INFORMATION GOVERNANCE
Lafrowda House
St. German’s Road
Exeter, UK
EX4 6TL
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xx.xx
www.exeter.ac.uk/ig
6 July 2020
Ref: FOI20 - 216
Dear Requester,
Thank you for your email of 12th June 2020 requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Please see the responses to each of your questions below:
Please release an excel sheet, summarising the average scores and average successful scores of
applicants on UCAT test and 9s at GCSE for successful applicants for the past three cycles.
If averages are unavailable anonymised raw data with the columns '9s at GCSE', 'UCAT Score' and
'Successful/Unsuccessful' would be appreciated.
I'm looking for information on entry grades limited to one particular discipline which is medicine
and would be great to know a list of grades and scores and if they were successful.
Please find the table below for the Average UKCAT scores.
Average
Average
UKCAT score
UKCAT score
Cycle
for all
for offer-
applicants
holders
2017/8
1463
1828
2018/9
2311
2545
2019/0
2266
2364
With regard to GCSE, this will be available from UCAS. The University does not receive them from
UCAS as the University does not use in the decision making process for BMBS programme.
The detailed data you have requested cannot be provided in full by either the University or UCAS
due to the low numbers of applicants covered by the requested data. The data would need to be
anonymised in line with Section 40 of The FOIA and it would therefore not be possible to disclose
the level of detail you have requested. The redactions which would be required would also reduce
the usefulness of the data for the purposes of analysis.
As the detailed dataset could not be disclosed under FOIA we then considered if an anonymised
dataset could be provided and if so, if any additional exemptions may apply. UCAS can provide
anonymised figures through the EXACT service and therefore the data is publicly available
elsewhere, albeit in an anonymised form. It is worth noting that the anonymisation methodologies
may vary across institutions, UCAS would be able to offer a consistent, comparable source for the
data so procuring the data from them may be more appropriate if you wish to compare institutions
in any analysis.
Although EXACT is a chargeable service UCAS considers the pricing methodology of EXACT to be
reasonable, justifiable and transparent. Details can be accessed via their publication scheme on
ucas.com her
e https://www.ucas.com/about-us/policies/freedom-information/guide-information.
We feel that disclosure of UCAS derived data by higher education providers would prejudice their
ability to sell application data via the EXACT service to third parties. There is likely to be significant
commercial harm to UCAS as a disclosure under FOI, being a disclosure into the public domain, will
allow the release of information with commercial value therefore severely weakening UCAS’ ability
to continue to sell this level of data. Such sales assist in the finance of their operations and the
pursuit of their charitable aims; reduction in income from such services can lead to consequences
including loss of significant revenue, inability to offer the same level of service to applicants or
potentially impact on jobs within their media or wider operations. We consider that the Section
43(2) argument is supported by the fact that the relevant data would be accessible on the payment
of a fee as per the details available
at https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/data-products-and-
services/exact.
Given the arguments set out above we would like to reiterate that the data requested is available in
an anonymised releasable format through UCAS on behalf of the sector. While there is a cost for
accessing bespoke datasets, the price of which is determined by UCAS in line with the organisation’s
charitable aims. We therefore consider that the data is reasonably available through that route and
is exempt from disclosure under sections 21 and 22 of the FOIA.
This response has been prepared in accordance with a request received pursuant to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. The supply of documents under FOI does not give the person who receives the
information an automatic right to re-use the documents without obtaining the consent of the
copyright holder. If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask
for an internal review. You must submit this to the Information Governance Office in writing within
40 days of receipt of this notification. Please quote the reference number above.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to
the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
(https://ico.org.uk/)
Kind Regards,
Information Governance
University of Exeter