General description

Last update: 1 February 2022
Next update: January 2023

Data collection and calculation

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record.
The data included are taken primarily from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record and based on the HESA standard registration population, which includes student enrolments throughout the year. HESA currently publish combined data from both the HESA Student record and the HESA Student alternative record. As such, figures published by HESA and Stats Wales may differ.

Frequency of publication

Annual

Data reference periods

The HESA standard registration population is a count of all enrolments within the reporting year 1 August to 31 July. Students who leave within 2 weeks of their start date, or anniversary of their start date, and are on a course of more than two weeks duration, are not included in the standard registration population. Dormant students, incoming visiting and exchange students from overseas and students studying for the whole of their programme of study outside of the UK are also excluded from this population.

Rounding applied

The presentation of figures in this table follows the principals of the HESA rounding strategy. The strategy is intended to prevent the disclosure of personal information about any individual. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest 5. A summary of this strategy is as follows:
• Numbers less than 3 are rounded to 0 and represented as '.'
• All other numbers are rounded to the nearest 5

Title

Student enrolments in Wales by age, level and mode of study

Last update

1 Febuary 2022 1 Febuary 2022

Next update

January 2023

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Higher education student record, Higher Education Statistics Agency

Contact email

HigherEducationAndStudentFinance.Stats@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Wales

Geographical coverage

Wales

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

Weblinks

http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/students-higher-education-institutions/?lang=en

Statistical quality

Numbers for students from Wales studying at the Open University are based on where the student is from, rather than on the campus marker selected by the university. HESA use a different method to this and so the published numbers may differ slightly.

Note that the 'Welsh for Adults' StatsWales information normally included as part of this release cannot be updated to 2016/17. The National Centre for Learning Welsh has been responsible for providing leadership to the Welsh for Adults programme and co-ordinating provision across Wales on behalf of Welsh Government from 2015. Part of the work of the Centre has been to rationalise provision, and data systems, from 2016/17 onwards (with data collection in the past taking place through both HESA and LLWR data). New arrangements for data collection are being established for 2017/18 onwards, however, data has not been collected to provide a complete picture of provision for the 2016/17 year and it will not be included at all from 2017/18 onwards.

Enrolments on HE courses at Welsh FEIs funded by HEFCW are reported here from 2016/17 onwards. Previously they were reported through the Lifelong Learning Record for Wales (LLWR)

Between 2008/09 and 2012/13 counted by the number of students at the Open University funded by the Higher Education Funding Council. Otherwise they are counted as Welsh domiciled students studying at the Open University

From 2010/11, Further Education (FE) students who were enrolled at Merthyr Tydfil College, Glamorgan were reported to HESA rather than solely to the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR). In 2009/10 only 950 FE enrolments were registered at Merthyr Tydfil College (as part of Glamorgan University), whilst in 2011/12 the number of FE enrolments was 8,580. The new protocol affecting 2012/13 data meant that the number of these enrolments fell again to 1,850 in 2012/13.

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff changed its name to Cardiff Metropolitan University in late 2011.

In 2009/10, the University of Glamorgan changed its reporting practices for a number of their full-time postgraduate taught students that were active over two reporting years. These students were previously returned as active in their first year but dormant in their second year. For 2009/10 these students are now returned as active in both academic years, in line with HESA reporting requirements. This contributed to Glamorgan reporting an increase of 670 enrolments (around 58 per cent) to its full-time postgraduate taught courses and a subsequent rise in the number of full-time postgraduate enrolments at Welsh HEIs.

In 2008/09, Lampeter University showed a drop of 2,195 part-time other undergraduate enrolments, representing a 39 per cent decrease on 2007/08. This was, in part, due to those students being re-coded as dormant which automatically excluded them from enrolment data.

During 2009/10, Bangor University took part in a trial with an external partner in relation to a large set of their Welsh for Adults data (Further Education enrolments normally included on the HESA record). Due to the nature of the trial, some data was not available before the HESA submission deadline, this resulted in an undercount for that year. In 2011/12 Bangor University recorded a 112 per cent increase in FE enrolments since 2009/10; currently there is no reason to suggest that this is due to anything other than full reporting and increased provision.

Keywords

Higher Education

Name

EDUC0104