Welcome slide

Welcome slide

Future arrangements for the Destination of Leavers

from Higher Education Survey

Manchester20 August 2013

Davina Madden – HEFCE Regional Consultant and Interim Head of Provision of Information Policy

• Provide an update on the process for 2014

• Hear from an institution that manages the survey

• Hear from us about what a potential contractor could offer

• Discuss the pros and cons of each of our options and feed back to us

Aims of the event

Rationale

•White Paper’s commitment to develop a ‘level playing field’ between all types of HE provider

•English FECs would be required to fund and administer the DLHE survey for themselves

Changes to DLHE survey 2014-15

Circular letter outlining options for FECs (April 13)

•To ‘go it alone’ - fund and administer the DLHE survey for themselves

•HEFCE to tender on behalf of FECs to establish a framework supplier

•To collaborate with other FECs/HEIs to run the survey as a consortium

• Support to manage procurement and data quality.

• HEFCE to appoint a supplier through OJEU open tender process.

• First tranche of the survey (April 2014) for English FECs to become optional

• HEFCE supplier in place to support second tranche (January 2015)

• After 2015, FECs expected to use framework supplier if data does not meet requirements.

Update on the process

Expected Timeline

Aug 2013 Informal consultation events

Sep 2013Circular Letter outlining full process.

Feb2014Complete OJEU competitive tender

Feb 2014 Supplier appointed

Mar 2014 Training events for FECs

Apr 2014Tranche one survey returns (optional)

Apr 2014FECs complete preparedness checklist

May 2014Feedback on checklist from HEFCE

Oct 2014 Survey activity starts

We want to explore with you...

•What our proposals would mean for your institution

•What considerations should we build into the Invitation to Tender for approved supplier.

•How we can further support you through these changes

What this will mean for your institution.

Association of Colleges (AoC)

Manchester20 August 2013

Nick Davy – AoC HE Policy Manager

Data Quality

Manchester University20 August 2013

Richard Puttock – HEFCE Head of data and management information

Important because:•Comparable and publishable data – used to inform student choice

•Quality assurance and enhancement

•Informs public policy - the social, cultural and economic benefit of Higher Education

Why good DLHE data is importantHigh response rates•Target response rate:

• Full Time – 80%

• Part Time – 70%

Currently a minimum of 23 students•Concern of non-publishable data

•Round table discussions about data thresholds

•Part of HEFCE’s financial memorandum

•Data contributes to the wider debate around the value of HE in FE

•Distinctive contribution of smaller providers

HEFCE’s Data Thresholds...

Data requirements•Complete responses and full data

•Correct SOC and SIC coding

•Data submission via HEFCE extranet, linked to ILR (XML format).

HEFCE’s requirements

Preparedness checklist•To help FECs think about the practicalities of running the survey

•To allow HEFCE to act as a critical friend

DLHE Collection In-House

Jan Moore Assistant Head of Careers &

Employability Manchester Metropolitan

University

We are a very big institution – some 9,000 students are surveyed every year across the April and January collections so we can reap economies of scale

Extensive telephone follow up is required - only 12% of our students replied on-line in the 2011/12 collection

Growing interest in destinations due to DLHE being a KPI means that we have to offer MMU staff an expert and professional support service throughout the year

Two members of C&E staff now work full-time on DLHE and related graduate labour market issues

DLHE Collection In-House – the MMU context

It’s good PR - continued contact when other university services have ceased

Highlights our ‘after-sales’ service Increases knowledge of the graduate labour

market – emerging trends can be identified quickly

Enables the writing of great case studies and marketing materials

Quality assurance – always has been an informal means of getting honest feedback

Existing students help with the ‘phone survey – great for their skill development and they get paid!

The advantages of doing DLHE

in-house

Identifying your POPDLHE – need excellent relations with your IT people and they need to be interested in/have time for DLHE too

The evening work! (Overtime and TOIL) Manual paper sifting vs. electronic processing Marking up and coding incl. JACS and SOC 2010 Steady flow of HESA circulars that need to be

read – and understood! There is an annual re-visiting and revision training of what we need to do - and when

The disadvantages of undertaking the DLHE

collection in-house

Level of support from your institution as a whole

Level of support that can be called on from IT/Management Information systems

Interest and knowledge of the staff involved Support network – HEIs have AGCAS and

increasingly regional and LinkedIn groups but CFE’s?

Value for Money – what you get back in terms of greater knowledge, alumni contacts etc must justify the cost

DLHE Collection In-House: Key Issues

What a contractor would offer

Manchester20 August 2013

Matthew Barrow – HEFCE HE Policy Adviser

Running the DLHE survey through a contractor

• HEFCE to run a tender exercise to establish a preferred supplier.

• This should:• Ensure economies of scale• Reduce the burden for FECs to run competitive tender exercises• Support FECs to provide good quality data

Current Contractor

• Current contractor for the collection of DLHE data for FECs covers:

• 116 colleges• 22,438 graduates• College populations range from 4 to 1590• Response target of 80% (high)• Means contacting over 17,950 graduates

College’s Responsibility

• Provide the contractor with a contact list of the survey sample

• Communicate with the contractor

Contracted to run the survey on your behalf

•Set up data systems

•Advertise and market the survey

•Digital copy of the survey sent out via e-mail

• Specialist online survey software with unique access codes

• Adapted for smart phones

• Text messages

• Letters

• Fully trained call team

• Diagnostics

• Producing the data and analysing

What the contractor will provide

Costs•Currently, the survey runs at a cost of ≈ £ 10 per student

•Dependent on the bids that we receive from our Invitation to Tender

•There may be an annual set up cost

•There may be a cost per student

Costs involved

• Staff and student awareness of the survey running

• Quality of the alumni contact records

• Set up costs for institutions

Practicalities of using a contractor

Benefits•End to end service

•Reduced risk

•Fixed costs

•Expertise and experience

• Soc and Sic coding

• The rules and any changes

• No need to recruit temporary staff

• Economies of scale

• Brand awareness

Benefits to using a contractor

Group Discussion

Manchester20 August 2013

Davina Madden – HEFCE Regional Consultant and Interim Head of Provision of Information Policy

• Feedback on HEFCE’s process

• Timing

• Options available

• Preparedness checklist

• What would be the implications for your institution

• How can HEFCE support FECs through these changes

Discuss in groups