Academic year 2020/21

Participation measures in higher education

Data guidance

Published 26 January 2023

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 name	Variable description
entry_percentage_females	HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Females)
entry_percentage_firstdeg	HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (First Degrees)
entry_percentage_fulltime	HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Full Time)
entry_percentage_highest_region	Regional HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Highest)
entry_percentage_lowest_region	Regional HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Lowest)
entry_percentage_overall	HE Entry Percentage by Age 25 (Overall)

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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 name	Variable description
entrants	Entrants
entry_age	Age entered HE
rate	Entry percentage

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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 name	Variable description
age_in_he	Age entered HE
cumulative_rate	Cumulative entry percentage
entrants	Entrants
rate	Entry percentage

Footnotes

For the 2005/06 cohort, the rate for 18-year-olds is understated. This is explained in the Limitations section in the Methodology.

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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 name	Variable description
entrants	Entrants
entry_age	Age entered HE
gender	KS4 Gender
rate	Entry percentage

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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 name	Variable description
entrants	Entrants
entry_age	Age entered HE
rate	Entry percentage

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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 name	Variable description
entrants	Entrants
entry_age	Age entered HE
level	Level of Study
rate	Entry percentage

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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 name	Variable description
entrants	Entrants
entry_age	Age entered HE
mode	Mode of Study
rate	Entry percentage

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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 name	Variable description
entrants	Entrants
methodology	Methodology - Filter by methodology
rate	Entry percentage

Footnotes

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.
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.

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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 name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage with degree
qual_level	Level of degree

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