Access reports - Access statistics 2005

Key Statistics 2005 - HTML version | PDF version

Joint agency statistical reports

Introduction

The joint authors of this report are pleased to present this overview of statistical data about Access to HE provision, programmes, student profiles and progression. This represents the result of cooperation between a number of organisations, each of which is committed to improving the national data available about Access. Each year we have worked to improve the range and reliability of the data and this will continue through the work of the Access Data Development Group.

One of the Access Data Development Group’s aims is to achieve comparability of data wherever possible, but we also aim to avoid unnecessarily duplicating data requests, and this composite report uses data which has been collected in different ways for different purposes. While it is tempting to track between the individual sections to try to gain continuity and overall coverage, readers should note the distinctive nature of each of the different sets of data, and caution should be exercised in making any direct comparisons of this kind.

Statistics which are collected to answer questions and provide information that is robust and concrete always produce further questions. Not all questions, however, can be answered in statistically quantifiable terms, and the members of the Access Data Development Group recognise, in producing this data, that it is often the questions that are raised, rather than the questions that are answered, that prove to be the most interesting.

The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) collects statistical data directly from the licensed Authorised Validating Authorities (AVAs). These statistics describe QAA-recognised Access programmes and the students registered on them. These programmes are delivered primarily at Further Education (FE) colleges in England and Wales.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) administers applications to full-time undergraduate programmes at both HE and FE institutions throughout the UK. In the sequence of events through the educational process, UCAS deals with applicants and acceptances to HE programmes. The UCAS statistics presented this year include applicants to institutions in England and Wales who include an access qualification in their list of previous qualifications, irrespective of whether it is the highest qualification or not. The UCAS data does not distinguish between students from QAA-recognised Access to HE courses and students from other ‘access’ courses.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) collects data on students registered at FE institutions in England. Education and Learning Wales (ELWa) undertakes a similar data collection from FE institutions in Wales. Both utilise a ‘Learning Aims Database’ to identify QAA-recognised Access courses.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects data on registered students at HE institutions throughout the UK. The statistics presented here include students registered on HE programmes at HE institutions in England and Wales. They include any students who bypassed the UCAS process and entered their programme directly; they do not include applicants who were accepted through the UCAS system but who subsequently failed to take up their place. The data does not include former Access students who are studying on an HE programme in an FE institution. The HESA database for students who began their current programme of study on or after 1 August 2002 distinguishes between QAA-recognised Access to HE certificates and other ‘access’ certificates. These analyses are based on the highest qualification held at the time of entry to the HE programme.

In 2004 HESA took over the calculation and publication of the performance indicators from HEFCE. The indicators provided here cover entrants to full-time first-degree programmes only.

These agencies have cooperated in a process of data sharing, in accordance with the Management Information Across Partners recommendations. QAA is grateful to these agencies for their continuing contributions to this joint project.

Due to the large number of complex data tables they are presented as Adobe Acrobat documents.