Higher education staff in Wales by personal characteristics and standard occupational classification

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Next update expected:February 2027

Updates

24th February 2026
Dataset first published.

Main information

Designation
Official statistics
Data provider
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Data source
Staff record

Overview

Summary of dataset and variables

The data shows the number of staff at universities in Wales, either as a full-person equivalent or full-time equivalent.

The data can be broken down by:

  • Academic year

  • Contract mode - full-time or part-time.

  • Contract type – either non-academic, academic non-atypical, or academic atypical. See the data collection section for more information about these.

  • Institution

  • Occupation – based on the Standard Occupational Classification 2020 for 2023/24 onwards, and the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 for 2022/23 and earlier.

  • Personal characteristics – age group, disability status or ethnicity.

  • Sex - the sex of the staff as opposed to the gender with which they identify. Staff where this has been returned as 'Other', 'Not available' or 'Information refused' are included in the total figures.

Data collection or calculation

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects data about the characteristics of staff employed under a contract of employment at a reporting higher education provider in the UK. In Wales, it is the eight universities who return data about their staff. The Open University also return data about their staff, however it isn't possible to identify the staff for provision to Welsh students separately so the Open University is not included in this data.

Full-person equivalent populations

For staff on non-atypical contracts the data includes those whose contracts that were active on 1 December within the reporting period, for example for 2024/25 all contracts active on 1 December 2024.

For staff on atypical contracts the data includes staff members whose only active contracts during the reporting period were atypical contracts.

Full-person equivalent when a staff member has multiple contracts

If a member of staff has an academic contract to work 3 days a week and a non-academic contract to work 1 day a week would be counted as 0.75 members of staff with an academic contract and 0.25 members of staff with a non-academic contract.

Full-time equivalent population

Full-time equivalent (FTE) indicates the proportion of a full-time year being undertaken over the course of the reporting period 1 August to 31 July. The FTE is therefore counted using a population of staff who were active during the reporting period, not just on a given snapshot date.

Academic contracts

Academic contract staff are defined as professionals holding a contract for planning, directing and undertaking academic teaching and research within HE institutions. Examples of such contracts include those for vice-chancellors, medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing or research activities.

Non-academic contracts

Non-academic contract staff are defined as members of staff who are not holders of an academic contract, including managers, non-academic professionals, student welfare workers, secretaries, caretakers and cleaners.

Atypical contracts

Atypical staff are those whose contracts involve working arrangements that are not permanent, involve complex employment relationships and/or involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider.

Statistical quality

Age

Age as at 31 August in the reporting year, e.g. 31 August 2024 for 2024/25.

Disability

Disability information is collected based on a staff member’s self-assessment and they are not obliged to report any disabilities they have.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity information is collected based on a staff member’s self-assessment and they are not obliged to report their ethnicity.

Sex

This is the sex of the member of staff, as opposed to the gender with which they identify.

From 2022/23, additional guidance was included to providers to say sex should be based on what is recorded in the person's legal documents such as their birth certificate, Gender Recognition Certificate, or passport. The Other category should only be used only for a third sex that is legally recognised by another country. Options to return staff as ‘Information refused’ or ‘Not available’ were also introduced in 2022/23.

Prior to 2022/23 the sex field was based on a person's choice of sex and the Other category included those whose sex aligns with terms such as intersex, androgyne, intergender, ambigender, gender fluid, polygender and gender queer.

Rounding applied

Figures are rounded to the nearest 5. Totals are calculated on unrounded figures and then rounded to the nearest 5 so may not equal the sum of the constituent parts.

Percentages are calculated using the unrounded figures. This may mean the percentages may not match what would be calculated using rounded figures.

Related reports

Published by

Organisation
Medr
Contact email
HEStats@medr.cymru