Introducing Key Information Sets

Professor Janet BeerChair of the Higher Education Public Information

Steering Group

Origins of the KIS

• General dissatisfaction with information provision

for prospective students and other users

• Key recommendation of the Oakleigh Consulting and Staffordshire University Research

• Identified information that prospective students found useful:

course, costs & employability

• Identified where students look for information: HEI websites and UCAS

Proposed features of the KIS

• One KIS for every undergraduate course (a course

being something a student applies to)

• All HE courses longer than one year FTE

• Published on institution’s web-sites and accessible via UCAS

• Data renewed once a year

• Will be part of QA review

Levels of information on the KIS:

Who provides the information:

• HEFCE: NSS for course satisfaction

• HESA: DLHE for employability

• Institutions: course information, accommodation & fees/bursaries and scholarships

• NUS: students’ union

Key Information

Sets

Data from:HESAHEFCE

InstitutionsNUS

Anyone else?

Creating the KIS

UCAS

Data provided by institutions: • Five information areas needed from institutions

• Do not currently exist in easily comparable and standardised formats

• Expert Working Groups have proposed what information should be collected: – Realistic for institutions to collect–Meets the needs of users

• Recommendations piloted by seven institutions

Moving forward

• HEPSIG to consider outcomes from consultation and KIS development work - KIS mock up already out of date

• UUK and HEFCE Boards, GuildHE Exec in May

• Outcomes circular released Summer

• Key information Sets in place September 2012

• information will become subject to QAA judgement

More information:

Public Information for Higher Education Consultation event

www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/qual/public/infoset.htm