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1. Main Menu About Welcome to the MiDES (Market Intelligence Data Exchange Service) This interactive guide will provide you with an overview of what MiDES is, what is available through the MiDES Service and how you can use the market intelligence it provides. For more details on MiDES please refer to the website at http://mides.rcu.co.uk Who are RCU Ltd? What is MiDES Reports Please choose an option from the menu to get started Report A – Retention Analysis Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis Home Help Contact us

2. Main Menu > Who are RCU Ltd? • Who are RCU Ltd? • RCU is a specialist research consultancy with a reputation for data mining and analysis • RCU grew out of the FE sector and has delivered research solutions to the sector for over 20 years • RCU is an employee owned company • RCU originated the concept of an in-year data exchange service • RCU and AoC jointly developed MiDES. Home Help Contact us

3. Main Menu > What is MiDES? • What is MiDES? • MiDES is an AoC member benefit • MiDES is fully subsidised by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) for this pilot year • MiDES is delivering economies of scale to the sector in respect of compiling the dataset • MiDES Standard reports are generated at five regular points throughout the academic year to colleges that upload their ILR • It is not a ‘free’ service. Standard reports are currently free at the point of use • MiDES Standard reports include analysis by; • Retention • Curriculum • Apprenticeships • Deprivation • Fees Income Home Help Contact us

4. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis What is the Retention Analysis Report The report allows you to compare retention trends in your own institution with the national picture and other selected comparator groups. You can carry out analysis by learner characteristic such as gender, ethnicity, learning difficulty or disability and EMA (Educational Maintenance Allowance). Alternatively you can analyse retention by sector subject area and level of study. You can also select different age bands (16-18, 19+ and 16+) for your comparisons. The information in the report has been created from current year Learner Responsive ILR datasets submitted by participating AoC members. Within the report, two retention definitions have been calculated: Definition A - Learners aged 16+ and on Skills Funding Agency (SFA) funded courses. - Courses which are expected to be 24 weeks or longer. - Enrolments which were active during the month of September but not finishing before the end of the month. Definition B - In addition to the criteria in Definition A, an additional filter has been applied to remove any enrolment which withdrew in the first six weeks of the course. Home Help Back Contact us Next

5. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis How is the data calculated? The report contains data that has been derived from every ILR that has been submitted by participating colleges. The process to generate the final dataset is shown below. Data ready to use. All long qualifications undertaken by learners aged 16 and above funded by the SFA who were in College during September (not leaving before the end) Exclude any aim whose length is less than 24 weeks Exclude any aim that is not SFA Learner Responsive funded Start Exclude any aim started after the 30th September Exclude any aim that has transferred Exclude anyone younger than 16 Next Home Help Back Contact us Next

6. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis What does the Retention report look like? Welcome Screen When you open the report, you will be presented with the following welcoming screen. The screen gives an overview of the report, data that is used and how many colleges have participated in the report. (You will need to enable macros for the report to work). The college details at the bottom left of the screen shows you which rurality category, deprivation category and region the college has been designated. To progress to the report features, click the ‘Analysis by Learner Characteristic’ or ‘Analysis by Course Characteristic’ buttons. Home Help Back Contact us Next

7. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis What does the Retention report look like? Analysis by Learner Characteristic Screen Start Home Help Back Contact us Next

8. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis Select either Definition A or Definition B. They are identical except Definition B takes into account the 6 week rule. Select an Age band of the learners from the following; All (16+), 16-18 and 19+. Select a comparator group. These range from type of provider, location of provider in region terms, the provider’s deprivation level and the provider’s rurality. Select your learner group including Gender, Ethnicity, LLDD or EMA. Select two comparator types from the learner groups. One red and one green. Home Help Back Contact us Next

9. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis The dotted lines with the triangles represent the comparator’s retention whilst the straight line with the squares shows the provider’s own retention. Each data point represents the retention percentage at the end of the corresponding month. The retention rate is always 100% in September. The example to the right shows the retention rate of 16-18 year old Chinese learners in red compared to the retention rate of any other Ethnicity in green. The comparator group is all MiDES providers so the provider whose report it is has an above average retention for both types of learners. Home Help Back Contact us Next

10. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis What does the Retention report look like? Analysis by Course Characteristic Screen Start Home Help Back Contact us Next

11. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis Analysis by course characteristics allows retention rate comparison by course rather than learner criteria. This includes Sector Subject Area and Level which can be used together or separately. Like the learner characteristics two comparator groups can be selected, one red and one green. In the example opposite, retention rates of Level 3 History, Philosophy and Theology courses are being compared to Level 2 Education and Training courses. This provider has an above average retention for the red selection and a below average retention for the green selection. Home Help Back Contact us Next

12. Main Menu > Report A – Retention Analysis End of Report A Please click on the Home Button below Home Help Back Contact us

13. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis What is the Curriculum Profile Analysis Report The report allows you to compare your curriculum profile in your own institution with the national picture and other selected comparator groups. You can carry out analysis by the number or percentage of enrolments, learners or expected current year guided learning hours for each subject area by level and learner characteristic. Within the report, you can select different age bands (16-18, 19+ and 16+) for your comparisons. There is also the option to select a particular learner group including gender, ethnicity and LLDD status The information in the report has been created from current year Learner Responsive ILR datasets submitted by participating AoC members. The report is based on all funding streams as specified on the Learner Responsive ILR. Filters applied to the report are: - Learners aged 16+ - Active learners and aims within 2010/11 Home Help Back Contact us Next

14. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis What does the Curriculum Profile report look like? Welcome Screen When you open the report, you will be presented with the following welcoming screen. The screen gives an overview of the report, data that is used and how many colleges have participated in the report. (You will need to enable macros for the report to work). The college details at the bottom left of the screen shows you which rurality category, deprivation category and region the college has been designated. To progress to the report features, click the ‘Analysis by Numbers’ or ‘Analysis by Percent’ buttons. Home Help Back Contact us Next

15. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis What does the Curriculum Profile report look like? Analysis by Numbers Screen Start Home Help Back Contact us Next

16. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis Select an Age band of the learners from the following; All (16+), 16-18 and 19+. Select your learner group including Gender, Ethnicity, LLDD or EMA. Select a comparator group. These range from type of provider, location of provider in region terms, the provider’s deprivation level and the provider’s rurality. Select analysis by either Enrolments, Learners or In-year guided learning hours. Each Sector Subject Area is broken down by the number for each level Home Help Back Contact us Next

17. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis What does the Curriculum Profile report look like? Analysis by Percent Screen Start Home Help Back Contact us Next

18. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis Analysis by percentage is identical to analysis by number except that it uses 100% stacked bars to represent percentages instead of numbers Home Help Back Contact us Next

19. Main Menu > Report B – Curriculum Profile Analysis End of Report B Please click on the Home Button below Home Help Back Contact us

20. Main Menu > Help Help and Feedback If you need any assistance in using the MiDES reports or would like to give feedback, please contact us at mides@rcu.co.uk or 01772 885999. More Detailed Reports If you would like more detailed reports from the MiDES dataset please get in touch at mides@rcu.co.uk or 01772 885999. FAQs For a list of questions and answers regarding the MiDES service, please follow the following link on our website Frequently Asked Questions Home Help Contact us