Information Assurance and Governance
Office of the Principal
8 September 2020
Dear Brandon,
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Our Ref: 248-20
I refer to your enquiry dated 11 August 2020 asking to be supplied with information as
outlined below in relation to our Medicine A100 degree programme for undergraduate entry.
1. GCSE entry requirements: I understand you require five grade 7s, and GCSE biology. Are
there any other GCSE subjects you require? Do you require a grade 7 in biology? If you
require other subjects, what minimum grades do you require in each?
Information on entry requirements for the A100 Medicine programme can be found on our
website, including GSCE and subject requirements:
https://www.st-
andrews.ac.uk/subjects/medicine/medicine-bsc-a100/entry-requirements/academic-
requirements/uk-qualifications/ .
2. Selection process: I understand you rank UCAT for interview, but your website says you
look at academic performance, the reference and work experience on the personal
statement. Do you routinely sift out applicants before ranking their UCAT if they don’t meet
these three terms?
Academic performance - do you decline applicants even if they meet your entry
requirements? Reference and work experience - do you decline applicants based on
these?
The recorded information that the University’s holds relevant to your enquiry is as set out
on our website at:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/medicine/medicine-bsc-
a100/selection/ .
Applicants who do not meet the minimum entry requirements relevant to them, will not
progress in the application process. Applicants must have relevant work experience as
outlined and this should be shown in the person al statement. The personal statement an d
reference must show an interest in and understanding of a medical degree and career. If
an applicant passes these ‘hurdles’ they will then be ranked on their UCAT score and
invited to interview based on this ranking.
3./
Information Assurance and Governance
01334 462776
xxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532
3. Please could you tell me how many applicants you have declined for the reasons in point
(2) - i.e. academic performance meeting entry requirements but not sufficiently strong (if
you do this), poor reference and poor work experience? Please can you stratify this
number for each individual reason i.e. X declined due to academic performance, Y poor
reference and Z poor work experience? Could you provide this for 2018, 2019 and 2020
entry (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 admissions cycles respectively).
The University does not hold the information requested in a reportable format. To establish
the position for each individual application would be complex requiring data to be pulled
together for review on case by case basis. This process goes beyond data retrieval,
involving a level of intellectual input, cross-referencing information from different sources
resulting in the creation of new information which is out with the scope of the FOISA.
Section 17 of the FOISA requires that a Scottish public authority confirms in writing where
information requested of it is not held and notice is therefore given to this effect.
4. Interview: Please could you outline your scoring mechanism for interview, and the number
of points (or similar) you award for each SJT band? Please could you also provide the
mean, median and minimum scores required for an offer for the entry years 2018, 2019
and 2020 (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively?)
a) Scoring mechanism for interview
I can advise that interview for entry to the School of Medicine are in the format of multiple
mini interviews (MMIs). In previous years these have consisted of 6 mini interviews held at
stations which lasted about 6 minutes each. Each station assesses a mixture of different
domains or competencies with each domain being scored 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent.
Each year the MMI process is reviewed and a variety of domains for assessment are
chosen. Previous domains have included:
• Communication
• Motivation/preparation/insight into medical career
• Moral reasoning
• Critical thinking
• Integrity
• Empathy
• Teamwork
• Leadership/negotiation
• Resilience
• Reflection
• Protocol compliance
To standardise the application of these criterion, interviewers are trained each year for
score calibration purposes. Detailed statistical analysis is carried out each year on both
the interview stations and the interviewers, for reliability purposes.
The threshold score that is required for entry to medicine at St Andrews will vary each
year depending on the applicant pool and their performance at interview and the ‘route’
(Scotland, England or No Preference) to which applicants have applied.
b)/
b)
Table 1: Number of points awarded for each SJT band
SJT Band 2018 and 2019 Entry
2020 Entry
Band 1
15
7.5
Band 2
10
5
Band 3
5
2.5
Band 4
0
0
Table 2: Mean, Median and Minimum scores
Interview
Score
and
SJT Scores
2018
2019
2020
combined
Maximum number of Points
106
106
81
Mean
82.5
82.5
63.4
Median
82
82
63
Minimum
69
69
51.5
Please note:
a) That due to a change in the:
• weighting of some of the domains measured;
• stations used; and
• weighting of the SJT;
the total number of points possibly awarded changed in 2020 application cycle.
b) The figures presented in Table 2 only include direct entrants to the A100 programme
who interviewed in St Andrews and do not include those:
• Applying through the Gateway to Medicine programme;
• Applying from the International Foundation Programme; or
• Who interviewed overseas or through Skype?
Information otherwise accessible
In answer to questions 1 and 2 you are being directed to information that is readily available
on our website and as such, section 25(1),
Information otherwise accessible of the FOISA is
applicable. The University has responsibilities to the taxpayer and other stakeholders to
provide value for money. Where the University has expended resource to proactively make
information available from its Freedom of Information publication scheme and the public
interest is best served by referring an applicant to that alternative source, then it will do so.
Please note that this exemption is absolute and does not require validation through
application of the public interest test.
Information Assurance and Governance
01334 462776
xxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532
Your right to seek a review of how your information request was managed
If you are not satisfied with the University’s response and/or our reasoning set-out above, you
have the right to request a review of our decision. The timelines in which this right is available
are set out in section 20(5)(a) and (b) FOISA and regulation 16 of the EIRs. In broad terms
the right to seek a review must be exercised within 40 working days of receiving this
response.
The Information Assurance and Governance team are currently working remotely due to the
Coronavirus pandemic. Any request for review at this time should be sent by email to
foi@st-
andrews.ac.uk stating:
a) your name and address;
b) details of your original request; and
c) the reasons why you are dissatisfied with our response.
If you remain dissatisfied with how your request for information has been dealt with following
Review, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) for a
decision. In the event of an appeal to the SIC, the Commissioner will generally only be able
to investigate the matters raised in the request for review.
Details on how to make an appeal online to the SIC can be found on their website:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Unhappywiththeresponse/AppealingtoCommis
sioner.aspx .
This concludes the University’s response.
Yours sincerely
JUNE WEIR
Information Assurance and Governance Officer
