University application data

[UnionJames]

Has anybody seen a consolidated dataset on school destinations, i.e. to which universities do 6th form students get admitted, by school name?

Schools are asked to collect this data, but as far as I’m aware there isn’t a requirement to publish it. Some schools might, although there could be a data protection issue in publishing them if it becomes really obvious which student has gone where - not 100% though.

University outreach teams would also have this data if they track the students they engage with through a system like the Higher Education Access Tracker, but this isn’t publicly available, nor is it likely to become publicly available.

What is it you want the data for? I’d be really aware that it’s not necessarily very helpful without a lot of information for context - is it a really arty cohort? Was it a rough exam year? Is it a really capable cohort? Have they been involved in something like Hope Opportunity Trust? All of this would skew destinations for a cohort.

You could submit an FOI request to the schools you are interested in.

Also, worth bearing in mind schools data is mostly based on self reporting from students. So they might have a student down as studying at Oxford, but if three weeks into the term they sack it off and move to Nottingham, schools wouldn’t necessarily have this.