Andy Youell has over three decades experience in higher education data and systems. His career in HE began at the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council in 1991 and has included spells at HEFCE and HESA.
In 2013 Andy was appointed Director of the Higher Education Data & Information Improvement Programme (HEDIIP) which was created to reduce the burden and increase the value and accessibility of data and information about HE.
Andy has worked as a freelance consultant advising HE providers and related organisations on data and regulation issues. He has advised governments in Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia and Oman and he worked on a UN project in Jordan that developed statistical reporting for universities across the Middle East.
Andy is a former member of the DfE Information Standards Board, the HESA Board and the DfE Burden Reduction Taskforce. He was a member of the independent review of 2020 qualification grades which was commissioned by the Welsh Government following the exam grades fiasco.
His website is www.andyyouell.com
24 pieces
Newest first, since March 2015 · page 1 of 2
· Comment
The higher education sector is facing a crisis in data skills
Andy Youell has worked in higher education data for a long time. He’s never seen a skills crisis like the one the sector is now facing
· Comment
What would it take to shift the dial on data burden?
Everyone loves to commit to reduce data burden in higher education. Andy Youell asks what it would take to actually do it.
· Comment
We need to talk about data burden
Higher education providers have to collect, understand, analyse and submit huge swathes of data – but why? Andy Youell feels burdened
· Comment
The OfS Data Futures consultation: right answer, wrong question
Talk about the burdens of data collection needs to take into account how many agencies collect data from providers, says Andy Youell
· Comment
Should OfS worry about student welfare?
Andy Phippen, Andy Youell, Camille Kandiko Howson, Nick Hillman and Alex Bols feed in on the future of OfS
With Andy Phippen, Camille Kandiko Howson, Nick Hillman and Alex Bols
· Comment
Understanding the differences and similarities between HE providers is an art
Andy Youell reflects on and responds to Wonkhe’s run at a standard approach to describing and grouping providers of higher education.
· Data
Low quality courses? Start by defining a course
Just what is a course? Andy Youell asked nearly a decade ago, and he’s still asking now.
· Stacks
A thousand flowers – the world of sector communities
The UK higher education sector is served by a number of professional groups and associations that bring together specialist staff and common interests. Andy Youell is taken aback by how many of them we have.
· Comment
Could your data end up in the dock?
Following the OfS decision to refuse registration to Barking and Dagenham College, Andy Youell considers the questions raised over using data in regulation
· Comment
Data across the boundaries
Andy Youell explores the data implications for viewing post-compulsory education as a single sector.
· Comment
Jisc and HESA: an integration for the future of data
Andy Youell, formerly of HESA, makes sense of the “integration” of HESA and Jisc
· Analysis
The OfS data strategy: a coming of age?
Andy Youell takes us on a tour of the detail from UK HE’s first high-level data strategy.
· Comment
A new dawn across the data landscape
The quality of HE data hasn’t always be great, but the work of the Data Landscape Steering Group is making things a lot better. Andy Youell introduces the latest DLSG report.
· Comment
New Year data resolutions
HESA’s Andy Youell stops off on his way to the gym to suggest some New Year’s resolutions for managing your institutional data.
· Data
Understanding the burden of data collection
Andy Youell introduces the latest data-driven consultation on finding ways to better understand and reduce the burden of data management and collection in higher education providers.
· Data
A brief history of higher education data
The UK’s higher education data infrastructure is the envy of the world and has unlikely origins in the conclusion of the Second World War. Andy Youell takes us on a brief and fascinating history.
· Data
Farewell to JACS, and hello to HECoS
JACS codes have been a familiar part of the sector data background, but all is about to change. Andy Youell explains why you should be excited about subject-coding.
· Data
The shifting data agenda between two white papers
The White Paper recognises the importance of data to the success of higher education regulation, policy and teaching, argues Andy Youell.
· Data
Taking the data conversation to a new level
The Higher Education Commission has published a report called From Bricks to Clicks which looks at the potential of data and analytics in higher education. King of the data nerds Andy Youell casts his eye.
· Data
Data capability: a call to action
With so many data-related changes emerging across the landscape, a failure to engage with this agenda is likely to leave institutions struggling with data problems for years to come. Andy Youell argues that the sector no