Undergraduate drop out rates

The request was successful.

Dear University College London,

Could you tell me the number of undergraduate students who have dropped out this academic year (2020-2021, up until this December), compared to the two previous academic years (2018-2019 and 2019-2020, for the whole year)?

Could you also break down this information into monthly categories (x number of students dropped out in September); UK/EU/international students; and into different faculties?

It would be great if you could provide this information in an excel spreadsheet, if possible.

If you need any clarification do not hesitate to contact me. Under section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act it is your duty to provide advice and assistance and so I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way.

Yours faithfully,

Chloé Meley

Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days. 
“You will appreciate that all information requests place some degree of
demand on a public authority’s resources in terms of costs and staff time
and that UCL may need to prioritise resources to other areas, or adapt its
usual approach to information compliance work, in order to meet the
unprecedented challenges we are all facing during the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.

 

Therefore, we need to advise you may experience delays in receiving
responses to information rights requests during the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic.”

 

For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection & FOI
Legal Services
UCL

References

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Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

1 Attachment

Dear Chloe

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 12th January 2021.

 

We have completed the compilation of information in response to your
request for information about the number of UCL undergraduate students who
have left for reasons other than completion of their programme in the
2020/21 (to December) academic year compared to the previous 2019/20 and
2018/19 academic years.

 

We can confirm that we do hold some information of the description
specified in your request and this information is provided in the attached
spreadsheet.

 

As you will see within the attached spreadsheet, where the number of
students is fewer than 5, the information has been withheld because this
is personal data of third parties or, if linked with other personal
identifiers in the public domain, would likely to become personal data. 
This information has been withheld under Section 40(2) of the FOIA by
virtue of Section 40(3A)(i).

 

Section 40(2) of the FOIA allows a public authority to withhold
information under the FOIA where (i) the requested information is personal
data relating to someone other than the requester and (ii) its disclosure
would breach any of the Data Protection principles.  In this case, we
believe that the requested information could relate to and identify
individuals and therefore would be personal data.  The disclosure of these
personal data would not be within the reasonable expectations of the
individuals concerned and it would be unfair to do so; this therefore
breaches the first Data Protection principle.

 

As the Section 40(2) exemption is an absolute one, there is no need to
conduct a public interest test.

 

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example by publishing or issuing copies to the public, will require the
permission of the copyright owner.

 

If you are unhappy with our response to your request and wish to make a
complaint or request a review of our decision, please email
[1][email address]. Emails should include the words ‘Internal
Review’ in the subject and be marked For the Attention of the Chief
Operating Officer, alternatively you should write to:

 

Chief Operating Officer

University College London

Gower Street

London

WC1E 6BT

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner at the address given below.
You should do this within two months of our final decision. (Please note,
complaints and requests for internal review received more than two months
after the initial decision will not be handled.)

 

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me using the details
provided in this email and including the request reference number.

 

Further information on the Freedom of Information Act is available from
the Information Commissioner’s Office:

 

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

SK9 5AF

 

01625 545700

[2]www.ico.org.uk

[3][email address]

 

Kind regards

Janine

 

Janine Small

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Adviser

University College London

Legal Services

Data Protection: [4][email address] FOI: [5][UCL request email]

 

References

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2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[UCL request email]

Dear Janine,

Thank you very much!

Yours sincerely,

Chloé Meley

Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days. 
“You will appreciate that all information requests place some degree of
demand on a public authority’s resources in terms of costs and staff time
and that UCL may need to prioritise resources to other areas, or adapt its
usual approach to information compliance work, in order to meet the
unprecedented challenges we are all facing during the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.

 

Therefore, we need to advise you may experience delays in receiving
responses to information rights requests during the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic.”

 

For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection & FOI
Legal Services
UCL

References

Visible links
1. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/pri...