UCAS - Joint statement on the JACS3 review

Joint statement on the JACS3 review

In 2002 UCAS and HESA first introduced the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS), replacing the similar but distinct systems for subject coding previously used by the two agencies. JACS (Version 1.7) was first used for the 2002 entry (UCAS) and for the 2002/03 reporting year (HESA) with JACS 2.0 introduced for 2007 entry (UCAS) and for the 2007/08 reporting year (HESA).

In order to reflect the evolving pattern of subjects studied in higher education, UCAS and HESA embarked on a review of JACS in 2008. The review was 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 classification 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.

Changes following from the review have been now been incorporated in a new version of JACS (3.0) and have been implemented for 2012 entry (UCAS) and the 2012/13 reporting year (HESA).

As with the transition from JACS 1.7 to JACS 2, course codes have been left unchanged for the migration to JACS 3 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 this process.

HESA expects all records included in the 2012/13 Student Record and Staff Record to be coded to JACS 3.0. A mapping document is available to assist HEIs with necessary recoding.

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