30 May 2026
Our data sources
UniLens draws on 10 official data sources to build a complete picture of every UK university. All data comes from government bodies, regulators and public records. None of it is survey opinion or editorial judgement.
Where the data comes from
Each source covers a different part of the university picture. Together they let advisors compare earnings, demand, satisfaction, financial health, visa risk and city conditions in one place.
The datasets below are the UK sources. UniLens covers seven countries, so the sources for the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland and France follow further down.
United Kingdom
LEO (Longitudinal Education Outcomes)
Graduate earnings at 1, 3 and 5 years after graduation. LEO links HMRC tax records to HESA student records, so it captures actual tax-reported earnings rather than survey responses. Published by the Department for Education. This is the closest thing to an objective graduate outcome measure available in UK higher education.
UCAS
Applications, offers, acceptances, offer rates and clearing data for all UK undergraduate admissions. End-of-cycle data is published annually. UniLens uses UCAS data to show demand trends, selectivity and how each university's recruitment trajectory is changing over time.
NSS (National Student Survey)
Student satisfaction across 7 dimensions: teaching quality, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources, and student voice. Covers all final-year undergraduates at English higher education providers. Published annually by the Office for Students.
HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency)
Student numbers, staff numbers, staff-student ratios, domicile breakdowns (UK, EU, non-EU) and financial data. HESA is the most comprehensive administrative dataset on UK higher education. It provides the foundation for understanding institutional scale, staffing and student composition.
OfS (Office for Students)
Continuation rates, completion rates and progression rates, all benchmarked against expected performance. Financial sustainability data including surplus or deficit, liquidity days and staff costs as a proportion of income. The OfS is the independent regulator of higher education in England.
See these data sources in action
Every university profile on UniLens combines all 10 sources into a single page. Earnings, demand, satisfaction, finance and city data side by side.
Browse all 415 universities →UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration)
Study visa application volumes and refusal rates by nationality. Published quarterly as part of the Home Office Immigration Statistics. UniLens uses this data to show visa refusal risk for different student nationalities, which directly affects recruitment planning for advisors working with international students.
ONS (Office for National Statistics)
Private rental prices by local authority (from the Private Rental Index) and crime rates by local authority (from the Crime Survey for England and Wales). These datasets let advisors compare the real cost and safety of different university cities, not just the universities themselves.
Scottish Government / PSNI
Crime data for Scottish and Northern Irish cities. The ONS Crime Survey covers England and Wales only, so UniLens uses equivalent datasets from the Scottish Government and the Police Service of Northern Ireland to provide UK-wide city safety comparisons.
OpenFlights
Airport route data used for nearest-airport calculations. When a student needs to know how easy it is to fly home from a particular university city, this data provides the answer.
Wikidata / postcodes.io
Geographic coordinates for institution mapping and location-based features. Used to calculate distances, place universities on maps and support the city comparison tools.
Sources beyond the UK
Each country publishes a different mix of official data. Where an equivalent official figure is not published, UniLens shows "Not publicly available" rather than guessing — except for graduate earnings in a few countries, where we show a clearly-labelled estimate (see below).
United States
College Scorecard (US Department of Education)
Graduate earnings (median earnings after entry), completion rates, admission rates and tuition. Built from federal tax and enrolment records — the US equivalent of LEO.
IIE Open Doors · US State Department
International student enrolment (IIE Open Doors) and F-1 student-visa refusal rates by nationality (State Department non-immigrant visa statistics). City rent and crime from public housing and FBI crime data.
Australia
QILT · Department of Education · Home Affairs · ABS
Graduate salaries and employment (QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey), student satisfaction (QILT Student Experience Survey), student numbers and finances (Department of Education), student-visa grant rates by nationality (Home Affairs), and city rent and crime (Australian Bureau of Statistics).
Canada
Statistics Canada · IRCC · CMHC
Student enrolment and city crime (Statistics Canada), study-permit refusal rates by nationality (IRCC), institutional finances (CAUBO) and city rent (CMHC). Graduate earnings are not published at institution level, so an estimate is shown — see below.
Germany
Destatis · BKA
Student numbers (Federal Statistical Office, Destatis) and city crime (Federal Criminal Police Office, BKA). Germany publishes little comparable graduate-outcome or satisfaction data, so those sections show "Not publicly available"; graduate earnings use a labelled estimate — see below.
Ireland
HEA · StudentSurvey.ie
Student numbers and continuation/completion (Higher Education Authority) and student satisfaction (StudentSurvey.ie, the national survey). Graduate earnings are not published at institution level, so a labelled estimate is shown — see below.
France
InserSup (Ministry of Higher Education)
Graduate employment and earnings from InserSup, the French government's official graduate-insertion survey, alongside national student and city statistics.
Estimated data, clearly labelled
Canada, Germany and Ireland do not publish graduate earnings at the level of the individual university. Rather than leave the most-asked question blank, UniLens shows an estimate drawn from professional-network (LinkedIn alumni) data. Wherever an estimate is used it is labelled as such on the profile — for example "Source: LinkedIn (alumni self-reported)" — so advisors can always see when a figure is official and when it is indicative. Everywhere else, graduate earnings come from official government sources (LEO in the UK, College Scorecard in the US, QILT in Australia, InserSup in France).
When the data updates
All major datasets (LEO, UCAS, NSS, HESA, OfS) are refreshed annually in August, aligned with the start of the September recruitment cycle. This means advisors always have the most current data available when students are making decisions.
UKVI visa data updates quarterly. ONS rental and crime data updates quarterly or annually depending on the specific release. Geographic data from OpenFlights and Wikidata is continuously maintained.
When new data is released, UniLens updates all 415 university profiles at the same time. There is no lag between institutions.
Our methodology
UniLens does not apply editorial judgement or subjective rankings. Every rating on the platform is mechanical. Financial stability ratings are derived from published surplus, liquidity and staff cost figures using fixed thresholds. Earnings comparisons use official government figures wherever they are published (LEO in the UK, College Scorecard in the US, QILT in Australia, InserSup in France), and clearly-labelled estimates only where they are not. Demand trends use official admissions numbers.
We do not weight some universities higher than others. We do not adjust for reputation. We do not use league table positions. The data says what it says.
All data is from official public sources
Every number on UniLens can be traced back to a named government or regulatory dataset. We do not use proprietary surveys, employer panels or institutional self-reporting. If a data point is not available from an official source, we leave it blank rather than estimate.
Compare universities using real data
Search any of the 415 universities on UniLens and see official data on earnings, employment, satisfaction, financial health and city conditions.
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