UCAS data for HESA transaction (StarJ) 2015

The StarJ data for the 2015 cycle is planned for release in mid-November. The data forms part of the Student Record required by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Some providers in England also use the data to support Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) returns.

All changes to the 2015 UCAS Data for HESA Transaction (StarJ) have been agreed with HESA and submitted for development. The changes for StarJ 2015 are:

• New sexual orientation field: taken from the additional information section in Apply for applicants who have answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘Is your permanent home in the UK?'
• New religious belief field: taken from the additional information section in Apply for applicants who have answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘Is your permanent home in the UK?'
• Changes to how the values for the care leaver field will be returned:
  - if the applicant has answered ‘yes’ to the ‘In care’ question and marked their ‘In care duration’ as more than three months, this field will be populated with 04.
  - if the applicant has answered ‘yes’ to the ‘In care’ question and marked their ‘In care duration’ as less than three months, this field will be populated with 05.
  - if the applicant has answered ‘no’ to the ‘In care’ question, this field will be populated with a 05.
  - code 99 will be returned if a UK-domiciled applicant has not answered the ‘In care’ question in Apply
• New defaults for PREVINST: the PREVINST coding frame has been changed. Where the PREVINST field was previously populated with 9999 for ‘Not Known’, the default codes will be applied based on this criteria.
• Subject percentage for triple courses: the issue where subject percentage was being populated where no subject qualification aim existed for triple courses has been resolved.
• Changes to UCAS Conservatoires SBJQA and SBJPCT fields: the issue where the SBJQA fields and the SBJPCT fields were being incorrectly populated with '----' for NULL values has been resolved. 
• New QUALENT3 value for SQA Higher and SQA Advanced Higher: the code for SQA Higher and SQA Advanced Higher has been changed from P69 to P54.

More information and access to the ‘Specification of the UCAS data for HESA (*J) 2015’ is available from the HESA return page on ucas.com.

In October, we’ll send you further information about the development and testing of the UCAS data for HESA transaction (StarJ) 2015.