Data collection

The data collected in the Higher Education Students Early Statistics 2024-25 (HESES24) survey provides us with an early indication of the number of higher education students studying in 2024-25.

We will use this, along with data supplied to the designated data body and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, to calculate our funding allocations for 2025-26.

This return is for higher education providers that:

• have registered with the OfS in the Approved (fee cap) category
• have registered students in 2024-25 on higher education courses recognised for OfS funding purposes.

Important dates in the HESES24 process

HESES24 list of recognised courses

The HESES24 list of recognised courses applies only to further education and sixth form colleges and academies. 

Within the HESES24 workbook is the Courses table which can be used to enter information at course level for all students who start on or before the census date of 1 November.

The list of courses that we use to populate this table is taken from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)’s 'Find a learning aim' service. The list of courses that is included in the HESES24 workbook will be taken from the ESFA’s update of its learning aims database on 10 October 2024.

We will publish the list of higher education courses from the ESFA’s learning aims database which are either included or excluded from the HESES24 workbook and details of the algorithms that we have used to populate the list. This will include:

• HESES24 Courses table information
  An overview of the HESES24 courses table and the algorithms used to produce the list of courses included in HESES24

• HESES24 Courses table learning aims
  An Excel workbook containing a list of higher education learning aims from the ESFA’s learning aims database that are included or excluded from HESES24

If you believe that any of the information associated with a learning aim is incorrect, or a learning aim is not in the list, please contact us at [email protected].

In order for us to resolve any issues, you will need to provide the information described in the ‘Learning aim appeals’ section of HESES24 Courses table information document (once published).

List of recognised courses from earlier returns