Data collection

The data collected in the Higher Education Students Early Statistics 2023-24 (HESES23) survey provides us with an early indication of the number of higher education students studying in 2023-24.

We will use this, along with data supplied to the Higher Education Statistics Agency and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, to calculate our funding allocations for 2024-25.

This return is for higher education providers that:

• have registered with the OfS in the Approved (fee cap) category
• have registered students in 2023-24 on higher education courses recognised for OfS funding purposes.

Important dates in the HESES23 process

On 13 November 2023 we announced extensions to the HESES submission and sign-off deadlines for certain providers. See the announcement letter.

Following these decisions:

• The deadlines for further education and sixth form colleges and academies remain unchanged.
• The submission and sign-off deadlines for all other providers have been extended to reflect the table below.

HESES23 list of recognised courses

The HESES23 list of recognised courses applies only to further education and sixth form colleges and academies. 

Within the HESES23 workbook is the courses table which can be used to enter information at course level for all students who start before the census date of 1 November.

The list of courses that we use to populate this table is taken from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)’s 'Find a learning aim' service. The list of courses that is included in the HESES23 workbook is taken from the ESFA’s update of their learning aims database on Wednesday 11 October 2023.

We are publishing the list of higher education courses from the ESFA’s learning aims database which are either included or excluded from the HESES23 workbook and details of the algorithms that we have used to populate the list.

If you believe that any of the information associated with a learning aim is incorrect, or a learning aim is not in the list, please contact us at [email protected].

In order for us to resolve any issues, you will need to provide the information described in the ‘Learning aim appeals’ section of HESES23 Courses table information document above.