Our Ref: FOI 19/204
22 October 2019
Samira El Amein
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Samira
Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 24th September 2019.
Your Request I would like to request the following data relating to all law courses (i.e. both the single honours
LLB or BA and any joint honours law courses) offered by your university.
I am requesting the data for candidates who received offers for one of the aforementioned law
courses in the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 admissions cycles (I refer to these candidates as ‘the
offerholders’).
If the data for 2018/2019 is not available for whatever reason, please provide it for 2016/2017 (I
am looking for at least two admission cycles’ worth of data, in order to ensure that it is reliable).
I request the following data for each admissions cycle:
1. The total number of offerholders for the aforementioned law courses.
2. The number of offerholders who were either planning to complete or had completed BTECs as
their most recent qualification.
3. The number of offerholders who were either planning to complete or had completed a Higher
National Diploma (‘HND’) or Higher National Certificate (‘HNC’) as their most recent qualification.
4. The number of offerholders who were either planning to complete or had completed an Access
to Higher Education diploma as their most recent qualification.
5. The number of offerholders who received offers while planning to resit their A-levels. (These
individuals will show up on your system as having completed one set of A-levels already, with
predictions for at least one other A-level).
LJMU Response LJMU receives data on the qualifications of applicants each year from UCAS in the End of Cycle
Report (EOC). This report includes categories of qualification including A-levels, BTEC’s and
Access to Higher Education Diplomas. Unfortunately it does not include a category for HND or
HNC qualifications, and they fall among “other qualifications”. To find the data for number of offer
holders with HND or HNC qualifications would require manual checks of individual records where
the “other qualification” category is marked on the EOC.
Governance and Compliance, Exchange Station, 2nd Floor, Tithebarn St, L2 2QP
Telephone: 0151 231 3186
Email:
xxx@xxxx.xx.xx
We also note that manual analysis of individual files would be required to work out if an offer
holder was undertaking resits because they may have applied in the first instance to another
institution. The EOC data will only include data of previous applications to ourselves which
because of the presence of two sets of A –level results would indicate re-sits were undertaken.
We would only be able to electronically filter out resists where the offer holder applied to LJMU in
the first instance.
This analysis would need to be done manually by trained staff and when taken in addition to the
work required to answer q 2, 3 and 4 from the EOC data the cost would be in excess of £450. The
FOIA at s.12 allows public bodies to refuse to answer requests that would take in excess of £450
to respond to. This means that we will be unable to provide the information you require.
The University considers it has fully complied with your request, but if you wish to seek an internal
review, you should do so in writing, within 40 days of receipt of this letter, to Professor Peter Byers,
Pro Vice Chancellor (Education), Vice-Chancel or’s Office, Egerton Court, 2 Rodney Street,
Liverpool, L1 2UA
Emailed requests can be sent to:
xxx@xxxx.xx.xxxhere they will be logged and passed to Professor
Byers for consideration.
Once having appealed, if you are still not satisfied with our response, you have the right to apply to
the Information Commissioner for a decision whether, in any specified respect, your request for
information has not been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. The Information Commissioner’s address is: Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Details on how to complain can be found on the Information
Commissioner’s websit
e: www.ico.org.uk If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Simon Horsfield
Information Officer (Governance and Compliance)
Governance and Compliance, Exchange Station, 2nd Floor, Tithebarn St, L2 2QP
Telephone: 0151 231 3186
Email:
xxx@xxxx.xx.xx