Contact Details:

Planning and Performance Reporting
Level 1, Wyatt House
115 Grenfell Street
The University of Adelaide
SA 5005 AUSTRALIA

Phone: +61 8 8313 6478
(Country and interstate callers toll free on 1800 061 459)
Fax: +61 8 8313 7028
Email

DEEWR Student Data Submissions Overview

What is in the DEEWR Student Data Collection?

The full details of the DEEWR Student Collection is available at HEIMS Help. It contains specifications used in compiling data to meet DEEWR and ATO requirements, and in interpreting and analysing data from the collection.

For a complete explanation of the requirements for provision of statistical data and CHESSN allocation (The Higher Education Student Collection) and to download all available files please visit:
http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/publications_resources/statistics/chessn.htm

This page contains reporting requirements for 2008, 2009, DESTPAC Resources, HEPCAT Resources, Commonwealth Scholarships Resources, HEIMS Data Collections newsletter and Contacts.

What is outside the scope of the DEEWR Student Data Collection?

The scope of student data collected in the PeopleSoft Student Admin system is wider than that in the DEEWR data collection. For example, we do not report non-Higher Education program enrolments and associated course load to DEEWR (eg VET music students and some of the Professional and Continuing Education adult education and certificate programs), courses with zero load (units), courses for which University of Adelaide students enrol as a cross-institutional student at another University (eg some language courses).

DEEWR Student Help

This document provides an overview of the following aspects of the HEIMS Help:

Statistical collections undertaken by DEEWR
Data required by DEEWR
Data required by The ATO
Compliance with the requirements
Confidentiality of information about students
Responsibility for the integrity of the data
Further Resources

1. Statistical collections undertaken by DEEWR

Statistical information relating to the provision of higher education in Australia is collected by DEEWR through a series of annual collections and special collections. The collections provide information about students, staff, finances, research income, research publications and educational profiles.

Through the Student Collection, DEEWR gathers data relating to:

Academic programs being offered
Academic programs enrolments and student load
Academic organisational units providing the courses
Student liabilities under Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)
Commonwealth Learning Scholarships
Completions of units of study
Completions of courses
Revisions of records relating to Commonwealth Supported Students.

Note: DEEWR refers to academic programs as courses and courses as units of study.

2. Data required by DEEWR

The requirements of the Student Collection mean that all universities must provide the following files of data to DEEWR:

Campus File: this file contains information that will support the publication of course information on the Course Information System (CIS), part of the 'Going to Uni' website.
Course File: this file contains information about courses undertaken at the university by the students for whom data are collected.
Student Enrolment File: this file contains information on the characteristics of the students.
Student Load/Liability File: this file contains information about the "load" and Liability for units of study (or subjects) undertaken by the students
Past Course Completions File: this file contains information about award courses completed by students in the year prior to the collection year, and the characteristics of the students.
Unit of Study Completions File: this file contains completion status of units of study undertaken by students in the reference year.
Commonwealth Learning Scholarships: this file contains records of all students who had a Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarship (CAS) and/or a Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarship (CECS)
Revision File: The Revisions file reports details of additions, deletions or changes due to administrative error and remissions. Records in the Revisions file must either relate to a record previously submitted to DEEWR in a Student Load/Liability file or be additional records for a previously reported student/course/unit of study census date.

3. Data required by the ATO

While not an integral component of DEEWR's Student Collection, at the times the Student Load/Liability Status Files are provided to DEEWR, this related file of data must be provided to the ATO via DEEWR:

Commonwealth Assisted Student File: this file includes all Commonwealth supported students who pay their contributions up front or defer their contributions through Higher Education Loan Programme. This file contains information about liabilities for students who have chosen to discharge their liability through the taxation system. The file is sent to the ATO via DEEWR.
Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (ECAF) File: This file contains the signature date (indicating the date a student completed an electronic payment option declaration form) for students who have chosen to discharge their Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) liability through the taxation system. The file is sent to the ATO via DEEWR.

The Commonwealth Assisted Student File is of considerable relevance to the files of data in DEEWR's Student Collection because it has to be reconciled with the data in the Student Load/Liability File.

4. Compliance with the requirements

One of the conditions under which grants for operating purposes are provided to a higher education institution is that the institution must provide statistical information in respect of the provision of higher education by the institution (see subsection 19-70(1) of the Higher Education Support Act 2003).

The provision of data for the Student Collection is one set of such statistical information. Non-compliance with this condition could lead to the recovery of grants from a university (see s 54-1 of Higher Education Support Act 2003).

5. Confidentiality of information about students

Information Provided to DEEWR

DEEWR recognises that unit record data in the Student Enrolment File, the Student Load/Liability File, and the Past Course Completions File which relate to individual students are provided to it on a confidential basis. However, unit record data may be provided to State and Territory authorities responsible for the coordination of higher education. Within DEEWR, access to unit record data which include student identification codes will be restricted to authorised officers who have an officially sanctioned need for access.

DEEWR will use data in the Student Enrolment file, the Student Load/Liability File, and the Past Course Completions File to generate aggregated datasets in which information will relate to groups of students. These aggregated datasets will be made available on DEEWR web site for the access of institutions, agencies and individuals.

Information Provided to the ATO via DEEWR

Data in the Commonwealth Assisted Student File and the Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (ECAF) File are provided to the ATO via DEEWR as encrypted files. Normal taxation confidentiality and secrecy provisions apply to such information.

6. Responsibility for the integrity of the data

The responsibility for ensuring the integrity of the data collected rests with the institution. To ensure the integrity of the data, institutions are required to undertake data validations, to check variance reports and summary reports, and to check inconsistencies and to rectify all errors prior to sending their files to DEEWR. DEEWR supplies a software package, DESTPAC/HEPCAT, for reporting on the validity of the data.

7. Further Resources