Exam resit administration fees

Daniel Hensby made this Freedom of Information request to University of Southampton

Waiting for an internal review by University of Southampton of their handling of this request.

From: Daniel Hensby

12 July 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to request, under the Freedom of Information Act, what
the total amount received in administration fees from University of
Southampton's pupils was for examination resits in the years
2007/2008 and 2008/2009.

I would like to know how much was received by each school and,
within each school, which modules generated how much in
administration fees.

I would also like to know, quantitatively, how this was distributed
within the University to cover the administration of arranging and
undertaking the resits.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Hensby

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From: Daniel Hensby

13 August 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to remind you that the 20 working days legally allowed
for a Freedom of Information request are up. I would like a prompt
reply, no later than Thursday 20 August, otherwise I will be forced
to
request an internal review.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Hensby

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From: Halliday B.H.E.
University of Southampton

13 August 2009

I am out of the office until Monday 24 August 2009. I shall not be accessing e-mail. If your query is urgent please contact Barbara Watkins on 023 8059 4684 otherwise I shall deal with it on my return.

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From: Halliday B.H.E.
University of Southampton

20 August 2009

Attachment 4060 FOI request response.pdf
371K Download View as HTML

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From: Daniel Hensby

20 August 2009

Dear Halliday B.H.E.,

Upon viewing the attached document I found it to be wholly
inaccessible and in contravention of the Disability Discrimination
Act.

I require a version that is accessible to screen readers so that I
can have it read aloud to me by my screen reader.

Please provide me with a copy of the document that is accessible to
disabled users.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Hensby

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From: Halliday B.H.E.
University of Southampton

3 September 2009

Dear Mr Hensby

Thank you for your email of 20 August. The PDF document which you say is "wholly inaccessible and in contravention of the Disability Discrimination Act" is in fact tagged and has text access enabled for screen reader devices.

As you may be aware, the PDF may be "read" with Adobe Reader's built-in Read Out Loud function as follows:

[Instructions for using Adobe Reader's Read Out Loud function - Microsoft Windows]

Press Shift-Ctrl-Y to activate Read Out Loud (not necessary if Read Out Loud is already activated)

Press Shift-Ctrl-V to have the Intellectual Property Rights notice, the intended recipient notice, the acknowledgement and the YES/NO radio buttons read out.

Press [Tab] to cycle between the YES/NO radio buttons. These will be read out.

Press [Spacebar] to tick the YES radio button. This will display the response to the Freedom of Information request.

Press Shift-Ctrl-B or Shift-Ctrl-V to have the response read out loud.

Adobe Reader is free to download and may be downloaded here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/. Please note that although the software is free to download, download charges (e.g. from your Internet Service Provider) may apply.

However, I understand that not all screen readers can process documents of all types. The University takes its responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 very seriously. We are therefore happy to provide you with a copy of the document that is accessible to the screen reader that you use if Adobe Reader's Read Out Loud function does not work for you. If this is the case, please let me know which screen reader you use so that the document can be reconfigured for use with that reader.

Best wishes

Barbara Halliday

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Francis Irving left an annotation ( 8 September 2009)

It's not just disabled people who can't read this PDF - I can't either, on the Ubuntu operating system, even with Acrobat Reader.

I would like the requester to persist, and get a normal PDF. Why are the university putting barriers in the way of people reading basic information like this?

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ( 8 September 2009)

The substantive element of the response states:

The total amount received in administration fees from University of Southampton's pupils for examination resits in the years 2007/208 and 2008/2009 was:

2007/8 : £64,762
2008/9 : £125,665

The university said it did not hold information relating to the other aspects of the request.

The university's response can now be obtained via:

http://files.whatdotheyknow.com/request/...

--

Richard - WhatDoTheyKnow.com volunteer

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Francis Irving left an annotation ( 9 September 2009)

These two requests are both for background information, costs etc. relating to this PDF protection policy.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

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From: Daniel Hensby

9 September 2009

Dear Halliday B.H.E.,

Once again, i would like to request a fully accessible version of
this PDF. It doesn't open on Ubuntu as one example of its
inaccessibility.

If you refuse to supply the information in a way that is not
prohibitive to ordinary members of the general public as well as
those with different needs then i will be forced to ask for an
internal review so i can receive the information.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Hensby

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From: Halliday B.H.E.
University of Southampton

23 September 2009

Dear Mr. Hensby,

I refer to your email of 9 September 2009.

In my email of 3 September I pointed out that Adobe Reader has a built-in Read Out Loud function and I offered to have the document reconfigured to work with your screen reader if Adobe's built-in function did not work for you.

You have not responded to this offer: instead, you have insisted that the University provide a fully accessible version of the PDF.

The information you require has been extracted from the PDF by a whatdotheyknow.com volunteer and posted to the whatdotheyknow.com web site. I enclose a link to it for your convenience:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ex...

The information is now publicly available and in a format which your screen reader can read. Nevertheless, I still stand by my offer to provide you with a copy of the document that is accessible to the screen reader that you use if Adobe Reader's Read Out Loud function does not work for you. Please, therefore, let me know which screen reader you use so that the document can be reconfigured for use with that reader.

Yours sincerely,

Barbara Halliday

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From: Daniel Hensby

23 September 2009

Dear Halliday B.H.E.,

I have now been able to access the information because of the kind
efforts of a volunteer at the link you provided.

I now am fully dissatisfied with the response that was given as two
of the three points were dismissed as the University claims to not
hold this information. I find this impossible to believe and
reiterate my request for the information:

I would like to know how much was received by each school and,
within each school, which modules generated how much in
administration fees.

I would also like to know, quantitatively, how this was distributed
within the University to cover the administration of arranging and
undertaking the resits.

If the University were not to hold this information, then the
University would not know who had and hadn't paid for which resits.
Your responses imply that the University accepts money for resits
without actually knowing who paid it and for what purpose. This I
simply won't believe.

In regards to the second question, there must be accountability for
where the money goes in arranging resits. Once again, it is implied
that the university has no idea how much it costs to run a resit.

For the above reasons I am forced to ask for an internal review.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Hensby

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Things to do with this request

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