Full time equivalence(FTE)


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Key

Value

Name
Full time equivalence
Short Name
FTE
Parent Entity
TypeField
Applicable To
England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Coverage

All Modules

Description
Indicates the proportion of a full-time equivalent year attributable to the module.
Notes

This field, together with the FTE information recorded for a StudentCourseSession, endeavours to capture more sensitive information than has previously been available about students whose study pattern cannot be categorised as typically full-time, i.e. equivalent in total to 1 FTE per year.

It does not seek to record the teaching load, nor the contact time associated with a student or the course, nor the learning hours, since each of these quantities is subject to variation between providers and cannot be related to a national norm. No weighting should be given, therefore, to take account of the resourcing requirements of different modules.

For providers operating a credit points system, the proportion of FTE can be calculated from the number of credit points that may be obtained from the module compared with the number of credit points obtainable for that year of the course. Proportion of FTE can also be calculated by reference to a conventional full-time student following the qualification aim. For example, if it is the provider's normal requirement that a student should complete 12 (equally-weighted) modules for a degree which would typically take 3 years for a normal full-time student, then each module would have proportion of FTE calculated as 25% (25). For degrees requiring 12 (equally-weighted) modules over 4 full-time years, each module would have an FTE calculated as 33% (33). This could serve as a benchmark for calculating the FTE of modules falling within other programmes of study. For professional courses, the advice of the professional awarding body can be sought. Otherwise providers are asked to make an academic judgement in relating the module to another module of a similar level, and similar academic subject category, which can be related to a 'standard' full-time course.

In cases where a module is available in two or more qualification aims, with different course requirements, separate module entities are required to be returned.

For example:

Module: Introduction to biogenetics (40 credits)

MODID: PGMIntrobiogenetics

Masters degree course module worth 40 credits of a 180 credit course

MODFTE: 22

In this instance the module's weighting accounts for 22% of the course year.

MODID: PGCIntrobiogenetics

Post Graduate Certificate course module worth 40 credits of a 120 credit course

MODFTE: 33

In this instance the module's weighting accounts for 33% of the course year.

Although the students on these courses may be attending the same lectures, because the outcome weighting of the module differs between qualification aims, separate module entities are required.

FTE values can be recorded to one decimal place.

Reason Required
To monitor intensity of study.
Field Length
4
Quality RulesQuality Rules to follow
Minimum Occurrence
1
Maximum Occurrence
1
Primary Key?
False
Revision HistoryNo Revision History entries for this collection.