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JACS 3

JACS3 consultation and report

The Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) is owned and maintained by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and is used for subject coding of provision across higher education in the UK. JACS was first introduced in 2002/03 (UCAS year of entry 2002 and reporting year 2002/03 HESA) to replace the two different classifications systems previously used by the two organisations. JACS is currently used to code the subjects of both higher education courses and the individual modules within them across the full range of higher education provision.

Since the range and depth of subjects available for study in higher education is not static, it is necessary to review JACS on a regular basis to ensure that it is current and up to date. A first review of a subset of subject areas resulted in JACS 2.0 introduced for 2007 year of entry (UCAS) and 2007/08 reporting year (HESA).

A second review of JACS has just been completed, leading to the production of JACS 3.0 for use from 2012/13 (UCAS year of entry 2012). The intention of this review was to understand any new developments in the identified areas that may not have been reflected in the JACS 2.0 classification and/or to identify anything that was otherwise missing or incorrectly classified.

A number of subject areas were identified as needing review. It was also intended that particular attention be paid to ensuring that JACS was suitable for coding foundation degree provision. Investigation was also undertaken as part of this review to see whether or not JACS could also be used for classification of research.

Each area was the responsibility of a different joint UCAS/HESA team. A large number of subject experts were consulted as part of this process, and thanks go to them for their contributions. In particular thanks go to the relevant Subject Centres.

The subject areas identified as needing review were:

  • Music, Dance and Drama
  • Nursing
  • Emergency Services
  • Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology
  • Mathematics and Computing
  • Agriculture and Landscape Design
  • Languages
  • Criminology
  • Classics
  • Complementary Medicine
  • Sport.

The full documentation can be found at www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php/content/view/1776/296/

The review has been deliberately limited in scope and changes made only in those few areas where it was anticipated that they would significantly improve the fitness for purpose of the scheme to an extent which was judged to justify the cost of change. A group consisting of staff from HESA and UCAS managed the review process, consulting subject experts as appropriate.

UCAS uses JACS for two purposes:

(1) As the basis for creating a unique key for a UCAS course within a particular UCAS institution.

(2) To transmit information about the subject matter of all courses to universities and colleges, and ultimately to HESA.

As with the transition from JACS 1.7 to JACS 2.0, UCAS is intending to leave Course codes unchanged for the migration to JACS 3.0, unless specifically requested by the institution. This is designed to both simplify the implementation and to cause the least amount of disruption to institutions during the process. UCAS will be updating the JACS codes - also known as HESA 1, 2 and 3 codes that are used to populate the UCAS Data for HESA Transaction (*J) - and this analysis is underway with institutions due to be notified of any intended changes in the coming months. Please be aware that this means that UCAS will be using both JACS 2.0 (for 2011 courses) and JACS 3.0 (for 2012 courses) concurrently until the cycle is closed September 2011.

HESA will expect all records included in the 2012/13 Student Record and Staff Record to be coded to JACS 3.0.

As a result of JACS changes, and the incorporation of ex-NMAS courses into the UCAS scheme, UCAS course codes can no longer be used as anything other than unique identifiers within an individual institution. New courses from 2012 will be given UCAS codes that should not be used for subject classification purposes. However, all courses will still be assigned up to three individual JACS3 codes based on the subject content of the course.

An analysis of unique IP address activity on the UCAS Course Search has shown that very few searches are conducted using the course code, compared to the subject search function. UCAS Courses Data Team will be working to improve the subject search and course keywords over the coming year to enable potential applicants to accurately find suitable courses.

Links are provided to the following documents:

Joint Academic Coding System Version 1.7 (used for main course key, UCAS scheme courses only).

Joint Academic Coding System Version 2.0 PDF document (used for identifying subject(s) to institutions and HESA).

Joint Academic Coding System Version 2.0 Excel version (used for identifying subject(s) to institutions and HESA).

Summary of changes between JACS 1.7 and 2.0

If you have any queries, please contact:

The Data Collection Team

01242 544864
coursesdata@ucas.ac.uk