Additional guidance for recording Higher Education Data
Contents
Types of Engagement
Several of the fields in the ILR Learner Delivery HE entity refer to the concept of an ‘engagement’ or ‘year of engagement’ which are defined as follows:
Engagement
For HE, an ‘engagement’ is a student's commitment to an educational aim (qualification or credit) and its realisation over time. In previous years guidance on HE data, including the HESES guidance produced by the Office for Students, has referred to ‘instance’ rather than engagement. The concepts are very similar and this change in terminology should not require significant changes in practices for collecting and maintaining HE data for the ILR.
Students may progress from their original educational aim within the broad level descriptions (Undergraduate, Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research) to a higher qualification level (e.g. progressing from level 5 to 6).
In these cases, the activity can be considered part of the same Engagement where the student continues studying on the new educational aim within a year of the end date of the previous educational aim. Alternatively, if the provider does not consider the activity to be a coherent progression, a new engagement can be returned.
Exceptionally, a student may be on two courses at the same time, aiming for two independent HE qualifications. In this case, there are two engagements and fields such as MODESTUD and STULOAD should be determined independently for each qualification.
Students on higher apprenticeships will typically be working towards more than one learning aim. These are not independent and the apprenticeship as a whole should be treated as one engagement. Further guidance on how activity for higher apprenticeship should be accounted for in determining MODESTUD and STULOAD is provided in the specification.
Year of Engagement
An engagement can be split into one or more ‘years of engagement’. The first year of engagement begins when the student starts studying towards the qualification(s); subsequent years start on or near the anniversary of this date (allowing for minor variations in term dates).
Mode of Study Definition
Assessing attendance for mode
‘Attendance’ means that the student is required to be at a provider location, or other specified location (such as a partner provider, or defined workplace) to undertake periods of study, tuition, learning in the workplace, or sandwich work placement. These locations are expected to be collective for all students on the course (that is, virtual attendance does not meet the definition of attendance), except where alternative arrangements are made because a student is unable to attend for a reason that relates to their disability.
Distance learning courses
A ‘distance learning course’ means a course on which a student undertaking the course is not required to be in attendance by the provider of the course, where ‘required to be in attendance’ is not satisfied by a requirement imposed by the provider to attend any provider location (or other specified location):
• for the purposes of registration or enrolment or any examination
• on a weekend or during any vacation
• on an occasional basis during the week.
Full-Time
A year of engagement is counted as full-time if it meets all of the following criteria:
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The student is normally required to attend the provider, or elsewhere, for periods amounting to at least 24 weeks within the year of engagement, within that time they are expected to undertake periods of study, tuition, learning in the workplace, or sandwich work placement that does not meet the criteria to be sandwich year out, which amount to an average of at least 21 hours per week. (‘Guided learning hours’ should not be used in isolation to determine how many hours each week a student spends studying. All guided learning hours count towards this total, but it is expected that higher education students will spend a significant amount of time each week in self-led individual learning, and an estimate of this time should also be included.)
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Full-time fees are chargeable for the course for the year. Exceptionally, all or part of the fee may be waived for individual students based on their particular personal - rather than course-related-circumstances. This does not include cases where fees are reduced because students are studying less intensively than is normally expected for a full-time student. It should not be waived for all students on a course, and the criteria that determine if fees may be waived should not be tantamount to waiving them for all students.
We recognise that the concept of a full-time fee may not be meaningful for some higher education provision. Further guidance on determining mode of study for learning aims as part of a higher level apprenticeship is provided below. For other higher education learning aims we would expect that full-time students are charged a higher level of fee than part-time students on a similar course. Providers should also be mindful that generally where a student is charged a lower fee than a full-time student with the same learning aim, other than cases where all or part of the fee is waived for individual students based on their particular personal circumstances, we would expect mode of study to be part-time.
Sandwich year out
A year of engagement is counted as a ‘sandwich year out’ if it includes a period of work-based experience and meets all the following criteria:
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The course falls within the definition of a ‘sandwich course’ in Regulation 2(10) of the Education(Student Support) Regulations 2011 (Statutory Instrument 2011 No. 1986) as amended, or theyear of engagement is an Erasmus+/Turing Scheme year abroad spent working
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It is a year of engagement that fulfills one of the following: Any periods of full-time study within the year of engagement are in aggregate less than 10 weeks or In respect of that year of engagement and any previous years of engagement, the aggregate of any one or more periods of attendance which are not periods of full-time study (disregarding intervening vacations) exceeds 30 weeks.
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A reduced fee is chargeable for the course for the year, compared with what would be chargeable if the student were studying full-time in the year.
Part Time
A year of engagement is counted as part-time if it does not meet the requirements to be either full-time or a sandwich year out.
Apprenticeships
Where students are studying for a higher education qualification as part of an apprenticeship they will normally be dividing their time between work and study. Therefore, we would expect years of engagement for these students to be part-time. For apprenticeships, only activity that directly relates to their higher education qualification should be counted when determining mode. We do not expect this to include all the apprentice’s time in the workplace.
We recognise that the concept of a full-time fee may not be meaningful for higher education undertaken as part of an apprenticeship. Where this is the case, the requirement for a full-time fee to be chargeable (paragraph b of the full-time definition above) can be disregarded for the purpose of determining whether a year of engagement should be classified as full-time and only the expected attendance requirements apply (paragraph a of the full-time definition above). Years of engagement for any higher education studied as part of an apprenticeship should not be categorised as full-time unless, when compared with the equivalent full-time course not taken as part of an
apprenticeship:
the duration of the course is the same
the number of credits studied per year is the same.
Where no such equivalent course exists, the duration and number of credits studied should be assessed against the typical length of a similar qualification.
Learning in the workplace and work experience
For the purposes of meeting the attendance definition for a full-time course, full-time study can include learning in the workplace, where this is a course requirement. Such learning is frequently a feature of foundation degrees, learning aims within apprenticeships, the placements for courses leading to first registration in various healthcare professions and may also occur in other programmes. Learning in the workplace is a structured academic programme, controlled by the higher education provider and delivered in the workplace by the academic staff of the provider, staff of the employer, or both.
Unlike work experience, which is one element of a course such as a sandwich placement (whether for all or part of a year), learning in the workplace is at the heart of a student’s learning programme and must be subject to the same level of academic supervision and rigour as any other form of assessed learning. It includes:
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the imparting of relevant knowledge and skills to students
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opportunities for students to discuss knowledge and skills with their tutors
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assessment of students’ acquisition of knowledge and skills by the provider’s academic staff, perhaps jointly with an employer.
Learning in the workplace should be substituting for learning that under other circumstances would normally take place within the provider. The inclusion of an element of learning in the workplace should not, therefore, extend the normal duration of a course.
Other notes on mode of study
In some cases a student’s mode of study changes between years. For example, the mode of a student on a full-time 18-month course would be full-time in year one and part-time in year two, if the second year does not have 24 weeks of study.
In general, where a student plans to study at a full-time rate for a portion of the year – for example only for the first semester – they will be recorded as part-time, even though they are ‘full-time’ for that period of study. The mode of attendance must be established with reference to the intended activity for the whole year of engagement.
Mode of study should not be adjusted when full-time students withdraw part way through the year of engagement. The mode of attendance should still be returned with reference to the intended activity for the whole year of engagement.
Where full-time students change mode within a year of engagement to become part-time, the year of engagement should be recorded as part-time only. This applies only when the student continues to study actively on their year of engagement, where there is a formal process for agreeing the change in mode, including confirmation by the student and a recalculation of their course fee to reflect their part-time status. It may also result in the student losing entitlement to full-time student support. Their full-time equivalence should be calculated in the usual way, by comparison with the equivalent full-time course.
For full guidance about this field, please refer to Annex H of the latest HESES guidance: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/data-collection/heses/
Student Engagement FTE
Student engagement FTE represents the institution's best academic judgement of the full-time equivalence of the learner during the reporting year 01 August to 31 July on an engagement. The guidance below is provided for how to calculate FTE for a year of engagement. Where the year of engagement is not entirely contained within the reporting year 01 August to 31 July, the FTE must be proportioned across the reporting years. For example, where the year of engagement starts in January and therefore crosses two reporting years. Examples are provided below.
Calculating FTE
All activity required to be undertaken should be accounted for when determining the STULOAD for a student. This includes learning in the workplace, such as professional placements, and compulsory modules that do not attract credits. These activities should be considered part of the activity for the course and for full-time students STULOAD should remain based on a comparison between the planned duration of the course compared to the standard duration for courses of the student’s mode and level at the provider.
All students following a course with the same planned pattern of study would initially be assumed to have the same FTE. An adjustment should be made at individual student level if a student did not actually follow the whole course academic year, e.g. because they left half way through. We would typically expect that this adjustment reflects the number of weeks of activity undertaken in comparison to the number expected for the reporting year. A more precise calculation is not required. For example, a full-time student who withdraws having studied for 15 weeks when 30 weeks of activity were planned should be returned with a STULOAD of 50% (050.0).
Full-time students
Full-time, full year students, studying at the normal level of intensity for their level of course, would normally be returned as 100 per year. For providers operating a credit-based system we would generally expect that for undergraduate courses an FTE of 100 is recorded for a student studying 120 credits in a year.
Full-time students who are studying at a higher intensity and are therefore expected to complete their course more quickly than usual for their qualification aim should be returned with an FTE higher than 100. For example, students on an accelerated degree programme which is studied over two years, rather than the usual three, would normally be expected to have a STULOAD of 150.
Similarly, students retaking modules with attendance (i.e. repeating the teaching and learning), in addition to the normal load of modules for their course year should have a higher FTE to reflect this.
It is not generally expected that the majority of students on a course had an FTE in excess of 100 in a year, unless the course is expected to be completed over a shorter period than is normally expected for similar courses of this qualification aim.
Part-time students
The FTE for part-time students should be returned as a proportion of an equivalent full-time course. If there is no equivalent full-time course, it should be based on an average full-time course for your provider. The proportion of part-time study can be estimated on either a 'time' or a 'credit' basis. The FTE should not be weighted to take account of any resourcing implications of different courses.
Providers operating a credit points system should use the number of credit points studied in the year for a part-time student compared with the number of credit points that may be obtained from a year of a full-time course to determine the FTE.
For example, a full-time undergraduate degree comprises 120 credits in each year of study and the part-time equivalent comprises 90 credits. The FTE for the year of the full-time student studying should be 100 and for the part-time student should be 75.
Where providers do not use credits, the expected time taken to complete the course, or guided learning hours, in comparison to an equivalent full-time course can be used to determine the FTE.
For example, if there is a course leading to a certain qualification which normally requires three years of study for a conventional full-time student, and if that same qualification can be gained by part-time students in five years, the FTE returned for part-time students on the course would generally be 60 for each year. Alternatively, if the average guided learning hours for a full-time course is 540 and a course run by the provider has guided learning hours 270, the FTE for the year should be 50.
Flexible provision
For students who study at their own pace, rather than during a set timeframe or structure and therefore determine their own intensity of study, it is not appropriate to assume that all students on the same course have the same FTE. Instead, the FTE should be determined based on the number of credits studied within the year in comparison to a full-time course. We would expect this to be in comparison to 120 in a year for undergraduates or 180 credits for postgraduate masters.
Students who repeat part of a course
For students who repeat part of their course, the sum of all FTE over their engagement would be greater than usually seen for students studying for the same qualification aim.
For example, a student studying a three-year, full-time degree would usually have three years, each with an FTE of 100 and so a total FTE of their engagement of 300.
If the student had to retake a year, they would have an additional year with an FTE of 100 meaning the sum of all FTE for their engagement would be 400.
Where a student retakes exams only this does not affect FTE, so this guidance only applies where the student retakes study with attendance (i.e. repeating the teaching and learning).
Students who interrupt study
If a student interrupted study the FTE recorded must be reduced to reflect this.
The FTE recorded for each year should reflect the study the student has undertaken. If the student interrupted study part way through the year, the FTE would be reduced to reflect this.
If the student were to suspend and recommence study within the same year, the FTE would reflect the combined total of activity undertaken prior to suspending and following recommencing study.
Students on a full year placement
Students on a full year placement should have a FTE of 100.
Students studying on a learning aim delivered by a partner organisation
The FTE should not be reduced for students studying on a learning aim delivered by a partner organisation. The FTE should be calculated in the same way as if it were delivered by your provider.
Determining FTE when multiple aims are taken concurrently
Where a student is on two courses at the same time, aiming for two independent HE qualifications, the FTE of each year of engagement must be determined independently.
Where instead a student is aiming for two (or more) HE qualifications concurrently that are not independent of each other and are therefore part of the same engagement (e.g. as part of an Apprenticeship) care must be taken to ensure that there is no double counting of activity when determining the FTE of each aim. Where activity counts towards more than one aim it should be wholly attributed to one of those aims, normally the one at the highest academic level. Where one aim is full-time all learning that could be associated with that aim must be associated with that aim and FTE only associated with other aims where it reflects additional learning and study effort. When determining FTE for part-time study the comparison must be a normal full-time course and should not be the minimum level of activity considered full-time.
A total FTE greater than 100 across all HE aims that are part of the same engagement is not generally expected unless the student is studying at an accelerated rate (for example studying a full honours degree over less than 3 years).
Apprenticeship students
Where students are studying for a higher education qualification as part of an apprenticeship they will normally be dividing their time between work and study. Therefore, we would expect years of engagement for these students to be part-time and their FTE to reflect this. For apprenticeships, only activity that directly relates to their higher education qualification should be counted when determining the FTE. We do not expect this to include all the apprentice’s time in the workplace.
Where an apprenticeship does not contain any formal qualifications, an academic judgement about the amount of higher level study required to complete the apprenticeship should be made. This should be compared to the amount of study required for a full-time qualification at the same level when determining FTE.
Foundation degree bridging courses
A foundation degree bridging course should be returned with a STULOAD of 030.0, except where one of the following occurs:
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The course spans two academic years, when the load should be proportionally split between them.
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Where an Apprenticeship component aim is required to be recorded in academic years following the end date of the component, STULOAD must be set as 0.
Examples
1. A student commences a one year long HNC in September 2022, studying it full-time (MODESTUD = 1) and ending in July 2023. The STULOAD returned in 2022-23 would be 100% (100.0).
2. A student commences a two year long HND in January 2023, studying it full-time (MODESTUD = 1) and ending in December 2024. Assuming two terms are studied in 2022-23 and one term is studied in 2024-25, STULOAD would be returned as follows:
a. 2022-23: [First two terms of the first year of engagement] 67% (067.0)
b. 2023-24: [Last term of the first year of engagement] 33% + [First two terms of the second year of engagement] 67% = 100% (100.0)
c. 2024-25: [Last term of the second year of engagement] 33% (033.0)
3. A student commences a two year long Foundation Degree in September 2022, studying it full-time (MODESTUD = 1) with a planned end date of July 2024. However, they withdraw half way through the second year. STULOAD would be returned as follows:
a. 2022-23: 100% (100.0)
b. 2023-24: 50% (050.0)
Calculation of Checksum for Student Support Number
The algorithm for calculating the checksum is as follows:
For positions 1 to 4 of the SSN:
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Convert each character to a number using the following values: A=0, B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4, F=5, G=6, H=7, J=8, K=9, L=10, M=11, N=12, P=13, R=14, S=15, T=16, U=17, V=18, W=19, X=20, Y=21
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Multiply each number by the weighting factor, which is 14 minus the position (i.e. 13 for position 1, 12 for position 2 etc)
For positions 5 to 12 of the SSN:
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Multiply each value for positions 5 to 12 by the weighting factor, which is 14 minus the position (i.e. 9 for position 5, 8 for position 6 etc)
Calculate the check character:
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Divide the sum of the calculated values for positions 1 to 12 by 23 to get a remainder (i.e. if summed value was 475 then the remainder would be 15)
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Subtract this remainder from 23 and convert this value to a character using the following values: 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, 4=D, 5=E, 6=F, 7=G, 8=H, 9=J, 10=K, 11=L, 12=M, 13=N, 14=P, 15=R, 16=S, 17=T, 18=U, 19=V, 20=W, 21=X, 22=Y, 23=Z
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This is the check character, so if validating a captured SSN this should match position 13 of the SSN.
Characters I, O, Q are not valid characters in the SSN. Z is only valid in position 13.
Worked example
When the Student Support Number = WADM46891352A
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Convert the characters to numbers using the values, so W=19, A=0, D=3, M=11.
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Multiply each number by the weighting factor.
Positions: 1 2 3 4
Weighting factor: 13 12 11 10
(W=19*13=247), (A=0*12=0), (D=3*11=33), (M=11*10=110)
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For positions 5 to 12 (46891352) multiply the number by the weighting factor.
Positions: 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Weighting factor: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
(4*9=36), (6*8=48), (8*7=56), (9*6=54), (1*5=5), (3*4=12), (5*3=15), (2*2=4)
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Sum the calculated values for positions 1 to 12.
(247+0+33+110+36+48+56+54+5+12+15+4=620)
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Divide this number by 23 to get a remainder.
(620/23=26 with a remainder of 22)
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Subtract the remainder from 23 and convert this value to a character.
(23-22=1=A)
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This is the check character and this matches position 13 of the SSN.
Qualification on Entry
When collecting data about the highest qualification on entry, use the layout below for additional details for each qualification for your enrolment forms.
C20 Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE)
C31 Higher National Certificate (HNC)
C82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 4
C90 Undergraduate credits
D82 Qualification at Level 8
H71 Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
H82 Other Qualification at Level 6
HUK UK first degree (e.g. BSc, BA)
HZZ Non-UK first degree
J10 Foundation degree
J20 Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
J31 Higher National Diploma (HND)
J48 Certificate in Education (CertEd) or Diploma in Education (DipEd)
J51 Art and Design foundation course at HE level
J82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 5
M2X Integrated undergraduate/postgraduate taught Masters degree on the enhanced / extended pattern (e.g. MEng, MSci)
M82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 7
P41 Diploma at Level 3 (e.g. BTEC Level 3 diploma)
P42 Certificate at Level 3 (e.g. BTEC Level 3 certificate)
P55 T Levels
P60 A/AS Level
P66 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma/Certificate
P82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 3
Q82 Level 2 qualification(s)
R82 Level 1 qualification(s)
X02 Mature student admitted on basis of previous experience and/or admissions test
X04 Other qualification level not known
X05 Student has no formal qualification
X06 Not known
X07 HE Access course
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to D82 Qualification at Level 8 :
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D80 Other qualification at level D
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DUK UK Doctorate degree
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DZZ Non-UK Doctorate degree
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to J82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 5 :
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J80 Other Qualification at Level J
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JUK UK ordinary (non-honours) first degree
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to M82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 7 :
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M41 Diploma at Level M (Postgraduate Diploma)
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M44 Certificate at Level M (Postgraduate Certificate)
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M71 Postgraduate Certificate of Education or Professional Graduate Diploma in Education
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M80 Other Qualification at Level M
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M90 Postgraduate credits
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MUK UK Masters degree
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MZZ Non-UK Masters degree
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to P82 Other qualification or mixture of qualifications at Level 3 :
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P46 Award at Level 3
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P47 AQA Baccalaureate
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P51 14-19 Advanced Diploma (Level 3)
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P53 Scottish Baccalaureate
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P54 Scottish Highers / Advance Highers
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P62 International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma
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P63 International Baccalaureate (IB) Certificate
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P64 Cambridge Pre-U Diploma
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P65 Cambridge Pre-U Certificate
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P68 Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma (Level 3)
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P80 Other Qualification at Level 3
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P92 Mixed Level 3 qualifications of which none are subject to Tariff
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P93 Level 3 qualifications of which all are subject to UCAS Tariff
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P94 Level 3 qualifications of which some are subject to UCAS Tariff
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to Q82 Level 2 qualification(s) :
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Q51 14-19 Higher Diploma (Level 2)
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Q52 Welsh Baccalaureate Intermediate Diploma (Level 2)
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Q80 Other Qualification at Level 2
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to R82 Level 1 qualification(s) :
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R51 14-19 Foundation Diploma (Level 1)
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R52 Welsh Baccalaureate Foundation Diploma (Level 1)
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R80 Other Qualification at Level 1
Major Source of Tuition Fees
When collecting data about the major source of tuition fees, use the predominant source where there is more than one source of award or financial backing. use the layout below for additional details for your enrolment forms.
1 No award or financial backing (Fees paid by student)
3 Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)
10 Student Loans Company (SLC)
31 Departments of Health/NHS/Social Care
34 Other HM government departments/public bodies
71 Absent for a year
81 Learner's employer
92 Research council
93 Charitable foundation
94 UK armed forces
95 Overseas funding
97 Other
98 No Fees
99 Not known
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to 34 Other HM government departments/public bodies :
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32 Departments of Social Services
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38 Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland (DARD)
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are mapped to 92 Research council :
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11 Research council - BBSRC
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12 Research council - MRC
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13 Research council - NERC
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14 Research council - EPSRC
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15 Research council - ESRC
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17 Arts and Humanities Research Council
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18 Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
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19 Research council - not specified
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are mapped to 93 Charitable foundation:
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23 Cancer Research UK
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24 Wellcome Trust
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25 Other AMRC charity
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26 Other charitable foundation
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are mapped to 95 Overseas funding :
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41 EU Commission (EC)
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42 Overseas learner award from HM government/British Council
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43 Overseas government
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44 Overseas Development Administration
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45 Overseas institution
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46 Overseas industry or commerce
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47 Other overseas funding
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48 Other overseas - repayable loan
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49 ORSAS
The following codes that have an end date of 31 July 2025 are now mapped to 97 Other:
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4 DELNI/Northern Ireland Education and Library Boards
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5 Provider waiver of support costs
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6 Local government - Channel Islands and Isle of Man
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7 Fee waiver under government unemployed learners scheme
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8 British Academy
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9 Part-time graduate apprentice study programme
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22 International agency
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36 Scottish Enterprise/Highlands and Islands Enterprise/Training Enterprise Council/Local Enterprise Company
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37 LEA training grants scheme
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39 Scottish Local Authority discretionary award
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52 Mix of learner and SLC
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53 Mix of learner and SAAS/SLC
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54 Mix of learner and DELNI/NIELB
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61 UK industry/commerce
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96 FE student New Deal