INFORMATION COMPLIANCE TEAM
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref: 202310/987
10 November 2023
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your ref
Email of 14 October 2023
_
Request
See Annex
Dear Pierre-Yves,
I write in reply to your email requesting the information detailed above.
Please refer to the attached dataset in answer to your queries. For point 5, we have supplied row-level interview
scores, to avoid averaging across colleges. For point 8, we have supplied the number of applicants by college
of application/allocation, split by UK/International domicile. For point 9, we hold data on the number of GCSE
top grades (8/9/A*) which most closely matches this part of the request. We have therefore supplied the average
number of 8/9/A*s at GCSE, which includes International GCSE data.
Your request is for detailed individual level data. We consider that disclosure of this information in the exact
form requested might enable those with access to other information or knowledge to identify individuals and
learn new information about those individuals e.g. those on the same course or at the same college. For this
reason, we have, where appropriate, redacted data where it relates to or is based on headcounts of less than
three people, including zero, to mitigate the risk of persons being identified.
In taking this measure, we are applying the exemption in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). Section 40(2) provides an exemption from disclosure for information that is the personal data of an
individual other than the requester, where disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles in Article
5 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We consider that disclosure of the information requested
in the exact form requested would breach the first data protection principle, which requires that personal data
is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner. Disclosure would be unfair to the individuals concerned,
as it would be contrary to their reasonable and legitimate expectations. They would not reasonably expect that
information relating to their application to Oxford would be made public under the FOIA without their consent.
For the disclosure of personal data to be lawful, it must have a lawful basis under Article 6 of the GDPR. There
are six possible lawful bases in Article 6; we do not consider that any of them would be satisfied in respect of
the disclosure.
The exemption in section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test provided
for in section 2(2)(b) of the FOIA. To the extent that the public interest is relevant in this case, the University
considers it is satisfied by the information provided
2
INTERNAL REVIEW
If you are dissatisfied with this reply, you may ask the University to review it by e-mailin
g xxx@xxxxx.xx.xx.xx. A request for internal review should be submitted no later than 40 working days from the date of this letter.
THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
If, after the internal review, you are still dissatisfied, you have the right under FOIA to apply to the Information
Commissioner for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in accordance with the FOIA. You
can do this online using the
Information Commissioner’s complaints portal.
Yours sincerely
FOI Oxford
Information Compliance Team
ANNEX
I am writing to request information regarding your admissions statistics for applicants from the United Kingdom
as well as international applicants to the university of Oxford in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 for M100 and
M191 courses.
I would like to ask for the below statistics with the breakdown per year and per course:
1) Number of applicants to the M100 and M191 courses in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023
2) Number and percentage of successful international A level applicants who received an offer for M100 and
M191 courses in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023
3) Predicted grades at A-level of the applicants who applied to M100,M191 courses in 2018,2019, 2020, 2022
and 2023
4) Predicted grades of international applicants at A-level who received an offer for M100,M191 courses in
2018,2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023
5)The mean, minimum and maximum interview scores of successful international applicants who applied to
M100,M191 courses in 2018,2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023
6) The mean, minimum and maximum score for LNAT MCQ of applicants who applied to M100,M191 courses in
2018,2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023
7) The mean, minimum and maximum score for LNAT Essay of applicants who applied to M100,M191 courses
in 2018,2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023
8) The college applied to by each successful applicant, with a focus on international applicants, for above
mentioned courses in 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023
9) The mean number of A's and A*'s received at GCSE/International GCSE's by all applicants for the M100 and
M191 courses in 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023
10) The Most common subject combinations at A-level of successful applicants to the M100 and M191 courses
in 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023
