Amendments to data

The OfS and Research England use a number of different data sources submitted by higher education providers, including:

• Provider-level surveys (such as HESES)
• Data returned to HESA and to the Education and Skills Funding Agency, such as individualised student returns and finance returns
• Data provided to other bodies.

We expect that the data we use will be the final version submitted and signed off as correct by the provider’s accountable officer.

OfS and Research England use these different data sources for many reasons, including:

• OfS funding
• National Student Survey (NSS) publications
• Graduate Outcomes (GO) target list
• Discover Uni
• Student numbers for regulatory thresholds
• Institutional performance measures
• Financial health and sustainability
• Research England funding
• Research England policy and analysis.

Sometimes errors are identified in the data after it has been finally submitted or signed off by providers and after the OfS or Research England have used the data.

There is a data amendment process to assess whether the OfS or Research England require amendments to be made, and whether and how we use amended data to change outcomes.