UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref. FOI/20191216/1
13 January 2020
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your Ref
Your email of 16 December 2019
Address
WhatDoTheyKnow.com
_
Request
I am writing to request a spreadsheet which includes the following information for 2018
and 2019 UCAS cycle for M100 Law applicants:
1. An ID to distinguish the candidate (e.g. '1')
2. The GCSE grades of each applicant (or their country’s equivalent exam, if applicable)
3. The A level predicted grades of each applicant (or their country’s equivalent exam, if
and where applicable)
4. The Domicile of each applicant (UK/EU/International)
5. The type of school the candidate applied from (state/ private/ other)
6. LNAT MCQ Score
7. LNAT Essay Score
8. The individual interview scores of each applicant (if shortlisted)
9. The average interview score of each applicant (if shortlisted)
10. Whether that candidate has been offered a place, and if so, whether he/she was
offered deferred entry.
Dear Lorenica Low,
I write in reply to your email of Monday 16 December, requesting the above information.
Please find the information requested in the attached workbook.
Your request is for detailed individual level data for a single application cycle. We consider that disclosure of
this information in full/in the form requested might enable those with access to other information or knowledge
(e.g. those associated with individuals who are known to have applied) 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 divided up the information between separate tabs and we have sorted each tab
independently of the others so that the rows are not standardised across the tabs;
We have substituted an asterisk for any figures smaller than 3, including zero, for shortlisting and
offer data where included;
We have withheld data regarding deferred offers from the workbook;
We have aggregated the data for the following categories over the period specified: ‘Domicile’, ‘School
Type’, ‘LNAT MCQ Scores’, and ‘LNAT Essay Scores’;
We have withheld some individual interview scores where it is possible to identify an individual’s
scores due to the type of interview they had (e.g. because they interviewed at multiple colleges).
This is shown as an asterisk (*);
We have withheld offer data from the following tabs: ‘GCSE Grades’ and ‘A Level Predicted Grades’.
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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
someone other than the requester, where disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles in Article
5 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We consider that disclosure of the information in full/in
the 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 application to Oxford would be made public under the FOIA without their consent. Please
note that a disclosure of information under the FOIA is presumed to be a disclosure t the world at large, and
not just a disclosure to the individual making the request.
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 under 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 Universit5y
considers it is satisfied by the attached information.
In total, there were 3107 applications to the M100 course during the period specified. 1203 of those applicants
were shortlisted and subsequently 459 offers were given, including 12 offers for deferred entry.
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-mailing
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,
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FOI OXFORD