Off venue activity (OffVenueActivity)

All StudentCourseSessions where OffVenueActivity is undertaken, please see guidance below for exceptions.

An OffVenueActivity is required to be returned where:

• The student is undertaking a placement in the UK, with the exceptions of teacher training placements in Scotland and clinical placements (see below)
• The student is outside the UK, with the exceptions of where they are writing up (SessionStatus.STATUSCHANGEDTO = 04) or where they will spend the majority of their Engagement outside the UK (StudyLocation.PRINONUK = 01)
• The above activities are 20 days or longer in duration, (including where OffVenueActivities that are between 5 and 20 days duration have a combined duration of at least 20 days) with the exception of teacher training placements in England which are returned irrespective of duration.

If the student is undertaking this activity at the reporting providers or a partners venue (for example they are studying abroad at a partners venue or undertaking a placement at the providers own venue), this should be returned in this entity.

OffVenueActivities need to be submitted for the full StudentCourseSession, not just the reference period they occurred in. For example, if the activity occurs at the beginning of the StudentCourseSession it must continue to be returned in every reference period the StudentCourseSession spans.

An OffVenueActivity is not required for the following:

• Distance learning, this is recorded in StudyLocation
• Teacher training placements in Scotland
• Clinical placements (see below)
• Where the student will spend the majority of their Engagement outside the UK, OffVenueActivity information is not required for the time they spend outside the UK. OffVenueActivity information is still required where they undertake a placement in the UK.
• Where the student is writing up outside the UK

Clinical Placements

Statutory clinical placements should not be returned in this entity. That is, any clinical placement which is a compulsory element of the students course. It includes, but not exclusive to:

• Social Care
• Midwifery
• Healthcare
• Veterinary

The below definition has been provided by Health Education England for the placements that they will monitor separately:

'Any suitable supervised clinical, practical or other learning experience in a workplace environment provided, conducted or arranged by the placement provider for Learners; usually but not limited to an NHS trust, Foundation trust, GP surgery, dental practice and other organisations that form part of the National Health Service or who deliver placement learning funded by the NHS which for the purposes of this Agreement includes the private and voluntary sectors.'

OffVenueActivity duration

Teacher training placements in England must be returned irrespective of duration.

All other OffVenueActivities that contain more than 20 days duration of activity are mandatory to return. OffVenueActivities that are between 5 and 20 days duration but, when combined with other OffVenueActivities achieved over the StudentCourseSession, sum to a total length of 20 days or more must also be returned. All activity should be first reported in the reference period where the 20 day duration has been achieved.

Although optional, providers should be encouraged to return off venue activities that are less than 20 days in length.

If the placement spans more than one StudentCourseSession, the provider should split the activity between sessions, but only if the split activity puts at least 20 days in each StudentCourseSession. If splitting the activity would result in less than 20 days being reported for one of the sessions, then it should not be split. In these cases, the extra days should be returned in the session with the majority of the duration

If an activity spans StudentCourseSessions (with at least 20 days in each) the activity should be split between the StudentCourseSessions with the duration and dates reflecting the period attached to the current StudentCourseSession only

Actual and planned dates

Example

In this example, the full OffVenueActivity is contained within one StudentCourseSession.

The student starts their placement part way through reference period one. At the point of returning reference period one data to HESA the student is still on their placement and has completed more than 20 days. The student finishes their placement in reference period two.

In reference period one, return the placement activity start date and provide an estimate for the end date with the estimated duration calculated based on difference between the two, excluding expected days not worked, weekends, holidays etc. In reference period two you would then return the placement with the same start date and use the correct end date and duration.