The government today (6 November 2015) outlined ambitious proposals to put students at the heart of higher education. The reforms are designed to boost teaching standards, support more people into university from disadvantaged backgrounds, and ensure better value for money and employment prospects for students. Read More.

Thursday 1 December 1994 was a significant milestone in the world of HE data. At the stroke of midnight an employee of the West London Institute of HE sent the first ever student return to the HESA servers in Cheltenham. For the first time the sector had a UK-wide, post binary-divide data and information system. Read More.

Social mobility means being able to improve your and your family’s standard of living, through better education, employment and income. This report investigates how taking part in further education – such as an apprenticeship, work-based learning, community learning and adult education – helps people get better jobs and wages. It also looks at the effects further education has on the prospects for the children of learners. It is a review of published research from government, academics and think...

Graduates generally end up employed in graduate-level positions, but the latest evidence shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds trail behind their peers when it comes to academic achievement and employment. New research by HEFCE reveals that the vast majority of university graduates gain graduate-level jobs within the first few years of their careers. The report examines the employment outcomes for graduates three and a half years after graduation and compares them to the outcomes af...

HEFCE’s higher education (HE) and local growth data is a collection of interactive maps and datasets including information on: local HE profiles; research capacity and quality; student mobility; and collaboration between SMEs and universities. The student mobility maps have been enhanced with six years of information, including data on further education colleges. The updates allow users to interrogate the data in greater detail by focusing on a smaller geographical area than before. Read More.

Learning is a complex process and often highly context-specific, so it comes as no surprise that identifying proxies for measuring learning gain is equally no simple feat. The aim of the HEFCE learning gain programme is to explore different methods to develop and improve our understanding of learning gain within English higher education. Read More.

A new report from HEFCE examines how degree outcomes from 2013-14 vary between different groups of graduates, after accounting for other student and course characteristics. This report adds to a growing body of work by HEFCE analysing the outcomes of graduates from English higher education institutions. Read more.

Unite Foundation and Stand Alone launched the New Starts report which provides the first comprehensive picture of estranged students studying in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  The study reveals that 9,338 students estranged from their parents are vulnerable to homelessness during the holiday periods and 14% admitted that they had either registered homeless or had considered registering homeless during their studies.  Read More.

GCSE grades A* to C have risen slightly this year, but top A* and A grades have edged down. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving the results of summer exams. In broadly stable results, the proportion of A* to C grades rose to 69%, up from 68.8% last year, but A* grades fell by 0.1 percentage points. Read More.

The proportion of top A-level grades has fallen slightly this year, but record numbers have been accepted on university courses. A* and A grades were awarded to 25.9% of entries, down from 26% last year. But in a year of "stable" results, passes rose by 0.1 percentage point. The Ucas university admissions service says 409,000 places have been confirmed, up 3% on last year. Read More.