Information and Data - Supply and Demand

Alison AlldenARC Bristol November 2012

Information and Data - Supply and DemandOutline

• Supply and demand– The way it is

• Applying Better Regulation – The Principles– The small print

• Balancing Burden and Benefit– Timeliness– Quality

• Policy as a driver– HE and Government Policy– Sector initiatives– The UK

• Data liberation and freedom of information– Transparency– Linked data– Re-use

• Discussion points

Higher Education information mapHE Provider

Data Collections

Data Collectors

Data Users

Stakeholders

Collect once usemany times

SupplyHE providers and agencies

• Traditionally 165 higher education institutions

• UK wide : England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales

• A leading private university

• Adding 8 independent providers (charitable and for-profit)

Demand Statutory Customers: government departments and funding agencies in England and the devolved administrations

As part of the financial memorandum HEIs have with their funding council there is a requirement to return accurate and timely data to HESA

• NB The financial memorandum is under review

• This data is then used by statutory customers for:– Student number control– Verifying funding allocations– Monitoring equality and diversity within the sector– Measuring widening participation within the sector– Informing government policy on Higher Education

• HEIs as public bodies and the public interest in HE

– students, employers, trades unions, academic researchers, the media, …

DemandThe HE sector in the UK

165 institutions, representative and sector bodies • Comparative data and benchmarking• Institutional performance• Planning and monitoring• National Performance Indicators• Tracking student behaviours• Widening Participation• Quality Assurance base data

DemandQuality assurance and public information

“From 2012/13, QAA reviews will make formal judgements on the quality of the public information that institutions provide, including that produced for students and applicants.”Students at the heart of the system – HE White Paper: para 3.16

“Public confidence in higher education relies on public understanding of the achievement represented by higher education qualifications. The Quality Code sets out an Expectation that higher education providers make available valid, reliable useful and accessible information about their provision.”http://www.qaa.ac.uk/AssuringStandardsAndQuality/quality-code/Pages/Quality-Code-Part-C.aspx

DemandThe public including prospective students

The Higher Education White Paper July 2011“Our reforms aim to make the English higher education system more responsive to students and employers. This depends on access to high quality information about different courses and institutions.”

“English higher education is data rich, thanks to well-established arrangements for collection across the sector.”

Students at the heart of the system – HE White Paper: para 2.8

Students at the heart of the system- A case study

“The issue, for the most part, is not the existence or collection of the data, but

How it can be made available and linked in ways that make sense to potential students, their families, schools, employers and others with an interest.

Each university will now make the most requested items available on its website, on an easily comparable basis.

These items, together with information about course charges, are called the Key Information Set (KIS).”

Students at the heart of the system – HE White Paper: paras 2.9 & 2.10

The Unistats web site with the KIS

Higher Education Better Regulation Principles

Principle 1 • Regulation should encourage and

support efficiency and effectiveness in institutional management and governance.

Principle 2 • Regulation should have a clear

purpose that is justified in a transparent manner.

Principle 3 • Regulation depends on reliable,

transparent data that is collected and made available to stakeholders efficiently and in a timely manner.

Principle 4 • Regulation assessing quality and

standards should be co-ordinated, transparent and proportionate.

Principle 5 • Regulation should ensure that the

interests of students and taxpayers are safeguarded and promoted as higher education operates in a more competitive environment.

Principle 6 • Alternatives to regulation should be

considered where appropriate.

Principle 3 Regulation depends on reliable, transparent data that is collected and made available to stakeholders efficiently and in a timely manner.

“UCAS holds rich information on the prior qualifications of successful university applicants. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) holds information on the composition of the student body, degree results, and destinations of leavers after graduation. The Student Loans Company (SLC) collects details about applicants for student support, and the rate at which they repay their student loans after graduation.”• http://www.ucas.ac.uk• http://www.slc.co.uk• http://www.hesa.ac.uk

Students at the heart of the system – HE White Paper: para 2.8

Principle 3Regulation depends on reliable, transparent data that is collected and made available to stakeholders efficiently and in a timely manner.

Extract (the small print)There will be situations when data not readily available through HESA are required by subscribers to the Principles. If HESA cannot supply the desired data to the timescales or extent required, it may be necessary to seek the information directly from the relevant institution liaising through HESA. Wherever possible, data should be requested using the format, definitions and information standards of the HESA returns or in the manner in which data are produced internally by the institution for its own purposes.

SIS –Student Information Export Options Extract presentation to CISG 2010

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STUDENT LOAN COMPANYStudent Finance England AY12/13 Cycle Operational Dashboard to (14-10-2012)

Data as of 14-10-12Next update 22-10-12

Owner: Derek Ross Operational Dashboard

Customer questionWill I get paid the right amountat the right time?

Processing

Customer questionCan I get through?

Contact Centre

Customer questionHave I been given the right information at the right time?

Communications

Today G

Commentary• Further to previous update, RAG status now reflected as Green across all categories (Processing; Contact & Communications).

• A net value of approximately £941M was released on the 17 th October in respect of the first 12/13 Tuition fee instalment.

• By the end of this week, we will have reached that of the £1B payment mark in respect of Tuition fees (paid/ scheduled to be paid).

G

End of October G G G

G

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Data Exchange to date

• KIS to take NSS, DLHE with course data• SLC to HESA from this year for student fees• *J from UCAS to HEI to HESA• OFFA data • UCAS data exchange with SLC• Learner Record Service (previously MIAP)

qualifications from Personal Learner Record with the Unique Learner Number

• REF data

Balancing Burden and Benefit - looking forwardWho needs data for what purpose in what timescale?

• Moving from statistical to administrative level data – each record is worth £27k funding and loan

• Timeliness an issue – student data 15 months too late • In year collections – SLC, ITT, PSRBs, ILR• Public information – the KIS real-time model• The value of maintaining a UK wide information base • Rate of change and impact of policy

Articulating the benefits of comparable and comprehensive shared data for business intelligence, regulation and policy.

Understanding how that can be achieved.

Policy as a driverDEMAND SUPPLY

Public/student information

• KIS/UNISTATS HEIs, HESA, (Professional Bodies),UCAS

Student employment outcomes• Graduate jobs• Graduate salaries HEIs, HESA (DLHE),

SLC, HMRC, (linked NPDB)Student number control

• Pre-entry qualifications UCAS, HEIs, HESA, LRS, Examining Bodies, Research

REF

• Relevant Staff HEIs, HEFCE, HESA

Regulatory Partnership Group• Regulatory Framework HEFCE, SLC, QAA,

OIA, OFFA, HESAEfficiency

• Benchmarking HEI, HESA, RCs, UUK

UKBA• Student tracking• Impact HEI, Student and

agent, UCAS, HESAUK-Wide Policy variations

• Diverging Policy HEIs, HESA, QAA, UCAS, SLC

Transparency• Public and Open Access All

Data Liberation and freedom of information

• Government’s transparency policy– Cabinet Office– Ministerial Data sharing group

• Linked data– Administrative Data Task Group– High level ministerial group - NPD, SLC, HESA, HMRC– National Pupil Database joined with HESA data

• HESA– Third Party working group and information management– Open access data sets, data, information, analysis, business intelligence

• KIS – Open Government Licence access to dataset• Which? and Bestcourse4me • Information Commission

– FOI and DPA

• FOI and Competition Law

To discuss?

• Policy and the demands for data - what opportunity for better regulation?

• UK-wide timely, good quality and comparable data – the pain and the gain?

• Open access and reuse of data – should there be any control?