Thank you for your message.
If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days.

For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection & FOI
Legal Services
UCL

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Dear Narek,

The University has carried out an initial assessment and in order for us to deal with your request we require you to provide some additional details specifically, your full name. Without this information, your request does not meet the criteria for a valid request for information set out in Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

Can you please therefore provide your full name?

Kind regards

Mehwish Sultan
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Adviser
University College London
Legal Services
E: [email address] Data Protection: [email address] FOI: [UCL request email].
Telephone: +44 (0)203 108 7862 (internal 57862)

Working hours: Please note that I work from home on Mondays.

show quoted sections

Dear Narek,

We have completed the compilation of information in response to your
request.

We can confirm that we do hold information of the description specified in
your request and this information where it is not exempt, it is provided
below and attached.

Your request:

I would like to know the average module marks of the following 7 modules:

sess0020 topics in microeconomics

sess0021 european macroeconomics

sess0024 economic history and ideas

sess0030 russian politics and society

sess0033 comparative political analysis

sess0061 democracy and democratisation

sess0063 international trade

Our response:

Please see attached PDF document.

Some of the requested information has been withheld under section 40(2) of
the FOIA by virtue of s40 (3)(a)(i).

Section 40(2) of the FOIA allows a public authority to withhold
information under the FOIA where (i) the requested information is personal
data relating to someone other than the requester and (ii) its disclosure
would breach any of the data protection principles.

Although there are no identifiable details within the data being
disclosed, some of the average module marks requested have been derived
from counts of 5 students or less. Such data has been withheld to prevent
the data from giving away the underlying figures for the number of
students who achieved the module mark. We believe that disclosing the data
as requested may be used by ‘motivated intruders’ and other knowledgeable
third parties to identify individual students as part of a jigsaw-effect.
This is where strands of data available to an individual can be put
together to create personal data not in the public domain. There would be
no expectation that this type of information would be disclosed to the
wider public and it would be considered unfair to do so; this therefore
breaches the first data protection principle.

As the section 40(2) exemption is an absolute one, there is no need to
conduct a public interest test. 

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example by publishing or issuing copies to the public, will require the
permission of the copyright owner.

If you are unhappy with our response to your request and wish to make a
complaint or request a review of our decision, please email
[1][email address]. Emails should include the words ‘Internal
Review’ in the subject and be marked For the Attention of the Chief
Operating Officer, alternatively you should write to:

Chief Operating Officer

University College London

Gower Street

London

WC1E 6BT

Please note, complaints and requests for internal review received more
than two months after the initial decision will not be handled.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner at the address given below.
You should do this within two months of our final decision.

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me using the details
provided in this letter and including the request reference number.

Further information on the Freedom of Information Act is available from
the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

SK9 5AF

01625 545700

[2]www.ico.org.uk

[3][email address]

Kind regards,

Mehwish Sultan

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Adviser

University College London

Legal Services

E: [4][email address] Data Protection: [5][email address]
FOI: [6][UCL request email].

Telephone: +44 (0)203 108 7862 (internal 57862)

Working hours: Please note that I work from home on Mondays.

References

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2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
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5. mailto:[email address]
6. mailto:[UCL request email]