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Derivation of Commencing Student and Commencing Date

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VET Information

The process which derives the value of the Commencing Student for each record in the Enrolments Statistics Snapshot is described below. The methods by which other derived values in that snapshot are determined are described in Derivation of Values in the Government Statistics Process.

Callista derives the Commencing Student indicator and Commencement Date according to the DEST definition of a Commencing Student (DEST PAC 2005 V1.2). Each of the DEST rules and its treatment in Callista is included in the following table. Form labels (e.g. ENRF3000) indicate locations where data could be checked.

 

DEST Definition

Callista Derivation

A Student is a Commencing Student if:

She/he has enrolled in the course for the first time at the institution or an antecedent institution between 1 January of the year prior to the Collection Year and 31 December of the Collection Year.

Included amongst commencing students are those who (unless specifically excluded below):

Student Course Attempt Commencement Date is on or after 1 January of year prior to current Collection Year and there is no matching record for the current Student Course Attempt in the prior year's Student Enrolment file, unless explicitly excluded below.

Commencement Date = SCA Commencement Date

Are admitted to a course of a higher level after completing all or part of the requirements of a course at a lower level, irrespective of the extent to which credit is given for units of study completed for the course at the lower level (includes students who are admitted to a Bachelor's Graduate Entry course), unless explicitly excluded below; or

Included in above, unless explicitly excluded below

Are admitted to a postgraduate course after completing the requirements of a 'qualifying' or 'preliminary' course; or

Included in above, unless explicitly excluded below

Start another course while still completing the requirements of the current course.

Included in above, unless explicitly excluded below

A Student is Not a Commencing Student if:

Student Course Attempt Commencement Date is prior to 1 January of the Collection Year, or there is a matching record for the current Student Course Attempt in the prior year's Student Enrolment file.

Commencement date is set as follows:
If a matching record is found in the GSE table for a completed prior submission, the commencement date is recorded there.
If there is no matching record but there have been submissions in previous year(s), the start of the collection year of those submissions.
If their have not been previous submissions, the SCA commencement date is used.

Students who move from course to course within a Course of Study.

Course of Study details can be determined by calling the routine stap_get_crs_study with the appropriate parameters.

Commencement date = the commencement date of the original course.

Students who are admitted to or transfer to a Bachelor's Honours Course of Study having previously been enrolled, at the Higher Education Provider or an antecedent Higher Education Provider, in the related Bachelor's Pass Course of Study.

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • The current Course Attempt has a Government Course Type 9 (STAF1121) and
  • A previous Course Attempt has a Government Course Type 10 and
  • The previous Course Attempt is an articulate course for the current course (CRSF1210 > CRSF1700 > RULF2000)

then the student is not commencing.

Commencement Date = the commencement date of the original course.

Students who are admitted to or transfer to a Master's Honours Course of Study having previously been enrolled, at the Higher Education Provider or an antecedent Higher Education Provider, in the related Master's Pass Course.

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • The current Course Attempt has a Government Course Type 4 (STAF1121) and
  • A previous Course Attempt has a Government Course Type 4 and
  • The previous Course Attempt is an articulate course for the current course (CRSF1210 > CRSF1700 > RULF2000)

then the student is not commencing.

Commencement Date = the commencement date of the original course.
The student is starting a specialised program of studies after completing, at the institution or an antecedent institution, a common initial year or years of a general program;

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • The current course attempt has a generic course indicator (CRSF1210) = 'N' and
  • A previous Course Attempt has a Generic Course indicator = 'Y' and
  • The previous student Course Attempt has been reported in a previous submission and
  • The current and previous Course Attempts are in the same Course Group, of System Course Group Type GOVT-RET.

then the student is not commencing.

Commencement Date = the commencement date of the original course.

The student, having completed an initial year of study at the institution or an antecedent institution then exercises a standard option of continuing their studies but at a lower level (i.e. their studies would then lead to an award at a level lower than that which pertains to the program of studies undertaken in the first year);

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • A previous Course Attempt was at a lower course level* and
  • The current and previous Course Attempts are in the same Course Group, of System Course Group Type GOVT-RET.

then the student is not commencing.

*For this process, course levels equate to Government Course Type (STAF1121). The ranking of Government Course Types by level is (from highest to lowest): 1, 2 & 12, 3, 4, 5 & 6 & 7, 11, 8, 9, 10, 13 & 20, 21, 22, 30.

Commencement Date = the commencement date of the original course.

The student has completed part of the requirements of a combined course at the institution and then changed their enrolment to one of the components of that combined course of study;

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • The previous Course Attempt is a member of a COMBINED Course Group (CRSF11D0 &/or CRSF1210 > CRSF1230) and
  • The current Course Attempt is not a member of a COMBINED Course Group (CRSF11D0 &/or CRSF1210 > CRSF1230) and
  • The student has completed part of the requirements of the previous course (at least one unit with Unit Attempt Status = COMPLETED (ENRF3000) and result (not grade) = PASS (ASSF53B0,ASSF5110) and
  • The current and previous Course Attempts are in the same Course Group, of System Course Group Type GOVT-RET

then the student is not commencing.

Commencement Date = the commencement date of the original course.

The student has completed part of the requirements of a unitary course at the institution and then changed their enrolment to a related combined course of study which leads to an award or awards that subsume the award applicable to the unitary course of study;

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • The previous Course Attempt is not a member of a COMBINED Course Group (CRSF11D0 &/or CRSF1210 > CRSF1230) and
  • The current Course Attempt is a member of a COMBINED Course Group (CRSF11D0 &/or CRSF1210 > CRSF1230) and
  • The student has completed part of the requirements of the previous course (at least one unit with Unit Attempt Status = COMPLETED (ENRF3000) and result (not grade) = PASS (ASSF53B0,ASSF5110) and
  • The current and previous Course Attempts are in the same Course Group, of System Course Group Type GOVT-RET.

then the student is not commencing.

Students who are enrolled in a Course of Study at the Higher Education Provider or an antecedent Higher Education Provider which is upgraded in level or renamed. Student continues in existing Course Attempt and will already have failed the Commencing Student checks.

Students who are resuming the same course at the Higher Education Provider or an antecedent Higher Education Provider after an absence.

Student continues in existing Course Attempt and will already have failed the Commencing Student checks.

Students continuing from the first component of a combined course to the second or later components.

Student continues in existing Course Attempt and will already have failed the Commencing Student checks.

Students resuming a combined course which normally leads to a single award after having been conceded an award for another Course of Study.

Student continues in existing Course Attempt and will already have failed the Commencing Student checks.

Students who transfer within the Higher Education Provider from one course strain to another course strain, where the course leads to the same award. (e.g. a student who changes from a BSc (Chemistry) to a BSc (Physics)).

Checks all previous Course Attempts of the student (including those under alternate IDs).

Where:

  • The Course Award of the current Course Attempt matches that of the previous Course Attempt (CRSF1210 > CRSF1250) and
  • The current and previous Course Attempts are in the same Course Group, of System Course Group Type GOVT-RET.

then the student is not commencing.

Commencement Date = the commencement date of the original course.

Note: The School Leaver Derivation looks at the Highest Attain column in Person Statistics.

Last Modified on 07 February, 2007

History Information

Release Version Project Change to Document
10.0.0.0.0 1033 - Internally raised calipso Comments relating to Commencement date derivations were included