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Where do the unknown values come from?

There are several reasons why unknown values appear in the UCAS Data for HESA transaction.

The first reason is that all the data is generated from answers given by the applicants. Where an applicant has not given an answer, or has selected unknown, this value will be returned.

Secondly not all questions asked in Apply are mandatory. Some questions are only asked for UK domiciled applicants. Others are dependant on application scheme (ie CUKAS, GTTR etc).

Some questions that are mandatory in Apply are not mandatory on RPAs. When only the bare minimum of information is entered into an RPA the unanswered questions will be converted to unknowns. This will affect such fields as nationality and disability.

There are some specific fields where unknown data can also be explained.

Year left school: This field is only required for Scottish institutions but is provided for all. The dates are provided where the applicant has entered the information in Apply. The majority of the cases are caused by the 9999 default. This default occurs when an applicant has not entered the date against their school. This default reflects that the applicant is still at the school at the time of application.

Parental occupation and socio-economic classification: This data is only needed for UK domiciled applicants. The answers used for these fields are provided by the applicant though a free text field in Apply. The free text is then matched against a reference table and a code is returned. Where the text cannot be matched (due to incorrect spelling, addition of unexpected characters etc) or when an applicant has stated that they do not wish to answer the question, an unknown value is returned. UCAS is currently undertaking measures to reduce the number of unknowns for these fields.

Last school attended: This filed is only used for UK applicants who are applying through a UK school. If the applicant has chosen to apply as an individual they are assigned a default code. Where possible, the default value is overridden by a known code (ie where an applicant has entered a valid UK school in the education section of their application).

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