A106 selection process

Judy Macdonald made this Freedom of Information request to University of Manchester

This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

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The request was refused by University of Manchester.

Dear University of Manchester,

Could you confirm what selection process you are using for your A106 medicine course for UK applicants via your holistic route, please.
I would appreciate any scoring system you may use for GCSEs and A levels and what weighting is given in terms of overall ranking for selection for interview to each of these, eg what points for each grade at GCSE and A level and what each of these is worth as a percentage of the overall score.
Could you also please state what scores are given to additional qualifications, eg AS levels, EPQ, etc
Could you also please tell me how you allocate the points for the UCAT, eg is it in deciles and if so are those based on Pearson Vue scoring or the applicants to Manchester? What weighting is given to an applicants UCAT score, please?
Could you then please tell me what marks are available for the NAI form and how these are allocated, to include any scoring proforma or similar, if used? Again, what weighting is given to an applicants NAI form score, please?
Are there any other qualifications, achievements or attributes that are scored other than those mentioned above, please?

Could you then also confirm what score was needed for a standard, non-contextual applicant for 2018 and 2019 entry, please?

Yours faithfully,

Judy Macdonald

Dear Judy,

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

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

Kind regards

Sharon

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: www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

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Dear Judy,

Thank you for your request for information received by The University of
Manchester on 27 August 2019 which was as follows (numbered for ease):

1. Could you confirm what selection process you are using for your
A106 medicine course for UK applicants via your holistic route, please.

2. I would appreciate any scoring system you may use for GCSEs and A
levels and what weighting is given in terms of overall ranking for
selection for interview to each of these, eg what points for each grade at
GCSE and A level and what each of these is worth as a percentage of the
overall score.

3. Could you also please state what scores are given to additional
qualifications, eg AS levels, EPQ, etc Could you also please tell me how
you allocate the points for the UCAT, eg is it in deciles and if so are
those based on Pearson Vue scoring or the applicants to Manchester?

4. What weighting is given to an applicant’s UCAT score, please?

5. Could you then please tell me what marks are available for the
NAI form and how these are allocated, to include any scoring proforma or
similar, if used? Again, what weighting is given to an applicant’s NAI
form score, please?

6. Are there any other qualifications, achievements or attributes
that are scored other than those mentioned above, please?

7. Could you then also confirm what score was needed for a standard,
non-contextual applicant for 2018 and 2019 entry, please?

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

1. Please note that this is an admissions question rather than being
a valid request for recorded information in line with the Freedom of
Information Act. You should contact our admissions team on
[1][email address] for any similar queries in the future.
However I can advise that the holistic criterion is based on the academic
judgement of the staff who review an application, they can take any
element of an application into consideration, including all information on
the UCAS form. They also reserve the right to use any information that
they hold about an applicant to arrive at a decision.

An overview of the selection process is also available at
[2]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m....

2. Information not held – We do not assign ‘points’ or ‘weightings’
to GCSE or A Level grades, additional qualifications or UCAT scores. Our
admission system is threshold based and if an applicant meets the criteria
at each stage in the process, their application progresses to the next
stage. Holistic review is based on the academic judgment of the colleagues
reviewing an application. More information is available at
[3]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m....

3. As per question 2.

4. As per question 2.

5. Information from the NAI form normally feeds into the selection
process at interview. There are no marks formally allocated to it at that
point but it forms the basis of discussion in an interview station; it may
also be reviewed at any point in the selection process as required.

6. Information not held – Holistic review is based on the academic
judgment of the colleagues reviewing an application, they may consider any
qualification or achievement listed on your application. More information
is available at [4]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m....

7. There is insufficient information in your question to produce a
full response as the score to which you refer is not clear from your
question. However if you mean UCAT score please see the information
available on our more application data page at
[5]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m....

We recommend that you contact [6][email address] if you have
any further questions about our selection process.

I trust that this information is of use to you.

Kind regards

Sharon

[8]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:
[9]www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

Confidentiality and Legal Privilege: The contents of this email and its
attachment(s) are confidential to the intended recipient and may be
legally privileged. It may not be disclosed, copied, forwarded, used or
relied upon by any person other than the intended addressee. If you
believe that you have received the email and its attachment(s) in error,
you must not take any action based on them, nor must you copy or show them
to anyone. Please respond to the sender and delete this email and its
attachment(s) from your system.

References

Dear MTRS FOIA,

So according to your response, the selectors assessing for the holistic route make a totally subjective judgement on an applicant without any form of collective guidance or direction?
Could you confirm this is the case, please and if so, if there are any processes in places at all to ensure standardisation and equity in that assessment procedure? If not, can you explain how this fits in with the MSC Selecting for Excellence Agenda that states medical schools should "make the processes that are used to determine admission crystal clear to applicants"?

If there is some form of guidance given to Assessors then I would like a copy of this, please, even if it does not contain a formal scoring system. Alternatively any information they are given during the training procedure.

If you still maintain there is no structured guidance or process for an individual assessor to use, then could I have the criteria you mention in your reply 2) and the thresholds that an applicant required for 2018 and 2019 entry to progress to the next stage of assessment

Many thanks

Yours sincerely,

Judy Macdonald

Dear Judy,

Thank you for your email requesting guidance given to Assessors. Please note as you did not ask for this data in your original request we are treating this as a new request, our reference as per the subject line.

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

With regards your remaining questions, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, requests can be made for recorded information only. Your request is not asking for recorded information but rather explanations and as such it does not constitute a valid request as the University is not obliged to create new information or to answer questions that staff may know the answer to under the Act.

As suggested in our original response, our admissions team may be able to help with admission questions not covered by the Freedom of Information Act.

Best wishes

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 Judy,

Thank you for your email requesting the following data and please find our
response below:

So according to your response, the selectors assessing for the holistic
route make a totally subjective judgement on an applicant without any form
of collective guidance or direction?

Could you confirm this is the case, please and if so, if there are any
processes in places at all to ensure standardisation and equity in that
assessment procedure? If not, can you explain how this fits in with the
MSC Selecting for Excellence Agenda that states medical schools should
"make the processes that are used to determine admission crystal clear to
applicants"?

If there is some form of guidance given to Assessors then I would like a
copy of this, please, even if it does not contain a formal scoring system.
Alternatively any information they are given during the training
procedure.

If you still maintain there is no structured guidance or process for an
individual assessor to use, then could I have the criteria you mention in
your reply 2) and the thresholds that an applicant required for 2018 and
2019 entry to progress to the next stage of assessment.

The selection process for interview at Manchester is highly transparent
and is explained on our application website at:

[1]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...

The majority of candidates are invited to interview based on their UCAT
scores falling in approximately the top third of the national results,
this enables us to select those candidates with excellent performance in
aptitude testing. Manchester Medical School is an active participant and
member of the Medical Schools Council Selection Alliance and Selecting for
Excellence is a report with a number of objectives. We introduced a
‘holistic’ selection route partly in response to Selecting for Excellence
several years ago with the aim of widening access to the medical
programme.

Our holistic review process recognises that everyone has a different set
of skills. If an applicant’s UCAT falls close to, but marginally lower
than of the top third of UCAT results nationally then we no longer simply
reject them on this criterion alone. To ensure that these applicants also
get a chance to be interviewed, our Academic Lead for Admissions will
review the application together with our Admissions Manager and they will
look at the information that is available on each UCAS form to arrive at a
decision on these borderline candidates.

The decision on which applicants are invited to interview through this
selection route is based entirely on academic judgement, this is entirely
appropriate and is the selection mechanism for the vast majority of
undergraduate degree applications to any UK University, where an
admissions tutor would view the UCAS application. Factors that the School
could consider at this stage are wide and varied (for example, GCSE
grades, A-level profile, additional qualifications, WP status etc.). We
expect to invite 500-600 applicants to interview through this selection
route. We include some examples of how this information is used in the
Frequently Asked Questions section of our website:

[2]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...

All staff receive training in admissions, this is delivered yearly either
online or in person. Colleagues also receive training in a wide variety of
subjects including unconscious bias, equalities and discrimination and
data protection.

I hope you find the above useful.

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

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
2. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...

Dear University of Manchester,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of University of Manchester's handling of my FOI request 'A106 selection process'.

I have twice requested information about how candidates are selected via the holistic route for A106 and both times have not had my specific questions answered. I am asking what criteria are awarded what points in the selection system. I have been told there are no points or scoring system used for any aspect of the application, but at the same time that "Our admission system is threshold based and if an applicant meets the criteria at each stage in the process, their application progresses to the next stage". How are these "thresholds" determined if there are no points, scores or values attributed to the attributes/qualifications/etc being assessed?

I have asked for details of what these criteria are and what the thresholds required have been to progress to the next stage and the response is "Factors that the School could consider at this stage are wide and varied". Whilst I appreciate this may the case, I have asked exactly what these factors are and how they are considered, what their weighting is against any other factor, etc, etc. Does a high UCAT rate above a good NAI, or academics, or is it the other way round? The website mentions extra A levels as being desireable, are A levels rated above other elements?

I am finding it hard to believe that 2 people sit down, with no specific guidance, scoring system or objective means of making an assessment and just choose which 500-600 people they invite for interview as this would be hugely subjective and risks putting the university in the situation where they are unable to defend their decision-making processes robustly if required to explain how these were reached. If there is guidance issued to the 2 selectors, I have requested copies of the information used, please.

I would therfore be grateful if somebody could review the responses given and confirm that it is indeed the case that 2 people, with no protocol, scoring system, guidance notes, SOP or similar just make decisions based on their own preferences, or could you please provide me with the criteria, how they are judged, both within that class and against one another, and what the threshold is for an applicant to obtain an interiew, either for each section, if it is a stepwise system, or overall, if it is done in totality.

Many thanks for your help and please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further clarification
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...

Yours faithfully,

Judy Macdonald

Dear Ms Macdonald

As you have expressed dissatisfaction in The University of Manchester’s response to your FOI request, we will submit this for an Internal Review as per our procedures in accordance with the Act. This will give the University the opportunity to review the response and the data provided by a member of staff not party to the original process.

We will endeavour to provide a response to your Internal Review within 20 working days.

Kind regards

David Smith

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Dear Judy

I write further to your request for an Internal Review of your recent
Freedom of Information Request which was as follows:

1. Could you confirm what selection process you are using for your
A106 medicine course for UK applicants via your holistic route, please.

2. I would appreciate any scoring system you may use for GCSEs and
A levels and what weighting is given in terms of overall ranking for
selection for interview to each of these, eg what points for each grade
at GCSE and A level and what each of these is worth as a percentage of
the overall score.

4. What weighting is given to an applicant’s UCAT score, please?

6. Are there any other qualifications, achievements or attributes
that are scored other than those mentioned above, please?

7. Could you then also confirm what score was needed for a
standard, non-contextual applicant for 2018 and 2019 entry, please?

We responded to you as follows:

1. Please note that this is an admissions question rather than
being a valid request for recorded information in line with the Freedom
of Information Act. You should contact our admissions team at
[1][email address] for any similar queries in the future.
However I can advise that the holistic criterion is based on the academic
judgement of the staff who review an application, they can take any
element of an application into consideration, including all information
on the UCAS form. They also reserve the right to use any information that
they hold about an applicant to arrive at a decision. An overview of the
selection process is also available at
[2]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m....

2. Information not held – We do not assign ‘points’ or ‘weightings’
to GCSE or A Level grades, additional qualifications or UCAT scores. Our
admission system is threshold based and if an applicant meets the
criteria at each stage in the process, their application progresses to
the next stage. Holistic review is based on the academic judgment of the
colleagues reviewing an application. More information is available at
[3]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...

3. As per question 2.

4. As per question 2.

5. Information from the NAI form normally feeds into the selection
process at interview. There are no marks formally allocated to it at that
point but it forms the basis of discussion in an interview station; it
may also be reviewed at any point in the selection process as required.

6. Information not held – Holistic review is based on the academic
judgment of the colleagues reviewing an application, they may consider
any qualification or achievement listed on your application. More
information is available at
[4]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m....

You came back to us as follows:

So according to your response, the selectors assessing for the holistic
route make a totally subjective judgement on an applicant without any form
of collective guidance or direction?

If there is some form of guidance given to Assessors then I would like a
copy of this, please, even if it does not contain a formal scoring system.
Alternatively any information they are given during the training
procedure.

If you still maintain there is no structured guidance or process for an
individual assessor to use, then could I have the criteria you mention in
your reply 2) and the thresholds that an applicant required for 2018 and
2019 entry to progress to the next stage of assessment.

We responded by saying:

The selection process for interview at Manchester is highly transparent
and is explained on our application website at:

[7]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...

[8]https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...

You then asked for an Internal Review, stating:

I have twice requested information about how candidates are selected via
the holistic route for A106 and both times have not had my specific
questions answered. I am asking what criteria are awarded what points in
the selection system. I have been told there are no points or scoring
system used for any aspect of the application, but at the same time that
"Our admission system is threshold based and if an applicant meets the
criteria at each stage in the process, their application progresses to the
next stage". How are these "thresholds" determined if there are no points,
scores or values attributed to the attributes/qualifications/etc being
assessed?

I have asked for details of what these criteria are and what the
thresholds required have been to progress to the next stage and the
response is "Factors that the School could consider at this stage are wide
and varied". Whilst I appreciate this may the case, I have asked exactly
what these factors are and how they are considered, what their weighting
is against any other factor, etc, etc. Does a high UCAT rate above a good
NAI, or academics, or is it the other way round? The website mentions
extra A levels as being desirable, are A levels rated above other
elements?

I am finding it hard to believe that 2 people sit down, with no specific
guidance, scoring system or objective means of making an assessment and
just choose which 500-600 people they invite for interview as this would
be hugely subjective and risks putting the university in the situation
where they are unable to defend their decision-making processes robustly
if required to explain how these were reached. If there is guidance issued
to the 2 selectors, I have requested copies of the information used,
please.

I would therefore be grateful if somebody could review the responses given
and confirm that it is indeed the case that 2 people, with no protocol,
scoring system, guidance notes, SOP or similar just make decisions based
on their own preferences, or could you please provide me with the
criteria, how they are judged, both within that class and against one
another, and what the threshold is for an applicant to obtain an
interview, either for each section, if it is a stepwise system, or
overall, if it is done in totality.

I have looked into your request and what has been provided and approached
the officers that provided the above response for further information.
Our School of Medical Sciences has confirmed that they don’t hold any
further information on the screening process that you are asking about.

Your rights under The Freedom of Information Act 2000 are based around
recorded information and access to it. Regarding the answering of your
Internal Review questions and the reasoning behind them, these are asking
for justification / opinions which is a different process. For answers to
these points please approach the School of Medical Sciences direct at
[9][email address]

This now concludes our Internal Review of your Freedom of Information
Request and as the University’s appeals process has now been exhausted, if
you are still not happy with the information we have provided then you
have a further right of appeal to the Information Commissioner’s
Office. Details of this procedure can be found at [10]www.ico.org.uk.

Kind regards

Alex

[12]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:
[13]www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

Confidentiality and Legal Privilege: The contents of this email and its
attachment(s) are confidential to the intended recipient and may be
legally privileged. It may not be disclosed, copied, forwarded, used or
relied upon by any person other than the intended addressee. If you
believe that you have received the email and its attachment(s) in error,
you must not take any action based on them, nor must you copy or show them
to anyone. Please respond to the sender and delete this email and its
attachment(s) from your system.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
3. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
4. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
5. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
8. https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/m...
9. mailto:[email address]
10. http://www.ico.org.uk/
11. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/
13. http://www.dataprotection.manchester.ac....

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