Medr/2026/32: End of Year Monitoring of Higher Education Enrolments (EYM) 2025/26

Introduction

1. This publication gives definitions and guidance to higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education institutions (FEIs) with higher education provision (known collectively as higher education (HE) providers) that are funded by Medr (the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research) for their higher education provision. The guidance also applies for providers with specifically designated course provision, but who do not receive funding directly from Medr for their higher education provision, this includes some FEIs and some alternative providers. The guidance relates to the end of year data that are extracted from the 2025/26 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record via the HESA Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS) to enable Medr to:

1. calculate funding allocations for part-time undergraduate credit based funding and the higher cost subjects premium for 2027/28;
2. calculate any adjustments to 2025/26 part-time undergraduate credit based funding;
3. monitor provision of medicine and dentistry courses;
4. establish final numbers of students and credit values at HE providers for 2025/26 for funding modelling and information purposes.

Main changes for 2025/26

2. The main changes made since the EYM 2024/25 survey are as follows:

1. Two additional columns have been added to the registrations raw data table at the request of providers. These include the student’s engagement start date and permanent home address prior to entry on to the course.
2. The full-time regulated feeds for home UG/PGCE students have been updated in Annex F with the new fee levels for the 2025/26 academic year.

Contents

This circular provides:

1. guidance and definitions for the various categories used to classify students;
2. information about the criteria used to extract EYM data from the 2025/26 HESA student record via IRIS;
3. details of the sign off arrangements for the tables made available through HESA IRIS outputs (see paragraph 10 for the list of tables requiring sign off). Note that the sign off process is only applicable to higher education providers that receive funding from Medr for their higher education provision. Providers that return data to HESA because they have specifically designated courses are not required to sign off the EYM tables, and the sign off sheet has been removed from their HESA IRIS outputs.

4. The contents of the annexes are as follows:

Annex		Page number
Annex A	Summary guide to the EYM 2025/26 survey	5
Annex B	Definition of a recognised HE qualification	13
Annex C	Distance learning, campuses, subsidiaries, franchises, validation arrangements and other collaborative arrangements	14
Annex D	Definition of residential and funding status	21
Annex E	Definition of ASCs	25
Annex F	Definition of mode of study	27
Annex G	Definition of level of study	30
Annex H	Rules for counting registrations	31
Annex I	Rules for counting credit values	38
Annex J	Table and column descriptions	43
Annex K	HESA/HESES/EYM mappings and end of year monitoring data extraction criteria	46
Annex L	Use of data by Medr	56
Annex M	Dormant/writing up student classification	58
Annex N	Funding status reference grid	60
Annex O	Sample copies of IRIS output tables extracted from HESA data	62

Adjustment of 2025/26 funding

5. For the purposes of calculating the funding consequences of under-recruitment for 2025/26 funding, part-time undergraduate credit based teaching funding is recalculated using EYM data. Credit values (for part-time undergraduate students) resulting from modules for which students registered up to and including, as well as after, 1 November 2025 will be used and the number of credit values associated with modules from which students withdraw will be deducted. The signed off EYM tables from the HESA IRIS extraction will be used for this purpose.

Process for signing off end of year monitoring and other data extracted from the HESA student record

6. Higher education providers that are directly funded by Medr for their higher education provision must sign off the data presented in the final 2025/26 HESA student record IRIS outputs as of the 29 October 2026 HESA final sign off date. The deadline for returning the signed IRIS outputs to Medr is 27 November 2026. If any amendments to the extraction mapping or method are made after initial implementation of the extraction, we will inform providers. Providers should also inform us if they find any issues with the extraction, either in the presentation of the outputs or the mapping used.

7. During the HESA data quality checking period from 1 August to 22 October 2026, Medr will conduct quality checks of the data submitted. We will contact providers around six weeks prior to the final sign off date for the HESA student record of 29 October, and once providers have confirmed they are ready for us to send on any queries, we will provide a set of queries. Providers can also ask us to raise questions earlier than six weeks or set a date that they want us to send them our list of queries if they prefer, and can ask at any point for us to look at particular aspects of their data if that is useful to them. This is to assist with the provider’s own internal quality checking process and to ensure the data are fit for purpose for Medr. As described in the HESA Student Record collection schedule, providers are required to either resubmit their data to amend these anomalies, or provide an explanation as to why they are genuine.

8. Prior to returning the signed off IRIS outputs to Medr, higher education providers must have undertaken sufficient checks to be satisfied that the extracted data are accurate, and/or have made amendments where necessary if data are not accurate. We are continuing to allow changes to be made to all IRIS outputs at the sign off stage for 2025/26 but are reviewing this for the 2026/27 return. Providers should provide an explanation of any changes made. Further details of the process are contained in the Data Requirements publication for 2026/27, to be published in July 2026.

9. We do not require a hard copy of the signed IRIS outputs. Signed outputs should be returned by emailing them to [email protected]. The deadline for return of the signed off outputs is 27 November 2026. Details about the process will be emailed separately to authorised signatories and data contacts in October 2026 as a reminder.

10. The IRIS outputs requiring sign off have an “S” prefix in front of their filename and are as follows:

1. End of Year Monitoring
2. Medr National Measures
3. Part-time fee waiver allocations
4. Part-time fee waiver monitoring
5. Degree apprenticeships monitoring (along with the requested additional information)
6. Per capita funding
7. Disability premium
8. Access and retention premium
9. Welsh medium premium
10. Expensive subjects premium
11. PGR training allocation
12. Race equality/Wellbeing and mental health funding
13. Targeted Employability Support funding
14. Total full-time equivalent (FTE) (for capital funding allocations)
15. Initial Teacher Education (ITE) leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) placement funding
16. Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Further Education (FE) incentive scheme

Audit of data

11. Providers are reminded that EYM data, and other tables as described in paragraph 10 as extracted from the HESA student record via IRIS, and any amendments made to the extractions, including methods used to calculate any estimates included in the amendments, may be subject to an external audit carried out by Medr or by contractors working on Medr’s behalf. The systems and processes used to generate the HESA data extracted are in the scope of the institution’s internal audits.

Further information

12. Any queries should be directed to Andrea Thomas ([email protected]).