UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref. FOI/20190320/5
29 May 2019
Reply to request for information under Freedom of Information of Act
Your Ref
FOI/20190320/5
Address
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
_
Request
Dear University of Oxford,
Please can I have the following information for the last 3 years in a microsoft excel
form. Please only include applicants for undergraduate courses.
1) The number of applicants from every school in the UK. If there are no applicants
from a school, then you may omit these in the report.
2) The number of successful applicants from every school in the UK for the last 3 years.
3) A breakdown of the subjects that students applied to study at Oxford from each
school and how many of these were successful.
4) Which Oxford colleges students applied to study at from each school and how many
were successful
5) what was the number of applicants and successful applicants to each Oxford college
segmented by Private School, Grammar School and State School.
6) The A level, IB and Pre U results of all Oxford applicants.
7) How many applicants did not meet their conditional offer. segmented by subject,
student race, and Oxford college.
Yours faithfully,
E. Ocampo
Dear E. Ocampo,
I write in response to your request for the above information.
1 - 2) This information may be found on the University’s website, which we link to for your convenience:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/admissions-statistics-school?wssl=1 as
well a
s https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-
UCASApplyCentreApplications2017/UCASApplyCentre?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showViz
Home=no. 3 - 4) We will not comply with this part of your request which is for detailed individual level data for single
application cycles. We consider that disclosure of this information in the form requested might enable those
with access to other information or knowledge (e.g. those associated with the same school as applicants) to
identify individuals and learn new information about those individuals. In taking this measure, we are applying
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the exemption in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Section 40(2) provides an
exemption from disclosure for information that is the personal data of an individual other than the requester,
where disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles in Article 5 of the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR). We consider that disclosure of the information requested in the exact form requested
would breach the first data protection principle, which requires that personal data is processed lawfully, fairly
and in a transparent manner. Disclosure would be unfair to the individuals concerned, as it would be contrary
to their reasonable and legitimate expectations. They would not reasonably expect that information about
their qualifications or other information relating to their application to Oxford would be made public under the
FOIA without their consent.
For the disclosure of personal data to be lawful, it must have a lawful basis under Article 6 of the GDPR. There
are six possible lawful bases in Article 6; we do not consider that any of them would be satisfied in respect of
the disclosure.
The exemption in section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test provided
for in section 2(2)(b) of the FOIA. To the extent that the public interest is relevant in this case, the University
considers it is satisfied by the attached information.
5) This information may be found on the University’s website, which we link to for your convenience. Further
details may be accessed near the bottom of this webpage:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-
figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type?wssl=1. 6) To be included in our further correspondence.
7) The information, where held on the central student system, is provided in the attached document.
Your request is for detailed individual level data for a single application cycles. We consider that disclosure of
this information in the form requested might enable those with access to other information or knowledge (e.g.
those associated with the same school as applicants) to identify individuals and learn new information about
those individuals. For this reason, we have taken the following measures to reduce the risk of individuals
being identified.
•
We have presented aggregated figures for the category of race, redacting where figures fall below five.
In taking these measures, we are applying the exemption in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). Section 40(2) provides an exemption from disclosure for information that is the personal data of an
individual other than the requester, where disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles in
Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We consider that disclosure of the information
requested in the exact form requested would breach the first data protection principle, which requires that
personal data is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner. Disclosure would be unfair to the
individuals concerned, as it would be contrary to their reasonable and legitimate expectations. They would not
reasonably expect that information about their qualifications or other information relating to their application
to Oxford would be made public under the FOIA without their consent.
For the disclosure of personal data to be lawful, it must have a lawful basis under Article 6 of the GDPR. There
are six possible lawful bases in Article 6; we do not consider that any of them would be satisfied in respect of
the disclosure.
The exemption in section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test provided
for in section 2(2)(b) of the FOIA. To the extent that the public interest is relevant in this case, the University
considers it is satisfied by the attached information.
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INTERNAL REVIEW
If you are dissatisfied with this reply, you may ask the University to review it, by writing to the Head of
Information Compliance at the following address:
University Offices
Wellington Square
Oxford
OX1 2JD
Alternatively, you may request a review by e-mailin
g xxx@xxxxx.xx.xx.xx
THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
If, after the internal review, you are still dissatisfied, you have the right under FOIA to apply to the
Information Commissioner for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in accordance with
the FOIA. The Information Commissioner’s address is:
Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123113
Further information for submitting complaints to the Information Commissioner is available at
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx Yours sincerely,
FOI OXFORD