Key Information Sets – Information for staff

As you may be aware the University is required to participate in the publication of Key Information Sets (KIS) from September 2012.

This information will hopefully bring colleagues up to date with the plans for implementation at Edinburgh Napier and help answer some of the questions you may have.

The KIS was initially developed for implementation in England. However, it is the preference of the Scottish Funding Council that institutions in Scotland take part in the publication of the KIS from September 2012.

There are a number of key facts that colleagues should be aware of:

• The KIS relates to 16 key pieces of information in relation to our full time undergraduate programmes;
• Data is collected from the National Student Survey (NSS), the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE), and

  our own internal data in relation to learning, teaching and assessment, tuition fees, and accommodation;
• Approximately 50 fields of data are collected for each programme;
• The KIS will be highly visible through our own websites, through the re-launched Unistats website and will also be

  referenced through UCAS website and other comparison websites.

The KIS will have a direct impact on the information accessed by all potential students. The provision of the data has been developed specifically for the UK undergraduate market, but as the information is published on the web, it will be available to all. The information will impact on our undergraduate marketing and recruitment positioning, activities and messages. It will allow direct, and accessible, comparison between Edinburgh Napier courses and those of other institutions.

It is anticipated that the launch of the KIS will be well publicised and will quickly form part of the decision making process for applicants from the UK, and potentially beyond.

A KIS steering group has been set up chaired by John Duffield - Vice Principal (Strategy, Resources and External relations) and the project will be managed by Barry Neilson. An implementation group has been established which consists of the following members of staff:

The Project is working to extremely challenging, externally set deadlines. The University is seeking to sign off the KIS by the end of July 2012, with a deadline of 22 August 2012 for all submissions.

As a result it will not be possible to engage as we would like to with all programme and module leaders. In some instances the first colleagues may see the KIS in relation to their programme is when this is published.

However, we are seeking to ensure information where possible can be shared prior to publication and will be seeking to communicate as effectively as possible leading up to and after the publication of the KIS.

The project has been split into four main work packages:

1. Data collection and submission of the KIS;
2. Management Information;
3. Internet;
4. Communications (internal and external)

Full information on the project deliverables and further information on the KIS can be found through the FAQs. The following are examples of how the KIS might look - example 1 and example 2.

If you have any immediate questions please contact your representative on the implementation group, or Barry Neilson.