Student characteristics data: Population data

Population data dashboard

These charts and tables show three different student populations that can be filtered by various domiciles, undergraduate and postgraduate levels of study, different study characteristics and student characteristics.

See our key findings report, 'Student characteristics data 2010-11 to 2022-23', for a summary of some of the sector-level trends in the dashboard.

* These relate to protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

New student characteristics added in the September 2024 dashboard update are:

• individual disadvantage
• subcontracted students.

Datafiles

Get the population data as a zipped CSV file (20 MB)

The uncompressed datafile is 422 MB. To avoid data loss, it should not be opened in MS Excel.

Dashboard user guide

The student populations dashboard allows you to examine profiles of students by different student characteristics for different populations, domiciles, modes, subjects and levels of study.

You can select combinations of: population, domicile, level of study and student characteristic by choosing from the dropdowns at the top of the dashboard. You can also select a ‘study characteristic’ which allows you to view the data by: mode of study, broad subject of study or detailed subject of study.

You can also choose whether to view counts (the number of students within particular characteristics), or proportions of students, by selecting the radio buttons at the top right of the dashboard.

The chart in the centre of the dashboard displays the counts or proportions for the selected combinations. For example:

• When we look at counts for the ‘Age (Broad)’ characteristic, the number of full-time undergraduate young (under 21 years of age) entrants in 2022-23 was 319,770.
• When we look at proportions for the ‘Age (Broad)’ characteristic, the proportion of full-time undergraduate young entrants in 2022-23 was 70 per cent. This means that 70 per cent of all full-time undergraduate entrants in 2022-23 were young.

Certain student characteristics are not available for every combination of domicile, mode and level. The yellow box above the chart indicates the coverage of each student characteristic. For example, the socioeconomic background student characteristic is available only for UK domiciled undergraduate students. Selecting a combination of filters for which data is not available will result in no data being shown on the chart.

The counts and proportions shown on the chart are also displayed in a table beneath the main chart. The table shows suppression reasons where no data is displayed on the chart. For example, when we look at proportions of apprenticeship undergraduates with a parent holding a higher education qualification (parental higher education), no data is displayed for the years 2012-13 to 2014-15. The table tells us that this data has been suppressed for data protection reasons (suppression code: [DPL]). More information about suppression codes is detailed in the help guide, available by clicking the ‘help guide’ icon in the top right corner of the dashboard.

The table also shows counts for students who have chosen not to provide information, or where the characteristic is not applicable to the student due to additional population requirements or is otherwise unknown. These counts are shown in the rows labelled ‘no response’ and ‘not applicable’ and are highlighted in grey.