ETER currently does not undertake a primary data collection but relies on secondary data sources provided by other entities. This choice is to reduce the burden of collecting data but requires intensive efforts to harmonise data collected on different grounds. Data in ETER undergoes extensive quality checks, but the ETER project team assumes no responsibility for errors in the original data.

ETER provides data on the following dimensions of HEI activities:

• Institutional descriptors, including legal status, institutional category, foundation year, etc.
• Geographical descriptors, including the region of establishment, the city and the geographical coordinates of the institution.   
• Educational activities: data on students and graduates by level of education (diploma, bachelor, master; ISCED5-7), field of education, gender, citizenship, mobility, age groups, full-time/part-time and the number of incoming and outgoing Erasmus students.
• Research activities: research-active institution, PhD students and graduates (ISCED8), R&D expenditures. 
• Expenditures, divided between personnel, non-personnel and capital, and revenues, divided between core budget, third-party funding and student fees funding.
• Personnel: academic personnel by gender, citizenship and field of education; support and administrative personnel; research and teaching assistants; full professors by gender.
• A set of characterisation indicators concerning gender, citizenship, mobility, composition of personnel and HEI revenues.
• Information about demographic events in order to track institutions over time and observe development in the higher educations sector.

By providing the data on higher education institutions, their students, graduates and personnel, we provide the national higher education authorities, national ministries, and the European Commission with the necessary evidence to formulate effective higher education policy and national and regional levels.