A new higher education market monitoring tool will help universities and colleges to identify and address gaps in provision.
A series of interactive charts and will enable users to understand the geography of higher education through the student lifecycle. The 'Higher education market monitoring tool - an interactive regional market data dashboard' makes use of a range of data sources to help users understand more about how and where students access, study in and progress from higher education. It has been launched as a prototype in response to the Post-16 Education and Skills white paper which set out an ambition to develop a new marker monitoring function. The tool is designed to assist regional planners as well as individual in planning and delivering future higher education provision.
Data is made available at a subject and individual institution level to allow for a detailed understanding of the current picture of higher education in England. Users can look at a wide range of issues – from how many applications are made to where graduates go to seek work after their studies are complete. There is also UK-wide data on research inputs and outputs, providing a regional view of disciplinary trends.
Commenting, Jean Arnold, Interim Director of Quality and Access at the OfS, said:
‘This important and exciting new tool will help build much greater understanding of where students study, what subjects are available and where students go after they graduate. It will help those charged with developing regional approaches to skills and research strategy to understand more about gaps in provision and how to ensure that higher education provision matches the skills local employers need and continues to offer the diversity in choice we know students value.
‘The work to get us to this stage has been a collaborative effort, and I am grateful to colleagues in government and members of the advisory group for their efforts and expertise. But this is only the start of the journey. We now want to work with others to enhance it even further and make it a tool that offers practical support to colleagues working in strategic decision making. This prototype isn’t the finished article, we would love to hear feedback about what works and how we could develop future iterations of the tool.’
Notes
- The Office for Students is the independent regulator for higher education in England. Our strategy for 2025 to 2030 seeks to ensure that students from all backgrounds benefit from high quality higher education, delivered by a diverse, sustainable sector that continues to improve.
