A number of institutions have commented on the response deadlines which
they have been given by the HEFCE for verifying their survey data for
use in 1999-2000 funding allocations. We would like to explain the
reasons for the deadlines and to invite any institutions that have
difficulty in meeting their deadlines to contact us.
We have made a commitment to inform institutions of their Maximum
Student Numbers (MaSN) by 27 January 1999. In order to meet that
deadline, we need all institutions to verify their data as being correct
by 15 January. We conduct a number of validation and credibility checks
and will discuss the survey data with institutions. The deadlines now
being given are designed to allow time for us to correct any data errors
and then re-issue the data to institutions for checking, so that they
can sign off their verification forms by 15 January. If institutional
data are not correct, this can result in incorrect student number and/or
funding allocations.
For this funding round, we have roughly twice as many institutions to
deal with as in previous years, due to the transfer from the FEFC of
funding responsibility for certain higher education courses in further
education colleges. Because of the timing and volume of returns, we are
not issuing data to all institutions simultaneously. The phasing of the
checking process means we can give more attention to individual
institutions' returns. We have, however, tried to allow institutions the
same length of time in which to respond. They therefore have different
response dates, largely depending on when their data were sent out. All,
however, should be working towards final verification by 15 January.
If you believe that you will have difficulty in meeting any of the
deadlines set, or have any other questions about the data verification
process, please contact your Higher Education Adviser in the first
instance.
Mario Ferelli - Head of Funding
Richard Puttock - Analyst
Toby West-Taylor - IPD funding round project manager
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