Dear Lana,

I am writing to acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 received by The University of Manchester on 13 March, our
reference as per the subject line.

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

NB Due to the evolving situation with the Covid-19 virus and the
University’s response to it, there may be a delay in receiving your
response at this time.

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  

[1]www.manchester.ac.uk

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D320C7.272763F0

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

References

Visible links
1. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/
3. http://www.dataprotection.manchester.ac....

Dear Lana,

Thank you for your request for information received by The University of
Manchester on 13 March 2020 which was as follows:

I am writing to request the following information. Please kindly help
provide the data for 2019/2020 admission cycle, and 2020/2021 admission
cycle to date, separately, thank you!

1. List of all postgraduate taught courses

2. Number of applicants for each taught course

3. Number of interviews ( if applicable) for each taught course

4. Number of offers made for each taught course

5. Number of Chinese applicants for each taught course

6. Number of offers made to Chinese applicants for each taught course

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

1.       The listing for our current PGT courses on offer can be found at:
[1]https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/maste.... We have also
attached a historic listing which we have on file for before this year.

2.       – 6. The remainder of the information you are seeking cannot be
provided at this time. This is because the information is 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 regarding requests of this nature,
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 course level would
impact on the University’s competitive advantage and would therefore
prejudice our commercial interests. Providing information on the level of
applications and offers at course level would give a new or existing
competitor key information about our programmes. This could enable them to
either start a new course 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 and offer data. 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 [2][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 [3]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| [4]www.manchester.ac.uk

[5]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:
[6]www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

References

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