Understanding Society User Support

Educational variable ‘d_qfhigh’ includes 16 categories (shown as below). Does lower coding imply a higher educational level?
1 University Higher Degree (e.g. MSc, PhD)
2 First degree level qualification including foundation degrees, graduate membership of a professional Institute,
PGCE
3 Diploma in higher education
4 Teaching qualification (excluding PGCE)
5 Nursing or other medical qualification not yet mentioned
6 A Level
7 Welsh Baccalaureate
8 International Baccalaureate
9 AS Level
10 Higher Grade/Advanced Higher (Scotland)
11 Certificate of sixth year studies
12 GCSE/O Level
13 CSE
14 Standard/Ordinary (O) Grade / Lower (Scotland)
15 Other school (inc. school leaving exam certificate or matriculation)
96 None of the above

Another derived educational variable ‘d_hiqual_dv’ includes 6 categories (shown as below). What are the type of people who have other qualifications in the data? Is it lower than GCSE? What the other higher degree might be? Is it between degree and A-level? Does it refer to other higher education? May I treat d_hiqual_dv as an ordinal variable?
1=Degree
2=Other higher degree
3=A-level etc
4=GCSE etc
5=Other qualification
6=No qualification