Skip to main content Accessibility Statement

The Scottish higher education sector is awash with data and statistics. The sector uses this information:

  • to promote courses to students
  • to measure against government targets
  • to evidence cases for academic promotion. 

The sector cuts, tweaks and presents the same data in different ways, to tell different stories, and with the amount of data available it is easy to feel lost in the mix.


The HE Data Landscape resource was developed by a group of staff from across Scotland’s universities who had expertise in data and information management. It is a guide for staff involved in managing academic quality to understand what data is available to them.

 

Since its publication in 2018, much has changed within the higher education sector. While some elements of the resource are now dated the premise and underlying purpose are the same. There continues to be a considerable emphasis on metrics in higher education and staff and students need support to understand and manage data and evidence and their relationship to key quality processes.

 

The HE Data Landscape resource comprises 13 individual data guides on key data sources, collections and applications. Using these guides will support your use of data in key quality activities. You may also find it useful to view of video – Hunting for Evidence in the Data Landscape.


HE Planners activity

How can the HE Data Landscape help you?

You can use the resource to:


  1. Understand data type and scope of the data
  2. Find information on the time period for data renewal
  3. Identify questions that the data can help explore or answer
  4. Find information on important caveats and exclusions
  5. Locate publications / analyses that use the data
  6. Find the data and any further published analyses. 

HE Data Landscape Resources

The HE Data Landscape resource comprises 13 individual data guides on key data sources, collections and applications. Exploring the HE Data Landscape can support your use of data in key quality activities.



The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of the National Student Survey (NSS)

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of postgraduate taught/research experience surveys (PTES/PRES)

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of HESA UK performance indicators

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of the International Student Barometer

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of HESA returns

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of Heidi Plus

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of Scottish Funding Council Outcome Arrangements

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of UK university league tables

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of international university league tables

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018

The Scottish HE data landscape: An overview of Unistats

Publication date: 12 Dec 2018