Higher Education Student Data Collection - 2020 Reporting Requirements

2020 reporting year

This page provides information about the data requirements for the higher education student data collection 2020 reporting year. Select the tabs below for the information you need.

2020 Ministerial Notice

The 2020 Ministerial Notice was issued on 30 June 2020. The 2020 Data Requirements and Change Control document includes information about any changes that have been made since the 2019 reporting year to the files and elements included in the data collection and when you need to report and verify your data.

Reporting requirements may be updated from time to time. Providers must keep up to date about any changes. Check the HEIMS Data Collections eNews for updates. If you print the requirements ensure you keep up to date - HEIMSHELP provides the latest data requirements at all times.

What do you report?

The 2020 submission guidelines are available to download in DOCX & PDF format from the Ministerial Notice documents page.

As part of your data requirements you will also need to allocate a CHESSN to some of your students. See the CHESSN toolkit for more information.

When do you report?

See Reporting 2020 higher education data deadlines.

You must report data by the legislated deadlines. If you don't report in time, your organisation may be in breach of HESA. It may also be at risk of having its payments stopped.

It is important that you don't wait to the due date to start reporting your data. You will need enough time to prepare, validate and submit your data. You will need to work through any errors or issues contained in the data before the deadline.

Need more help?

Our training page provides upcoming training dates and access to recorded webinars and training videos.

We can help you work out a training program for your organisation. Contact us for more information.

How do you report?

Most higher education student data (except Commonwealth Scholarships and CHESSNs) is reported using the Higher Education Provider Client Assistance Tool (HEPCAT) which is a PC based application provided by the department. It helps you to prepare, validate and submit your data to HEIMS.

The Reporting with HEPCAT toolkit provides you with all the information you need to successfully install HEPCAT and submit your data. It includes system requirements (what type of PC you need to have), the HEPCAT user guide, access to relevant online training videos and recorded webinars.

For information about reporting Commonwealth Scholarship data see the Commonwealth Scholarships toolkit.

For information about allocating and managing CHESSNs see the CHESSN toolkit.

Verification

About Verification

Verifying to the department that your higher education student data is correct is final stage in meeting the reporting requirements under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA).

The Checking & verifying your data toolkit provides all the information you need to verify your student data. It will explain:

  • Why you need to verify your data
  • When you verify your data
  • How you verify your data
  • What data you need to verify

See Reporting 2020 higher education data deadlines page for all deadlines for a specific reporting year.

Need more help?

Our training page provides upcoming training dates and access to webinar presentations and training videos.

We can help you work out a training program for your organisation. Contact us for more information.

Revising your data

You can revise your data reported to HEIMS at any time. You may need to revise your data if you identify an error when checking your data after a submission or when verifying your data during the verification periods.

The Revising your data toolkit provides you with the information you need to correct errors in data that you have reported to the Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS). It will explain the different methods of revising your higher education student data.