Academic year 2020/21

Participation measures in higher education

Data guidance

Published

Description

This guidance describes the data included in the Participation Measures in Higher Education: 2020/21 Official Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License (opens in a new tab) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data. (opens in a new tab) 

The methodology pages attached to this release should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data. 

Coverage

The release covers the latest Cohort-based Higher Education Participation (CHEP) measure.

For each cohort of pupils registered at English schools at age 15, we track their participation rates in HE by age 25 (CHEP-25). 

Also included are underlying tables containing data on participation by age 20 and by age 30 (CHEP-20, CHEP-30). 

Rounding 

We are removing rounding and suppression of entrant numbers where possible in order to maximise the utility of the statistics while minimising the risk of disclosure. 

More information about the Departmental policy on confidentiality can be found here: 

External_Confidentiality_Policy (opens in a new tab)

All participation percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place. 

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Headline key stats

Filename
chep25_headline_key_stats.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2010/11
Content

HE Participation by age 25 (CHEP-25) key stats

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entry_percentage_femalesHE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Females)
entry_percentage_firstdegHE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (First Degrees)
entry_percentage_fulltimeHE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Full Time)
entry_percentage_highest_regionRegional HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Highest)
entry_percentage_lowest_regionRegional HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Lowest)
entry_percentage_overallHE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Overall)

Overall

Filename
chep_overall.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2001/02 to 2015/16
Content

HE participation by ages 25, 20 and 30 (CHEP-25, CHEP-20, CHEP-30)

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entrantsEntrants
entry_ageAge entered HE
rateEntry percentage

Age

Filename
chep_age.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2001/02 to 2018/19
Content

HE participation by specific age, including a cumulative rate

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
age_in_heAge entered HE
cumulative_rateCumulative entry percentage
entrantsEntrants
rateEntry percentage
Footnotes
  1. For the 2005/06 cohort, the rate for 18-year-olds is understated. This is explained in the Limitations section in the Methodology.

Gender

Filename
chep_gender.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2001/02 to 2015/16
Content

HE participation (CHEP-25, CHEP-20, CHEP-30) by gender

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entrantsEntrants
entry_ageAge entered HE
genderKS4 Gender
rateEntry percentage

Region

Filename
chep_region.csv
Geographic levels
National; Regional
Time period
2001/02 to 2015/16
Content

HE participation (CHEP-25, CHEP-20, CHEP-30) by region

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entrantsEntrants
entry_ageAge entered HE
rateEntry percentage

Level

Filename
chep_level.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2001/02 to 2015/16
Content

HE participation (CHEP-25, CHEP-20, CHEP-30) by level of study

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entrantsEntrants
entry_ageAge entered HE
levelLevel of Study
rateEntry percentage

Mode

Filename
chep_mode.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2001/02 to 2015/16
Content

HE participation (CHEP-25, CHEP-20, CHEP-30) by mode of study

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entrantsEntrants
entry_ageAge entered HE
modeMode of Study
rateEntry percentage

Projections

Filename
heip_projected.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2006/07 to 2020/21
Content

A comparison of a HEIP-like projection using the new cohort-based figures against the old HEIP projection measure

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
entrantsEntrants
methodologyMethodology - Filter by methodology
rateEntry percentage
Footnotes
  1. For the projections from 2016/17 based on the cohort figures, the earlier projections are less robust due to changes in the matching method in those years.
  2. Additional providers who returned data to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Alternative record have been included from 2014/15 as a separate series.

Other data sources - APS, ONS

Filename
percentage_with_degrees_in_england_25_29_2011_to_2021.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2011 to 2021
Content

Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS) data showing percentages in the aged 25-29 population qualified to Level 4 and above.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
percentagePercentage with degree
qual_levelLevel of degree