About the data dashboard

The data shows numbers and proportions of students. We also show an associated uncertainty distribution around the data which represents a reasonable estimate within which the true performance might lie.

The data covers UK-domiciled students studying at providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) at the time of publication. Information about students is attributed to the provider where they are registered (this may be different to where they are taught). Information about the whole sector includes data from all English higher education providers that are registered with the OfS at the time of publication.

The measures included in the dashboards come from national collections. These include student data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Students are also matched to the National Pupil Database (NPD) to determine their eligibility for Free School Meals at Key Stage 4.

Information about whether graduates are in highly-skilled employment, further study or other positive outcomes comes from the Graduate Outcomes (GO) survey.

Data from the NPD is supplied from the Department for Education (DfE). The DfE does not accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the NPD data by third parties.

Performance measures and how we produce the data

We use the same student outcome and experience measures throughout our construction of this dashboard, and the data that informs our regulation of student outcomes and the Teaching Excellence Framework. These are constructed from individualised student data returns.

We have published technical documents which explain how we produce the data reported in the access and participation data dashboard, and how we define the measures of access, continuation, completion, degree outcomes and progression for this purpose.