HESA Track Data for the 2022/23 and earlier HE Entry Years now available

We are delighted to announce that HESA Track data for Students expected to enter higher education (HE) between 2015 and 2022 is now available to members on the database. As mentioned in a previous update in April, Jisc experienced challenges in including the Students from earlier years within the dataset, and a work-around was reached which applied a restriction to tracking Students from 2015 entry onwards only. Please see the previous update for more information.

What is the HESA Track?

To support members with the final stage of evaluation, analysing impact, we work with external agencies to track individuals longitudinally via the HEAT Track, yielding rich data on their educational outcomes. The HESA Track dataset and the accompanying dashboard are a key element of the HEAT Service’s suite of tracking data and dashboards, visualised as the ‘Higher Education Data & Dashboard’ in HEAT’s Tracking Diagram.

On behalf of our members, we submit records for Students eligible for tracking to Jisc for tracking into the HE population. The results of this tracking exercise are returned to members in the form of Student-level data on enrolment, continuation and attainment in HE, and progression to postgraduate study and employment, which can be accessed on the database and exported as a dataset.

Through this dataset and the accompanying dashboard, HEAT members can examine outcomes for their tracked Students and evaluate their interventions across the full Student journey, from access to employment.

If you are new to HEAT or would like a quick refresh, we strongly recommend you refer to the ‘Quick Guide to Using HESA Track Data’ on pages 2-3 of the Student HESA Track User Guide.

Important information about the HESA Track 2022/23 Data

During our internal checks of the data, we noticed an inconsistency concerning subject-related  fields, impacting Students who entered, started a second course, or started a postgraduate course in 2022. We are awaiting a re-supply of relevant fields for the affected Students from Jisc, which we will make available to you as soon as possible.

To ensure you can access the majority of your HESA data as soon as possible, HESA data containing all HESA data fields for unaffected Students in your tracked cohort is now available on the database. Where there are affected Students in your tracked cohort, only their subject-related fields will temporarily remain blank until Jisc have re-supplied the affected fields.

In the meantime, all other HESA data for the impacted Student records are available for you to use, which includes key information such as the HE provider a Student entered with, study mode, study level as well as HESA student characteristics data.

Accessing the HESA Track 2022/23 Data

Your organisation’s HESA data can be generated using the HESA Track option in the Reports area of the database, viewed on the Student record’s HESA tab, and exported via an Activities Export which applies the ‘Include Students with HESA’ option. Find out more about how to different access options in the Student HESA Track User Guide.

To avoid timeout-related issues, we schedule all requests to generate HESA Track Data to run as overnight tasks. This means that once generated, the HESA Track Data will process overnight and will be available to download the following day. Users can generate this data at any time and the system will keep it on hold and schedule it to run in the evening. Each evening, the overnight queue will complete as many HESA Track datasets as possible, and any which have not been processed will be scheduled for the following evening.

Please Note: Only Users with the following Roles can generate HESA Track Data: Leads, Lead Lites, Coordinators, Coordinator Lites. Users with Custom Roles will require the permission ‘Create HESA Track Report’ and ‘View HESA Track Report’. Find out more about access restrictions in the User Guide linked below.

Important Information about Historic Tracking Data

Before using the HESA Track 2022/23 dataset, we kindly request you read HESA’s Terms and Conditions (members only). Jisc have asked us to confirm that all versions of the tracking dataset supplied previously have been deleted. If you previously downloaded HESA data, please ensure you have deleted all copies you have saved locally.

Resource Updates

To support the analysis and interpretation of your Students’ HESA Track 2022/23 data, we are pleased to announce we have greatly improved the HESA Track Dashboard and have released a new Student HESA Track User Guide.

HESA Track Dashboard

The HESA Track Dashboard can be downloaded from the File Store (members only) or via the HESA Track ‘Download Dashboard’ button in the Reports area. Please refer to the set-up instructions in the User Guide below to connect your dataset and a new comparator dataset. The latest version of the dashboard comes with lots of new comparator options to support the evaluation of your interventions, a new design, and extensive options to filter and customise your data.

Student HESA Track User Guide

We strongly recommend you download the new Student HESA Track User Guide to accompany the analysis of your HESA Track data in the dashboard, to learn in detail about the different ways of accessing your HESA Track data and how to prepare for upcoming HESA Track cycles. A ‘Quick Guide to Using HESA Track Data’ is available on pages 2-3 to help users get started. The Student HESA Track User Guide is available to download from the File Store (members only) or via the HESA Track i-button in the Reports area of the database.