data Futures programme, so we will continue to work with providers and Jisc to provide advice and guidance to ensure data quality is maintained.

14. A number of confirmation reports are made available in the IRIS system and are required to be signed off by HEPs, other than the new HESA subscribers, and returned to Medr after the HESA student record submission for 2023/24 has been signed off by 1 November 2024. To reduce the number of separate data verifications conducted during the year, most of the returns that require sign-off via a confirmation report are being processed through IRIS.

15. Details of the IRIS return process, components requiring sign-off and associated deadlines will be made available on the IRIS web page and through the EYM 2023/24 publication. The full Medr data collection schedule is available via our website.

16. The deadline for sign off of the IRIS outputs is outlined in the EYM publication and is 13 December 2024. If providers think they will have any difficulty in meeting this deadline, they should contact us via [email protected].

17. For those data confirmations where amendments are not accepted, if there is an error in an HEP’s HESA data, and this error would lead to the HEP being allocated funding greater than that to which it is entitled, the HEP will be expected to notify Medr so that the funding can be adjusted accordingly.

Coding of subjects

18. The Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS), which replaced the previous system, the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS), was implemented in the 2019/20 HESA student record.

19. The HECoS coding system, mappings between JACS and HECoS, the CAH and mappings between HECoS and CAH and between JACS and CAH are all available on the HECoS webpage. Information relating to the mapping of HECoS codes to Medr Academic Subject Categories (ASCs) is available on the Medr website.

Data used in teaching funding allocations

20. The credit-based teaching funding allocations for part-time (PT) undergraduate (UG) provision for 2024/25 were based on 2022/23 credit value data taken from the end of year monitoring data extraction. Per capita funding for 2024/25 was allocated for all modes and taught levels of study and the disability premium was allocated for all modes and levels of study, including PGR. All other premium funding was allocated as follows:
• Access and retention premium (PT UG only);
• Welsh medium premium (all PT UG and specified FT UG only);
• Expensive subjects premium (clinical medicine and dentistry and Conservatoire Performance Element, FT UG only);
• Higher cost subjects premium (non-clinical medicine and dentistry, science & engineering and technology, and mathematical sciences, IT and computing, FT UG only).
This publication assumes:
• that the credit-based teaching funding allocations for PT UG provision for 2025/26 will be based on 2023/24 EYM credit value data and
• that per capita funding and the same premiums are being allocated with respect to the same groups of students for 2025/26 as in 2024/25, for the purposes of presenting information in this circular.

21. It should be noted that these assumptions may change.

22. The access and retention, disability, Welsh medium, expensive subjects and higher cost subjects premiums and the per capita allocation are based on retrospective data taken from the HESA student record.

23. End of year data extracted from the HESA student record are used to calculate any adjustment to teaching funding at the end of the academic year to which the funding relates. For example, EYM data relating to the 2023/24 academic year will be used to calculate any adjustment required to the 2023/24 credit based funding. Details of the end of year data extracted from the HESA record are contained within Annex K of the EYM publication (see paragraph 1) and are not reproduced here.

24. More information on data used in teaching funding, including the premium and per capita elements, is set out in Annex A.

25. The sign off procedure for data used in the per capita and premium funding for 2025/26 is built into the IRIS process. Any other data required to be used in the teaching or other funding allocations for 2025/26, not available in the IRIS outputs, will be verified and signed off separately. The IRIS outputs for teaching funding purposes are not produced for the new HESA subscribers.

Data used in research funding allocations

26. Following REF 2021, a new funding methodology was used to calculate the QR funding allocation from 2022/23 onwards. Data used to calculate the 2022/23 QR funding were taken from REF 2021 and from the 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 HESA finance record. As all input data are frozen, this circular sets out the QR funding method as for 2022/23 in Annex B. Only HEIs, excluding the Open University (OU) in Wales, are included in QR funding allocations.

27. Following REF 2021, a new methodology was also used to calculate the PGR training allocation, which uses retrospective data taken from the HESA student record. The 2025/26 PGR training allocation will use data from the 2023/24 HESA student record. Further information on the HESA fields used is provided in Annex C. As outlined in paragraph 25, we intend to continue to obtain sign off of as much data as possible via the IRIS process, and there will be a sign off for PGR in the 2023/24 IRIS process. Only HEIs, excluding the OU in Wales, are included in PGR funding allocations, therefore, the PGR IRIS output is not produced for the OU in Wales, the funded FEIs or the new HESA subscribers.

Data provided to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol

28. Medr provides data each year, under a data sharing agreement, to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. Additionally from 2020/21, in collaboration with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, monitoring has been carried out on the coding structure and return of Welsh medium provision on the HESA student record. This data is also summarised and included in IRIS for all providers, including the new HESA subscribers. The fields and criteria used to extract both sets of data are detailed in Annex D.

Data used to monitor equality and diversity

29. Medr currently use HESA data to monitor the ethnicity, disability, gender and age of students at Welsh HEPs and staff at Welsh HEIs.

30. We recently published a race equality monitoring report. This report takes a more in depth look at ethnicity data than the standard equality monitoring referred to above

31. A summary of the data for both these analyses is published on the Medr website. Further information on the fields used is in Annex E.

Data used for publication

32. Medr is a producer of official statistics. Statistics previously published by HEFCW are undergoing a review and some of those will become official statistics. In addition, some official statistics publications previously published about higher education in Wales by Welsh Government are transferring to Medr. We will also publish statistical reports on an ad hoc basis. Details of the data and methodology used in any official statistics publications and statistical reports will be included with the report. Publications can be accessed via the Medr website.

HESA student record data quality analysis

33. Medr provides a summary (referred to as the ‘HESA data quality analysis’) to each HEP of its data for a variety of fields which are used for funding, analysis and monitoring, which is designed to aid improvement of the quality of the student record and to be useful to both Medr and HEPs.

34. These summaries are intended to complement the reports which are provided by HESA when HEPs submit their student record. The data quality summaries are produced for all providers including the new HESA subscribers.

35. The summaries produced by Medr, are included in the IRIS output so HEPs can see their own data for the current year and historic data for their HEP. In the past, these summaries with sector data for the latest year were issued to HEPs later in the year. However we now only provide this output through IRIS. This means that HEPs will not see the sector total for the current year. The format of these outputs will be further reviewed as part of the consultation as described in paragraph 36.

36. In many instances changes relating to HESA Data Futures do not allow for a consistent time series into 2022/23 and on to 2023/24. The 2023/24 analysis will still aim to capture data quality aspects such as where data is not known or not available as far as is practical using HESA student data. A consultation exercise will be carried out in 2025 to set the scope and derivation of the full suite of data quality analysis based on HESA Data Futures concepts and student data coding, therefore the 2022/23 and 2023/24 outputs should be treated as interim.

37. Further information on the fields used in the HESA data quality analysis can be found in Annex F.

Part-time fee waiver

38. From 2022/23 funding, data used in the allocation of the part-time fee waiver scheme have been extracted from the HESA student record. The extraction was added to the IRIS system for 2021/22 and data extracted via the IRIS system will be signed off by HEPs to confirm the data are correct. The process for 2024/25 allocations can be found in HEFCW circular HEFCW part-time undergraduate fee waiver scheme (W24/15HE). Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex G.

39. Data used to monitor the actual value of part-time fee waivers claimed by HEPs under the HEFCW (now Medr) scheme are extracted from the HESA student record via the IRIS system. Data extracted via the IRIS system will be signed off by HEPs to confirm the data are correct. The process for 2023/24 monitoring can be found in HEFCW circular HEFCW part-time undergraduate fee waiver scheme (W24/15HE). Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex G. The part-time fee waiver allocations and monitoring IRIS outputs are not produced for the new HESA subscribers.

Income analysis

40. As part of the work carried out to monitor income at Welsh HEPs, data relating to student numbers and FTE at Welsh HEPs were used. A summary of the data is included in the IRIS output for information. Details of the criteria used to extract the data can be found in Annex H. The income analysis outputs are produced for all providers including the new HESA subscribers.

41. Data used to monitor national measures are taken from the HESA student, staff, finance and aggregate offshore records; the HESA DLHE and graduate outcomes (GO) surveys; the published UK HE PIs; and the HESA HEBCI survey. Other sources, such as the National Student Survey (NSS), the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) are also used. Data for FEIs are included in a subset of the measures and these data are taken from the HESA student record, the HESA DLHE and GO surveys; the published UK HE PIs, the NSS, the QAA and the OIA.
The measures monitored using these data are:
• Widening access;
• Participation;
• Retention;
• Part-time;
• National Student Survey;
• Welsh medium;
• Student mobility;
• Quality;
• Complaints
• Employment;
• Graduate employment;
• Continuing Professional Development;
• Total HE-BCI income per FTE of academic staff;
• Spin off activity;
• Start – up activity (graduate);
• Research Staff;
• PGR students;
• PhDs awarded;
• Research income;
• EU/Overseas students;
• EU/Overseas staff;
• Transnational education.

42. A description of each of these measures and the data used to monitor them is included in Annex I.

43. Other areas which are monitored and included in the list of national measures include
• Diversity of the student population;
• REF impact outcomes;
• REF outcomes;
• Financial health;
• Estates;
• Senior staff pay and gender pay gap;
• Equality and diversity staff data
but individual measures are not specified, instead these are areas which are already analysed more widely and published by Medr. Information on where to find these analyses can also be found in Annex I.

44. The HESA student record based measures are extracted via the IRIS system and will be signed off by HEPs, other than the new HESA subscribers, to confirm the data are correct. The new HESA subscribers are not included in the publication and monitoring of these measures, though the outputs are available to them through IRIS for information.

45. Both the participation and retention measures were monitored using data collected on the HESA student record, calculated and published by HESA as UK performance indicators. HESA announced that 2022 would be the last year that PIs would be published, but did plan to review existing indicators for inclusion in Official statistics or Open data. We have obtained 2021/22 data for the participation UKPI, and HESA plan to review the situation with respect to UKPIs for the longer term. We have reviewed information kindly provided by HESA about the methodologies used to calculate the participation and the retention PIs and we are now able to calculate the participation measure. Work is underway on calculating the retention measure.

Data used for monitoring degree apprenticeships

46. HEFCW circular W23/04HE announced funding arrangements for degree apprenticeships in Wales starting in 2022/23 and provided more information on the submission process for HEPs. HEFCW circular W23/30HE requested monitoring information for apprenticeships allocated in 2023/24. The in-year information returned under this request was used to monitor the number of apprentices being recruited and to calculate the funding for those apprentices for 2022/23. It was also used to monitor and publish data about the characteristics of apprentices, and shared with Welsh Government to track progress and compliance with delivery priorities. All published and shared data were aggregated and anonymised.

47. Data used to monitor the end of year picture for the number of students enrolled on degree apprenticeships at HEPs are extracted from the HESA student record via the IRIS system and will be signed off by HEPs to confirm the data are correct. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex J. The IRIS degree apprenticeship outputs are not produced for the funded FEIs or the new HESA subscribers.

48. The HESA data provided in the IRIS system will be used to verify the data that were collected directly during the 2023/24 academic year which were used to allocate funding. It is possible that adjustments to funding will be required. If this is the case, information on how adjustments to funding will be implemented will be communicated with HEPs separately.

Data used for monitoring PGT Master’s incentivisation bursary schemes for STEMM and Welsh medium provision and the PGT Master’s bursary scheme for students aged 60 or over

49. The funding for PGT Master’s incentivisation bursary schemes was allocated to HEPs to provide to Welsh, Island and eligible EU domiciled Master’s students entering study, undertaking a Master’s degree in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medicine, also known as ‘STEMM’ and/or undertaking their Master’s through the medium of Welsh. The funding was announced in HEFCW circular W19/27HE and the scheme was intended to be run as a three-year pilot starting in 2019/20. The funding for a PGT Master’s bursary scheme for students aged 60 or over was allocated to HEPs to provide to Welsh, Island and eligible EU domiciled Master’s students entering study, aged 60 or over. 2023/24 was the final year of allocation for these schemes.

50. We are monitoring the number of PGT Master’s students starting in 2023/24, included in the calculation of the 2023/24 funding, through the IRIS system, as in previous years. The details of the schemes in 2023/24 are in HEFCW circular W23/16HE. We require sign off of the numbers to confirm the data have been correctly extracted and reflect the recruited number of PGT Master’s students studying STEMM and/or studying through the medium of Welsh and/or aged 60 or over. The extracted data will be used to calculate adjustments to funding where the recruitment of PGT Master’s students is less than the estimated recruitment used in the calculation of funding.

51. As the scheme for those aged 60 or over is demand led, and all those entitled to receive a bursary should do so, we will be using the extracted data to calculate any adjustments to funding where the recruitment of PGT Master’s students aged 60 or over is different to the estimated recruitment used in the calculation of funding.

52. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex K. The IRIS PGT Master’s bursaries outputs are not produced for the new HESA subscribers.

Data used in the calculation of Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF)

53. HEFCW circular W22/41HE reports on the consultation outcomes for the 2022 review of the Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF) and confirms the allocation methodology and other updated RWIF requirements that were introduced in 2023/24. Data used in the allocation is described in Annex L. Only HEIs are included in RWIF funding allocations.

Data used in the calculation of Capital funding

54. HEFCW circular W24/12HE outlines the allocation methodology used for 2024/25 Capital funding. Student FTE data used in the allocation is described in Annex O. Only HEIs are included in the Capital funding allocations.

Data used in the calculation of Race equality funding and Well-being and health funding

55.HEFCW circular W23/20HE announced race equality funding allocations for 2023/24 and HEFCW circular W23/24HE announced Well-being and health, including mental health, strategy implementation allocations for 2023/24. HEFCW circular W23/23HE announced an additional allocation for Well-being and health in 2023/24. Both the race equality and the well-being and health allocations use the same data from the HESA student record which is described in Annex M. The data will be available in the 2023/24 IRIS system and will be signed off by HEPs, other than the new HESA subscribers, to confirm the data are correct. The IRIS outputs to calculate this funding are not produced for the new HESA subscribers.

Data used in the calculation of Targeted Employability Support (TES) funding

56. HEFCW circular W23/15HE outlines the delivery plan and allocations for 2024/25, which will remain unchanged for 2025/26. Data used in the allocation of funding for 2025/26 will be included in the IRIS system for 2023/24 to be signed off by HEPs, other than the new HESA subscribers, to confirm the data are correct. Details of the data extracted for HEPs to sign off can be found in Annex N. The IRIS outputs to calculate this funding are not produced for the new HESA subscribers.

Data used to calculate the Wales Research Environment and Culture funding

57. HEFCW circular W23/33HE announced funding to support new and existing activities within eligible institutions that enhance positive research cultures and environments. The data used to calculate this funding is described in Annex P. Both HESA student and staff data are used. The student data will be signed off in the 2023/24 IRIS process. Only HEIs, excluding the OU in Wales are included in the funding allocations and IRIS outputs are produced only for those that are funded.

Other uses of data

58. Any of the data described may be used to inform policy. In particular, data on students taught in whole or in part through the medium of Welsh, and staff who teach or who are able to teach through the medium of Welsh will be used to inform policy on Welsh medium provision. Data relating to students at directly funded FEIs, franchised to FEIs from HEIs, or at FEIs with specifically designated course provision will be used to inform policy on HE in FEIs.

59. HESA operate a historic amendments facility for student data and a fixed database facility for other data streams which provides HEPs with the opportunity to make post-collection amendments to a dataset following closure of the live data collection. This facility is separate to the main data collection process, is subject to a charge and is only available at the express authorisation of Medr. The facility is open for some time after the corresponding live data collection has closed, therefore providers should be aware that data they submit via this facility may not be used immediately and may only appear in future analysis of time series.

60. The data described are also used by Welsh Government in their analysis of the higher education sector, including analysis published in their statistical bulletins and data presented on the StatsWales website.

61. Data relating to forecast student numbers at HEIs only are collected through the forecasts requests circular which is available on the Medr data and analysis webpage. These data are used for Medr’s internal monitoring and planning processes and are not published at provider level.

62. It should be noted that although this circular details HESA fields used by Medr, any of the fields that HEPs return on the HESA records may be used in future for funding, for regulatory purposes, for monitoring purposes, to inform policy or for publication, and are also used by other organisations. Therefore, it is important that all HESA fields are completed fully and accurately to show a fair picture of the provision and activity at the HEP.

Audit

63. All data used for funding and monitoring are potentially subject to audit. Details of the most recent audit process for higher education data and further detail of the internal and external audit are included on the Medr data and analysis webpage.

64. 2021/22 was the last year in the current cycle of external auditing of HE data. The external audit process is now the responsibility of Medr where the process will be reviewed.

65. As an interim measure, in place of the external audits, and until the process is reviewed by Medr, members of the Medr Higher Education Statistics team will meet with data contacts at each provider separately, where we will discuss items such as data quality and previous audit findings.

Use of HESA derived fields

66. Where HESA derived fields have been used they are shown in the coding details in each relevant section of the annexes that follow. All HESA derived fields for the student record are shown in the format Entity.Z_FIELDNAME, and for the staff record in the format Xfieldname. HESA derived fields specifications for the 2023/24 student record and staff record are published on the HESA website. Where a derived field has been used, the methodology used to derive the field from the original HESA record fields is available via the HESA website.

Contents

67. The contents of the annexes are as follows:

Annex A:	Data used in teaching funding allocations
Annex B:	Data used in research funding allocations
Annex C:	Data used in the PGR training funding allocation
Annex D:	Data provided to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
Annex E:	Data used for publication and monitoring
Annex F:	Data provided to higher education providers in the HESA student record data quality analysis
Annex G:	Data used for allocating and monitoring the part-time undergraduate fee waiver scheme
Annex H:	Data used in income analysis
Annex I:	Data used for monitoring national measures
Annex J:	Data used for monitoring and adjustment of degree apprenticeship funding
Annex K:	Data used for monitoring PGT Master’s bursary schemes
Annex L:	Data used in the calculation of Research Wales Innovation Fund
Annex M:	Data used in the calculation of Race equality funding and Well-being and health funding
Annex N:	Data used in targeted employability support allocations
Annex O:	Data used in the calculation of capital funding
Annex P:	Data used in calculating Wales Research Environment and Culture allocations
Annex Q:	Detail of outputs that HEIs, funded FEIs and new HESA subscribers will receive through IRIS and associated sign-off requirements.

Further information

68. Providers are welcome to contact us if they need any further clarity or have comments on the mappings outlined in the annexes. Paragraph 3 notes that these mappings have only to date been tested on the 2022/23 student dataset and that any further updates required will be communicated to providers.

69. Any queries regarding this circular should be directed to Rachael Clifford ([email protected]).

Introduction

1. This publication gives definitions and guidance to higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education institutions (FEIs) with higher education provision (known collectively as higher education (HE) providers) that were funded directly by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales in 2023/24 and are now funded by the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (Medr). The guidance relates to the end of year data that are extracted from the 2023/24 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record via the HESA Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS) to enable Medr to:
a) Calculate funding allocations for part-time undergraduate credit based funding and the higher cost subjects premium for 2025/26;
b) calculate any adjustments to 2023/24 part-time undergraduate credit based funding;
c) monitor provision of medicine and dentistry courses;
d) establish final numbers of students and credit values at HE providers for 2023/24 for funding modelling and information purposes.

Main changes for 2023/24

2. HEFCW reviewed the extraction and presentation of the end of year monitoring data earlier this year in HEFCW circular W24/10HE: End of Year Monitoring of Higher Education Enrolments – consultation on changes for 2023/24. Annex M summarises the outcomes of that consultation and the actions taken or to be taken as a consequence. The main changes made since the EYM 2022/23 survey are as follows:
a) In 2023/24, HEFCW was responsible for funding provision at HE providers. However, HEFCW is now part of Medr and HEFCW no longer exists as an organisation. Therefore, throughout the circular, references to HEFCW have been updated to Medr, and any references to Medr should be assumed to also cover the previous arrangements under HEFCW. In particular, Medr-fundable has replaced HEFCW-fundable and for the purposes of this document includes provision funded by HEFCW in 2023/24;
b) Annex K has been updated to reflect the mapping included in the consultation document, with some amendments as a result of the consultation;
c) Annex A, which provides a summary of the EYM guidance, has been updated to include any changes made to the rest of the guidance in this circular;
d) Tables 2a to 2c and 6 have been removed from the extraction. This means that tables previously labelled Tables 3, 4 and 5 have become Tables 2, 3 and 4 respectively, and guidance has been updated to reflect this. See Annex J. References and guidance relating to Tables 2a, 2b, 2c and 6 have been removed from all annexes;
e) There is only one sign off sheet for the EYM outputs for 2023/24, relating to Tables 1a to 1c. In addition, there is now an ‘Explanations’ sheet contained within the EYM workbook in the IRIS report. Providers should use this sheet to provide any explanations of highlighted changes between 2022/23 and 2023/24;
f) Changes have been made to the template used to present the extracted data to reflect the outcomes of the consultation. See Annex O;
g) The Excel workbook containing the extracted data output in the IRIS system, now includes data from the previous two EYM data extractions;
h) As an additional annex, Annex M, has been included, Annexes M and N in EYM 2022/23 have been renamed N and O respectively for 2023/24.

Contents

3. This circular provides:
a) guidance and definitions for the various categories used to classify students;
b) information about the criteria used to extract EYM data from the 2023/24 HESA student record via IRIS;
c) details of the sign off arrangements for the tables made available through HESA IRIS outputs (see paragraph 10 for the list of tables requiring sign off).

4. The contents of the annexes are as follows:

Annex		Page number
Annex A	Summary guide to the EYM 2023/24 survey	5
Annex B	Definition of a recognised HE qualification	14
Annex C	Distance learning, campuses, subsidiaries, franchises, validation arrangements and other collaborative arrangements	15
Annex D	Definition of residential and funding status	22
Annex E	Definition of ASCs	26
Annex F	Definition  of   mode of study	28
Annex G	Definition of level of study	31
Annex H	Rules for counting registrations	33
Annex I	Rules for counting credit values	40
Annex J	Table and column descriptions	45
Annex K	HESA/HESES/EYM mappings and end of year monitoring data extraction criteria	49
Annex L	Use of data by Medr	59
Annex M	Outcomes of the consultation on changes to EYM	61
Annex N	Funding status reference grid	71
Annex O	Sample copies of IRIS output tables extracted from HESA data	72

Adjustment of 2023/24 funding

5. For the purposes of calculating the funding consequences of under-recruitment for 2023/24 funding, part-time undergraduate credit based teaching funding is recalculated using EYM data. Credit values (for part-time undergraduate students) resulting from modules for which students registered up to and including, as well as after, 1 November 2023 will be used and the number of credit values associated with modules from which students withdraw will be deducted. The signed off EYM tables from the HESA IRIS extraction will be used for this purpose.

Process for signing off end of year monitoring and other data extracted from the HESA student record

6. Providers must sign off the data presented in the final 2023/24 HESA student record IRIS outputs as of the 1 November 2024 HESA final sign off date. The deadline for returning the signed IRIS outputs to Medr is 13 December 2024. This is the second year of producing IRIS outputs under the new HESA student record, and we have made some changes since last year as a consequence of the consultation on changes to EYM for 2023/24.  If any amendments to the extraction mapping or method are made after initial implementation of the extraction, we will inform providers. Providers should also inform us if they find any issues with the extraction, either in the presentation of the outputs or the mapping used.

7. During the HESA data quality checking period from 21 August to 25 October 2024, Medr will conduct quality checks of the data submitted. We will contact providers around six weeks prior to the final sign off date for the HESA student record of 1 November, and once providers have confirmed they are ready for us to send on any queries, we will provide a set of queries. Providers can also ask us to raise questions earlier than six weeks or set a date that they want us to send them our list of queries if they prefer, and can ask at any point for us to look at particular aspects of their data if that is useful to them. This is to assist with the provider’s own internal quality checking process and to ensure the data are fit for purpose for Medr. As described in the HESA Student Record collection schedule, providers are required to either resubmit their data to amend these anomalies, or provide an explanation as to why they are genuine.

8. Prior to returning the signed off IRIS outputs to Medr, providers must have undertaken sufficient checks to be satisfied that the extracted data are accurate, and/or have made amendments where necessary if data are not accurate. As 2023/24 is the second year of the new student record under Data Futures, and given the difficulties in the implementation of the new record, we are allowing changes to be made to all IRIS outputs at the sign off stage. Providers should provide an explanation of any changes made. Further details of the process are contained in the Data Requirements publication for 2024/25, to be published in August 2024.

9. We do not require a hard copy of the signed IRIS outputs. Signed outputs should be returned by emailing them to to Hannah Falvey at [email protected]. The deadline for return of the signed off outputs is 13 December 2024. Details about the process will be emailed separately to authorised signatories and data contacts in October 2024 as a reminder.

10. The IRIS outputs requiring sign off have an “S” prefix in front of their filename and are as follows:
a) End of Year Monitoring
b) Medr National Measures
c) Part-time fee waiver allocations
d) Part-time fee waiver monitoring
e) Degree apprenticeships monitoring (along with the requested additional information)
f) Master’s bursaries monitoring
g) Per capita funding
h) Disability premium
i) Access and retention premium
j) Welsh medium premium
k) Expensive subjects premium
l) PGR training allocation
m) Race equality/Wellbeing and mental health funding
n) Targeted Employability Support funding
o) Total full-time equivalent (FTE) (for capital funding allocations)

Audit of data

11. Providers are reminded that EYM data, and other tables as described in paragraph 10 as extracted from the HESA student record via IRIS, and any amendments made to the extractions, including methods used to calculate any estimates included in the amendments, may be subject to an external audit carried out by Medr or by contractors working on Medr’s behalf. The systems and processes used to generate the HESA data extracted are in the scope of the institution’s internal audits.

Further information

12. Any queries should be directed to Hannah Falvey (email [email protected]).