Dear Kai Chen,

I am writing to acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 received by The University of Manchester, our reference as per
the subject line.

The University will respond to your request within 20 working days.

Best regards

Lisa

Dr Lisa Crawley l  Information Officer  l Information Governance Office
l Directorate of Compliance and Risk l  Professional Support Services |
Room G7 Christie Building  l Compliance & Risk Management Office l  The
University of Manchester  l  Oxford Road  l  Manchester  l  M13 9PL  l 
Tel +44 (0)161 275 8400  

Dear Kai Chen,

Thank you for your request for information received by The University of
Manchester on 04 November 2019 which was as follows:

Please kindly provide data for 2019/2020 admission cycle.

1. List of all postgraduate taught courses for 2019/2020

2. Number of applicants (all postgraduate programmes)

3. Number of offers made (all postgraduate programmes)

4. Number of Chinese applications and offers made (all postgraduate
programmes)

The University has now considered your request and our response can be
found below.

1.      The current list of postgraduate courses is available via
[1]https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/ - at
[2]https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/maste... and
[3]https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/postg....

2.      – 4.

The information you are seeking at programme level cannot be provided at
this time. This is because it has been deemed to be exempt from disclosure
by virtue of the listed exemption at Section 43 (2) – Commercial
Interests. Please see the formal refusal notice below for further details.

Refusal Notice

This Refusal Notice has been issued under Section 17 (1) of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). Under Section 1 (1) of the FOIA The University of
Manchester confirms that the information requested is held but we are
refusing to provide it in response to your request for the reasons set out
below. 

Section 43 (2) – Commercial Interests

Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would,
or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person
(including the public authority holding it).

We are applying Section 43 (2) as a prejudice-based exemption.  We may
rely on this exemption if the disclosure would prejudice someone’s
commercial interests (including the University’s own).  Commercial
interests may be prejudiced where a disclosure would be likely to:

·         Damage its business reputation or the confidence that customers,
suppliers or investors may have in it

·         Have a detrimental impact on its commercial revenue or threaten
its ability to obtain supplies or secure finance

·         Weaken its position in a competitive environment by revealing
market sensitive information or information of potential usefulness to its
competitors.

It is the latter of these three points that The University of Manchester
feels is relevant to this request. To determine where the public interest
lies with regard to this exemption, we have liaised extensively with
relevant staff in the University including the Director of Student
Recruitment & International Development (who is also Chair of the
University’s Intake Management Group), the Heads of Teaching, Learning and
the Student Experience in Faculties (notably FSE and Humanities as the
largest recruiters both in terms of numbers of programmes and numbers of
students) as well as the University’s Head of Student Data, Analysis and
Records.

All felt that releasing the information requested at programme level would
impact on the University’s competitive advantage and would therefore
prejudice our commercial interests. Providing information on the level of
applications, offers and/or acceptances at programme level would give a
new or existing competitor key information about our programmes. This
could enable them to either start a new programme themselves (by
identifying a perceived gap in the market which could then impact on our
numbers of applications, offers and/or acceptances thus meaning less
students/income for us) or to more aggressively compete with us/poach from
us (as they identify they could be able to gain a bigger share of the
market which could then impact on our numbers of applications, offers
and/or acceptances thus meaning less students/income for us). Any
disclosure under the FOIA is considered as a disclosure to the world, so
whereas it may not be your intention to use the information in this way,
it must be an important factor in our considerations. It is true that the
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes details of our actual
student intake (albeit a year or so after the event) but this is just one
component of the recruitment equation with the numbers of applications and
offers in particular helping to give a competitor vital information around
the potential size/scale of the market as well as the quality of the
market when cross referencing with our entry requirements which are in the
public domain (as they need to be there for prospective applicants).

Public Interest Test

As Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption we are required to carry out a
public interest test to determine if the commercial interest is overridden
by the public interest from a release of the information concerned.

Factors in Favour of Disclosure

There is public interest in disclosing applications, offers and
registrations. To do so would ensure that members of the public can be
satisfied that the University of Manchester is open and transparent.  It
may also assist public debate with regard to the issue of student
recruitment and offer making.

Factors Against Disclosure

Universities operate in an ever and increasingly competitive environment
and as such, the University would not wish to disclose information that
would be likely to prejudice our commercial interests and our position
within this environment.

Therefore, we believe that for the reasons outlined above, the balance
lies in maintaining the exemption at this time. 

If you feel that The University of Manchester has refused access to
information to which you are entitled, or has not dealt with your request
appropriately under the FOIA, you have a right of appeal.

An appeal in the first instance should be directed to the Information
Governance Office at [4][email address]. You should include: 

·         details of your initial request

·         any other relevant information

You must make this appeal within 40 working days from receipt of your
response. We will not accept appeals received after this date, as per the
Freedom of Information Code of Practice, Section 5.3.

The University will deal with your appeal within a reasonable time, and
will inform you of the projected time scale on receipt of your complaint.
You are also welcome to contact the Information Governance Office with
informal questions about the handling of your request. 

After The University’s internal appeals procedure has been exhausted, you
have a further right of appeal to the Information Commissioner’s
Office. Details of this procedure can be found at [5]www.ico.org.uk.

Kind regards

Sharon

Sharon Glen | Information Officer | Information Governance Office |
Directorate of Compliance and Risk |Professional Services | G7 Christie
Building | The University of Manchester | Oxford Road | Manchester | M13
9PL | Tel +44(0) 161 306 7549| [6]www.manchester.ac.uk

[7]data_matters_logo2-(3)

We are all responsible for protecting personal data held by the
University, including who we share that data with. Stop and think before
you send your email.  For further guidance see:
[8]www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

References

Visible links
1. https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/
2. https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/maste...
3. https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/postg...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/
6. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/
8. http://www.dataprotection.manchester.ac....