Student Alternative 2021/22 - Unique Learner Number
Student Alternative 2021/22Fields required from institutions in All fieldsUnique Learner Number | return to field list |
Type | field |
Short name | ULN |
Description |
This field records a 10-digit numeric identifier. |
Applicable to | England |
Coverage | Optional for all students. |
Notes |
The Unique Learner Number (ULN) is being developed, and the specification of this field falls within the scope of the Aligned Data Definitions and follows the Data Standards in the HESA Student Alternative record. In the long-term it is anticipated that the ULN will replace the plethora of personal identifiers used by different organisations in the education sector. The ULN is a ten-digit number with a non-zero number in the first position and a check digit in the final position. Further information regarding the ULN can be found on the Learning Records Service web site. Since the ULN is issued by the Learning Records Service, a providers' only obligation will be to check the validity of the number by performing the checksum validation test below. The ULN checksum follows the same basic principles as the NHS number, but has been designed to ensure that there is no replication of ULN and NHS number. The checksum validation process is as follows:
(e.g. ULN 9276308686. (9*10)+(2*9)+(7*8)+(6*7)+(3*6)+(0*5)+(8*4)+(6*3) +(8*2)+(6*1) = 296. 296/11=26, remainder 10) For additional information, an Excel spreadsheet showing how the final check digit (and leading digit for Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) based ULNs) is calculated can be downloaded. |
Quality rules |
Quality rules to follow
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Reason required | To facilitate linking between years of HESA data and between the Student Alternative record and other data sources. |
Part of | |
Field length | 10 |
Minimum occurrences | 0 |
Maximum occurrences | 1 |
Schema components |
Element: ULN
Data type: UniqueLearnerNumberType |
Owner | Learning Records Service |
Version | 1.0 |
Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388 531.