Thank you for your email. The University’s working arrangements are
affected by the Coronavirus outbreak but we will respond to your enquiry
as soon as possible.

Information requests (freedom of information requests, environmental
information requests, data subject rights requests)

While we will make all efforts to respond to requests promptly, please be
aware that in some cases unfortunately we will not be able to respond
within statutory timescales. The [1]Scottish Information Commissioner’s
Office and the [2]Information Commissioner’s Office have both issued
statements about requests during the Covid-19 pandemic which you may find
helpful.

Please note that if you have only provided your first (or given) name in
the body of your email your request will not be valid.  To ensure your
request is valid and that the University is obliged to answer it, you must
provide your real name.  If you are making the request on behalf of
someone else you must provide their real name.  The Office of
the [3]Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on this point explains
that if you do not provide your real name or the name of the person on
whose behalf you are making the request, you will lose your right to
appeal to the Commissioner should you be unhappy with the handling of your
request. The guidance also explains what constitutes a real name for the
purposes of making a request valid. Please refer to the guidance for
further details.

[4]The University of Edinburgh's request privacy notice, which describes
how we use the information you have supplied about yourself and your
request, is published on the University website.

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland,
with registration number SC005336.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/home/...
2. https://ico.org.uk/
3. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/F...
4. https://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/...

Dear Yifan Ge

Thank you for your email of 9 September requesting information about the
acceptance rate for postgraduate programmes.

As explained in our automatic reply message, the University’s working
arrangements are affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. Unfortunately, I am
currently unable to tell you exactly when you will receive a response to
your request. However, I can confirm that it is actively being progressed
and that we are making all efforts to respond to your request promptly.
The [1]Scottish Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a statement
about requests during the Covid-19 pandemic which you may find helpful.

If you are unhappy with the way the University has handled your request,
you do have the right to ask the University to conduct an internal review
of the reasons for the delay. The [2]Scottish Information Commissioner’s
guidance about this during the Covid-19 pandemic is available on their
website. If you wish to submit a review request you should write to the
Records Management Section (using this email address), describing the
original request, explaining your grounds for dissatisfaction, and
including an address for correspondence. When the review process is
complete, if you are still dissatisfied, you may use the Scottish
Information Commissioner’s guidance on making an appeal to make an appeal
to the Commissioner. 

[3]The University of Edinburgh's request privacy notice, which describes
how we use the information you have supplied about yourself and your
request, is published on the University website.

Yours sincerely

Mark Hepworth

Information Compliance Officer

Records Management Section

The University of Edinburgh | Old College | South Bridge | Edinburgh | EH8
9YL

Telephone: 0131 651 4099

Email: [4][University of Edinburgh request email]

Website: [5]http://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland,
with registration number SC005336.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/home/...
2. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...
3. https://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/...
4. mailto:[University of Edinburgh request email]
5. http://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management

Dear Yifan,

Thank you for your enquiry of 9^th September 2020 requesting information
about the number of taught postgraduate applications we receive and the
numbers of offers made.

The University of Edinburgh is a global university, rooted in Scotland. We
are globally recognised for our research, development and innovation and
we have provided world-class teaching to our students for more than 425
years. We are the largest university in Scotland and in 2018/19 our annual
revenue was £1.1 billion, of which £286 million was research income. We
have over 43,000 students and almost 16,000 staff. We are a founding
member of the UK’s Russell Group of leading research universities and a
member of the League of European Research Universities.

We are committed to providing a wealth of resources and opportunities to
enable our postgraduates to benefit from our inspiring research culture.
Our academics are leaders in their fields and the University is also
committed to delivering high-quality, innovative teaching. More
information on our postgraduate degree programmes is available on our
website.

Postgraduate admissions statistics

The University received 83,997 applications to our taught postgraduate
programmes for the 2020/21 academic year. 28,824 of these applications
resulted in an offer being made.

You requested that we provide the number of applications and offers made
for “each major”. The term major has been interpreted as the degree
programme to which an application was made. This information is provided
in the attached Microsoft Excel file.

You will see that I have not provided the exact number where the number is
fewer than five. This is because disclosing these low numbers could enable
individuals to be identified. This would contravene data protection
principles set out in data protection law. The Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 does not require us to provide this sort of
information as it is exempt under section 38(1)(b).

Right to review

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may ask the University to
conduct a review of this decision by contacting the University's Records
Management Section in writing (e.g. by letter or email) or in some other
recorded form (e.g. audio or video tape) using the details below.  You
should describe the original request, explain your grounds for
dissatisfaction, and include an address for correspondence.  You have 40
working days from receipt of this letter to submit a review request. 

Records Management Section

University of Edinburgh

Old College
South Bridge

Edinburgh

EH8 9YL

Email: [1][University of Edinburgh request email]

When the review process has been completed, if you are still dissatisfied,
you may use the [2]Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making
an appeal to make an appeal to the Commissioner.  If you do not have
access to the Internet, please let me know and I will provide a copy of
the relevant web pages.

Privacy notice for information request applicants

[3]The University of Edinburgh's request privacy notice, which describes
how we use the information you have supplied about yourself and your
request, is published on the University website.

Sincere regards,

Chris

Chris Sim

Admissions Support Officer

Student Recruitment and Admissions

The University of Edinburgh

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, admissions staff are now working remotely.
Please be assured that we have everything in place to process applications
and manage email enquiries as usual.

For up-to-date information about the University of Edinburgh’s
arrangements for applicants, please visit our website: 
[4]https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/covid-19/prosp...

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland,
with registration number SC005336.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[University of Edinburgh request email]
2. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...
3. https://www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/...
4. https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/covid-19/prosp...