Business Assurance
1st Floor
Information
Somerset House East Wing
Compliance
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Tel: 020 7848 7816
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx.xx
Ayush Kotecha
By email only
to: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
31st July 2023
Dear Ayush Kotecha,
Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”)
Further to your recent request for information held by King’s College London, I am
writing to confirm that the requested information is held by the university.
Your request
We received your information request on 3rd July 2023 and have treated it as a request for
information made under section 1(1) of the Act.
You requested the following information:
I have a request regarding information on the universities dentistry school. All questions are for last years
UCAS cycle.
1) How many of the students admitted were studying A Levels?
2) How many of the students admitted were international?
3) How many of each category of students that I have mentioned above were:
i) Rejected pre interview
ii) Rejected post interview
iii) Given an offer
By each category, I am referring to the categories 'A Level students'.
4) For each applicant, can I get their UKCAT score, their GCSE results, degree result or prediction, A
Level results or prediction, pre interview score and interview score? If it is not possible to give all the data
within the time limit of 18 hours, I would ask the university give me a sample of randomised data such that
the time and cost constraints are met.
5) I would also request for a copy of the interview form that the university uses to assess a candidate during
the interview for the Dentistry course. This request is applicable for this years entry cycle and I would like
the forms for interview for both the undergraduate and post graduate interviews.
6)I would also like to know what the selection process is when determining a candidates suitability for the
five year course. If any form is used to assess this, I would also like a copy of this.
Our response
I have a request regarding information on the university’s dentistry school. All questions are for last
years UCAS cycle.
Please note:
We have interpreted the request as pertaining to the two dentistry courses with UCAS
course code ‘A205’ and ‘A206’.
1. How many of the students admitted were studying A Levels?
UCAS Course
Enrolees with a UCAS-verified A Level
Code
grade record from the academic year 2021/2
A205
74
A206
13
2. How many of the students admitted were international?
UCAS Course
Enrolees with non-UK
Code
domicile
A205
12
3. How many of each category of students that I have mentioned above were:
a. Rejected pre interview
b. Rejected post interview
UCAS Course
pre-interview post-interview
Code
A205
380
4
A206
120
41
c. Given an offer
UCAS Course
Offers
Code
A205
117
A206
17
By each category, I am referring to the categories 'A Level students'.
4. For each applicant, can I get their UKCAT score, their GCSE results, degree result or
prediction, A Level results or prediction, pre interview score and interview score? If it is
not possible to give all the data within the time limit of 18 hours, I would ask the university
give me a sample of randomised data such that the time and cost constraints are met.
The attached appendix provides details relevant to your request. Please consider the notices
in red when analysing the data.
Please note:
Pre-interview and interview scores have been rounded to the nearest integer value.
Qualifications data come from two different database: SQE, SQF.
SQE holds qualification records verified by UCAS that feed through to our systems
during the A-Level results period.
SQF hold free-text qualification data inputted by applicants at the point of
application.
The latter may not be accurate.
If a qualification held with SQF were part of an offer condition than the qualification data
here would have then been verified as accurate by one of our Admissions officers.
5. I would also request for a copy of the interview form that the university uses to assess a candidate
during the interview for the Dentistry course. This request is applicable for this years entry cycle
and I would like the forms for interview for both the undergraduate and post graduate interviews.
The information relating to the interview assessment form is being withheld in accordance
with section 43(2) of the Act – Commercial Interests. The university considers that release
of the information is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the university, namely
the ability of the university to attract the best students, staff and greatest level of funding.
Releasing the information would allow other universities to adopt a scheme that allows
them to better identify the best candidates. It could also give prospective candidates
additional preparation time and so reducing the effectiveness of assessment.
This is a qualified exemption and requires the consideration of a public interest test;
assessing whether the balance of the public interest favours disclosing the information or
maintaining the exemption. In this case we have considered that the public interest favours
non-disclosure. It is in the public interest for the university to be able to fairly attract best
candidates and maintain its position as a world leading university.
6. I would also like to know what the selection process is when determining a candidates suitability for
the five year course. If any form is used to assess this, I would also like a copy of this.
The information you have requested is already reasonably accessible via Dentistry BDS
course page on the King’s College London’s website. The information has therefore been
withheld under Section 21 of the FOIA (‘information reasonably accessible to the applicant
by other means’).
See ‘Selection process’ here:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/dentistry-bds
This completes the university’s response to your information request.
Your right to complain
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your information
request or feel that it has not been properly handled you have the right to complain or
request a review of our decision by contacting the Director of Information Governance &
Data Protection Officer within 60 days of the date of this letter.
Further information about our internal complaints procedure is available at the link below:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/college/policyzone/assets/files/governance_and_legal/Freedom_of
_Information_Policy_updated_Oct_%202011.pdf In the event that you are not content with the outcome of your complaint you may apply
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner
cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the internal complaints procedure
provided by King’s College London.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Lakeisha Dowsey-Magog
Information Compliance
