It is not so much a change in coding practice as a change in registration
arrangements that has produced this effect.  

In previous years, OU undergraduate level courses were offered in two
distinct programmes - one for those who wished to study towards a degree and
another for those who wished only to study a single course or a series of
courses, perhaps leading to a diploma.  The former were classified
(correctly) as 'first degree' students and the latter as 'other
undergraduate'.  

Recently we have removed the distinction between the two programmes and have
introduced 'course-based registration' by which all undergraduate students
register for modules rather than awards.  Students are invited to indicate
whether or not they plan to accumulate credit towards an award (and certain
benefits flow from that) but there is no obligation on them to do so and the
declaration is not binding.  All our undergraduate students therefore now
register for institutional credit and are returned as such.  Under HESA
definitions, they are classified as 'other undergraduate'. 

Martin.

Martin Watkinson
Head of Planning
The Open University
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK17 8NQ
Tel: (UK) 01908.653211; Fax (UK) 01908.858581

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Judy Evans [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:	22 July 1999 12:52
> To:	[log in to unmask]
> Cc:	[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]
> Subject:	RE: Students in Higher Education Institutions 1997/98 <fwd>
> 
> Joanne,
> 
> My colleague Linda Woodland has forwarded to me your reply 
> concerning our recent query. I am copying this message, together 
> with the original query and your reply, to admin-planning.
> 
> I am concerned that the HESA publication does not specifically 
> footnote this shift in the data and the reasons behind it. We 
> have looked through the volume and can find no specific mention 
> of the OU's change in coding practice. Table 0b clearly reports 
> the OU as having no part-time first degree students, but no 
> footnote on this or subsequent tables highlights this or refers 
> to the obvious anomalies that will arise when the 1997/98 HESA 
> data is used in conjunction with that from earlier years.
> 
> Given the use that sector data is put to in the construction of 
> League Tables and the like, as well as internal institutional use 
> for monitoring etc, HESA may wish to consider making this 
> particular issue more widely known. An understanding of why such 
> a significant change in coding practice has occurred would also 
> be helpful!
> 
> Judy
> --------------------
> Judy Evans
> Head of Management Information
> University of North London
> 166-221 Holloway Road
> London N7 8DB
> 
> tel : 0171 753 5146
> fax : 0171 753 5049
> 
> email : [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> --- Begin Forwarded Message ---
> Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 11:46:24 +0100
> From: Joanne Roper <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: RE: Students in Higher Education Institutions 1997/98
> Sender: Joanne Roper <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> 
> Reply-To: Joanne Roper <[log in to unmask]>
> Message-ID: 
> <[log in to unmask]
> >
> 
> Dear Linda
> 
> After some investigation I can tell you that the shift has been 
> caused by a change in the coding practice of The Open University. 
> This has meant that for 1997/98 they have not returned any 
> part-time students as taking first degrees, rather they are all 
> coded as other undergraduates e.g:
> 
> 1996/97 Open University first degree = 93,634
>                                         other undergraduate = 
> 23,952 1997/98 Open University first degree = 0
>                                         other undergraduate = 114,264
> 
> The 1997/98 UK total for part-time first degrees has fallen from 
> by 95,040, which corresponds closely to the number of first 
> degrees returned by the OU in 1996/97.
> 
> I hope that this answers your question.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Jo Roper
> 
> Original query as follows:
> 
> Andy,
> 
> I wanted to check a couple of figures with you in Table 9a of the 
> Students in Higher Education Institutions 1997/98.  I am 
> concerned that the Part-time Undergraduate 'first degree' and 
> 'Other UG' breakdowns for Total UK and Total England are a bit 
> anomalous when compared to the 1996/97 figures.  
> 
> The figures are set out below - I have converted them into 
> percentages so you can easily spot the differences between 
> 1996/97 and 1997/98.
> 
> 		First Degree		Other UG		Total
> 1997/98
> Total UK	89670	(23.0%)		300787	(77.0%)		390457
> 
> 1996/97
> Total UK	184710	(46.8%)		210236	(53.2%)		394946
> 
> 
> 
> 		First Degree		Other UG		Total
> 1997/98	
> Total England	76330	(22.0%)		270527	(78.0%)		346857
> 	
> 1996/97
> Total England	171939	(48.8%)		180520	(51.2%)		352459
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, there may be a reason for this sudden shift.  Am I 
> missing something?  Could you confirm please?
> 
> Many thanks
> Linda
> 
> ----------------------
> Linda Woodland
> Mangement Information Unit
> University of North London
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >
> >
> --- End Forwarded Message ---
> 
> 
> 


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