AOR major review and Student record expansion England and Wales

Overview

This consultation makes proposals which aim to ensure that HESA and our Statutory Customers have the necessary data to perform our functions in respect of students studying in transnational education (TNE) and through partnership arrangements. It proposes changes to data collection approaches for providers in England and Wales, which are intended to fill current gaps in our knowledge while ensuring that data requirements from higher education providers remain proportionate.

The change proposals set out in this consultation are intended for the 2025/26 collection year.

In developing the consultation proposals, we have worked alongside Statutory Customers, providers, sector representatives and member organisations to understand their requirements for the future collection of TNE and student data:

• The Office for Students (OfS), Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the General Medical Council (GMC) have identified changes to data collections which they intend to facilitate their regulatory functions, as described through this consultation document. In England, this consultation is being conducted under our statutory obligation as the Designated Data Body (as per Schedule 6 of HERA 2017) and compliant with the requirements of HERA s64(6). It also falls under GMC’s functions as defined by the Medical Act 1983. In Wales, this consultation is being conducted in line with HEFCW’s obligations under Section 27 of the Higher Education (Wales) Act 2015.

• A separate version of the consultation is intended for providers in Northern Ireland and Scotland. For providers in Northern Ireland and Scotland, the proposals for the review of the Aggregate Offshore record aim to enhance the existing record and therefore continue with the submission of aggregate rather than individualised data. There are no proposals to expand the coverage of the Student record (for either partnership or TNE students) for providers in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Providers in Scotland and Northern Ireland are welcome to respond to this version of the consultation if they wish to provide feedback on the proposals for the submission of individualised data.

There are two aspects of this consultation:

1. We are consulting on an expanded collection of data from providers in England and Wales about partnership arrangements with the aim of filling the current gap in our knowledge of students studying in the UK that are taught by the reporting provider or studying for an award of the reporting provider, but are not registered by the reporting provider nor any other provider that is required to report student data to either HESA or the Education Skills Funding Agency in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Throughout this consultation we refer to this expansion as one related to ‘partnership students’.
2. We are conducting a major review of the Aggregate Offshore record (AOR) and consulting on the collection of data from providers in England and Wales about TNE students with the aim of filling the current gaps in our knowledge of these students. For example, in relation to the subjects that they study, the qualifications that they aim for and achieve, their patterns of study, and the identities and locations of organisations involved in the registration and delivery of these courses and corresponding awards. Throughout this consultation we refer to this expansion as one related to ‘TNE students’.

In summary, for providers in England and Wales we are making four proposals:

Proposal 1: To expand the Student record to collect data in respect of partnership students (as defined above)

Proposal 2: To expand the Student record to collect data in respect of TNE students, and to cease collection of the Aggregate Offshore record

Proposal 3: To make a small number of changes and additions to the Student record data model to accommodate efficient reporting and effective identification of the partnership and TNE student populations that we are proposing to now collect there

Proposal 4: To collect data in respect of partnership and TNE students either once or twice per year

This consultation will describe these proposals in detail and pose a series of questions in relation to each one in turn. There are also questions in relation to proposed changes to individual areas of the data model. Respondents are then invited to make a summative assessment of the collective impact of these proposals in the section titled ‘Closing feedback’.

We welcome responses to this consultation from anyone with an interest in the data collected in relation to TNE or partnership arrangements involving UK higher education providers.

Why your views matter

We will summarise and publish representative, anonymised comments from the responses to this consultation on the HESA website. This will include an explanation of how and why we and Statutory Customers have reached our decisions, and set out next steps on how we expect to implement any resulting data collection changes.