Students

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:42:45 +0000

I need to determine an accurate population at a small geographical level, which places students at their vacation address (i.e. location of domicile). This data is used to calculate participation in Higher Education. Using population data which places students at their term-time address distorts the participation rates because areas with a high density of student accommodation will have the participation rate underestimated, as the number of students domiciled in the area is lower than the number of students resident in term-time in the area. A good example of this is Aberystwyth, which is a small seaside town with a University, there are a high number of students in term-time, but a low number of students domiciled there. Possible ways of overcoming this problem might be by producing a small number of tables using a population base where students are placed at their vacation address, or some other way using the second address field?

Calculating participation rates is likely to become an area of increased focus for government departments, and I would like to be able to calculate more accurate participation rates. It is possible to determine from Census 2001 data the exact number of students whose term-time and home addresses are different, enumerated at their home address, but it is not possible to cross reference this data with all students enumerated at their term-time address in order to identify which students to remove, therefore the number of students to be removed must be estimated from available data.

I have raised this on several occasions and have no idea how or if this might be addressed in the 2011 Census.

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Students