The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) was the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. HESA became a directorate of

Jisc Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector. History T ...

after a merger in 2022. HESA was set up by agreement between the relevant government departments, the higher education funding councils and the universities and colleges in 1993, following the White Paper "Higher Education: a new framework", which called for more coherence in HE statistics, and the 1992 Higher and Further Education Acts, which established an integrated higher education system throughout the United Kingdom. In 2018 HESA became the Designated Data Body for higher education in England under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, with designation passing to Jisc after the 2022 merger.

Data Collections

HESA collected data from all publicly funded higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK as well as a small number of private providers. The annual data collection streams were: * Student data collection information about students, courses and qualifications at HEIs * AP Student data collection information about students, courses and qualifications at Alternative Providers of higher education * Staff data collection information about staff employed by HEIs * Finance record income and expenditure of HEIs *

Graduate Outcomes Graduate Outcomes is a statistical survey of graduates from higher education courses in the UK. The survey attempts to contact all recipients of higher education qualifications approximately 15 months after graduation. It aims to gather statistics ...

survey of graduate activities 15 months after leaving higher education * Aggregate offshore record count of students studying wholly overseas for UK HE qualifications * HE Business and Community Interaction survey information about interactions between HEIs and business and the wider community * Estates management record buildings, estates and environmental information about HEIs * Initial Teacher Training (ITT) record * Unistats collection * Provider Profile collection * Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey of graduate activities six months after leaving HE (2002/03 to 2016/17)

Statistical Outputs

HESA published statistics and analyses based on the data it collects: * Statistical Bulletins Official Statistics outputs summarising each data stream * Annual open data releases detailed statistical tables * Performance Indicators comparative data on the performance of HEIs in Widening participation, student retention, learning and teaching outcomes, research output and employment of graduates

processes HESA data to provide data extracts for research and publication by external users such as

League tables of British universities Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''The Guardian'' and jointly by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been produced in the past ...

External links

* {{Authority control Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Higher education organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1993 Organisations based in Cheltenham Private companies limited by guarantee of the United Kingdom Statistical organisations in the United Kingdom 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom Statistics of education

Data Collections

Statistical Outputs

See also

External links