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Official UK Postgraduate Rankings: The Higher Education Statistics Agency
The Higher Education Statistics Agency or HESA is an official agency that was set up in 1993 after a number of calls were made for more coherence in higher education statistics. The HESA collects and analyses numerical data on higher education institutions in the UK providing a lot of useful information about UK universities on a regular basis.
What Makes The HESA A Good Source Of Ranking Data?
The HESA is a brilliant source of ranking data, especially for prospective postgraduate students. The reason for this is that they provide a number of useful publications that can be used to help make an informed choice about what university would be the best choice depending on the course.
What Publications Do The HESA Produce That Are Important For Postgraduates?
The HESA publishes a lot of material that is very useful for postgraduate students.
#1 Student data collection
This contains a detailed analysis of all the information the HESA collects on students in higher education. This includes subjects studied, level of study, qualifications, degree class, age, gender, ethnicity and disability and much more.
#2 Staff Data Collection
This focuses on both academic and non-academic staff at higher education institutions. It contains information on statistics like gender, age and ethnicity.
#3 Finances
This report by the HESA supplies information on the income and expenditure figures of higher educational establishments. It is broken down by source and category of spend. By looking at the tables you can see council grants, tuition fees, research grants that are all important to postgraduate study.
#4 Destination of Leavers from Higher Education
This survey provides data on the activities of students after leaving higher education. The information is gathered by surveying students six months after they have graduated and finding out where they are working and what their income is like. This survey might only seem like it applies to undergraduates but it is useful for postgraduates as you can see what type of jobs and companies a university has connections to.
Advantages Of The Higher Education Statistics Agency
• They produce a lot of useful statistics on higher education establishments.
• There is a lot of data easily accessible on their website for free.
• Using their data you can get a good picture of the makeup of a university.
• The data is easy to understand as it doesn’t use language that is too technical.
Disadvantages Of The Higher Education Statistics Agency
• It is not completely postgraduate orientated and therefore contains a lot of information on undergraduates that.
• Some of the most recent data isn’t free to access.
Click here to access the Higher Education Statistics Agency website.
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