The Unique Reference Number (URN) is a six-digit number used by the UK government to identify educational establishments in the United Kingdom.
The URN is issued by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...
) to identify the educational establishments they are responsible for monitoring. Initially this requirement applied to schools until Ofsted's brief was widened to include child care providers and nurseries. The more recent registration numbers for these early-years establishments are preceded by the prefix "EY" (early years). URNs for other educational establishments are issued by the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) website. It is possible for a GIAS-issued number to be the same as an Ofsted number for an unrelated school.
A further number, the United Kingdom Provider Number (UKPRN), is issued by the
UK Register of Learning Providers. Registration with the site allows a school to share and update its information with organisations such as the
Higher Education Funding Council for England
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engla ...
, the
Higher Education Statistics Agency
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) was the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about higher education in the United Kingdom. HESA became a directorate of Jisc after a merger in 202 ...
, and the
Skills Funding Agency
The Skills Funding Agency was one of two successor organisations that emerged from the closure in 2010 of the Learning and Skills Council (England's largest non-departmental public body or quango). The agency was in turn replaced by the Educa ...
, and is required to obtain certain types of government funding. Information on the site can also be accessed by members of the public.
References
Education in the United Kingdom
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