verification of degree qualfications

Neil Fawcett

[email address]

22/05/2009

Dear Mr Fawcett

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the "Act")

Thank you for your request for information under the Act which we received
on 27^th April 2009.

Your request

You have requested the following information:

Qs 1 to 3. How many students graduated from your establishment in
2006/07/08?

Qs 4 to 6. How many requests, from external individuals or organisations,
to confirm the degree qualification of a former student at your
establishment, were received in 2006/07/08?

Our response

With regard to your request for information:

Qs 1 to 3. The total numbers of graduates from 2006 and 2007 are published
on page 25 of the Annual Statistics at
[1]http://www.hw.ac.uk/reference/annual_sta...

The 2008 Annual Statistics will be published later this year.

If this does not fully provide you with the information required, please
do not hesitate to contact us.

Qs 4 to 6.The information is held within each individual student record
within the organisation. This would involve searching through thousands of
files and would take more than 40 hours of staff time. Staff time costs
are based on the statutory ceiling of £15 per hour, set out in the FOISA
Fees Regulations (see below). Because the request would therefore cost
over £600 to fulfil, the University is not obliged to process it. (FOISA
Section 12 (1) (1): excessive cost of compliance)

Please let me know if you would like advice and assistance to make a more
focused request for information that could be provided within the £600
cost ceiling. We will then calculate the cost and issue you with a fees
notice in accordance with The Freedom of Information (Fees for Required
Disclosure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004. On receipt of the fee we will
undertake the analysis.

Your right to seek review of our decision

If you are not satisfied with our response or our reasoning set-out above,
you have forty working days from 27^th May 2009 in which to request a
review of our decision. Any request should be put in writing and should be
sent to Ann Jones, FOI Coordinator, at the address detailed at the bottom
of this email. The request should:

(a) detail your request for a review of our decision to be undertaken;

(b) describe the nature of your original request; and

(c) explain the reasons why you are dissatisfied with our response.

If you remain dissatisfied with how your request for information has been
dealt with, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information
Commissioner for a decision as to whether we have handled your request
properly.

Information relating to your right to seek review is available from the
Scottish Information Commissioner's web page at:

http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

or by contacting the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office at the
following address:

Scottish Information Commissioner,

Kinburn Castle,

Doubledykes Road, St Andrews,

Fife KY16 9DS

Telephone: 01334 464610

Fax: 01334 464611

E-mail: [email address]

Website: www.itspublicknowledge.info

Contact us

Finally, should you wish to discuss the contents of this email, please do
not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Connor

Freedom of Information Compliance Assistant

Archive, Records Management and Museum Service

Heriot-Watt University

Riccarton

Edinburgh EH14 4AS

[2][Heriot-Watt University request email]

Heriot-Watt University is a Charity registered in Scotland, SC000278.

This email is sent subject to [3]http://www.hw.ac.uk/disclaim.htm

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Heriot-Watt University is a Scottish charity registered under charity
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References

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