Dear Andy,

I acknowledge receipt of your email received by this office on 2nd
November 2022.

Your request will now be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and has been allocated reference FOI22-396 which should be quoted in
all correspondence. We will respond to your request within 20 working days
starting the next working day after receipt, therefore you can expect to
receive a response no later than 30th November 2022.

Please note that in order to fulfil your request we need to liaise with
other teams across the University. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic most
staff are now working remotely and have intermittent access to information
held in hard copy. Staff may not be able to assist as they may need to
prioritise other work, cover for colleagues who are ill or be away from
work themselves due to illness. However, we will do our best to meet this
deadline and keep you informed should we be unable to do so.

Where we consider that we will not be able to meet the deadline or if
further time is required to consider the public interest test, we will
contact you as soon as possible and give you a revised date for response.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and, if that is the case, we
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

Yours sincerely

Swyddfa Ysgrifenydd y Brifysgol University Secretary’s Office

Prifysgol Caerdydd Cardiff University

Ebost : [1][email address]   Email: [2][email address] 

Mae'r Brifysgol yn croesawu The University welcomes correspondence
gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg neu'n in Welsh or English.  Corresponding in
Saesneg.  Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg Welsh will not lead to any delay.
yn creu unrhwy oedi.

show quoted sections

Dear Andy Dickinson

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request dated 2
November 2022.

For ease of reference, I have reproduced your question(s) below and set
out our corresponding response(s).

I’m currently compiling figures to help understand how diverse student
journalism cohorts are in further and higher education.  To that end, I
would appreciate you providing me with the following information.

For each of the undergraduate courses in your institution with the word
journalism in the course title, please could you provide the following
information:

The breakdown of each L4 cohort, broken down by:

- Total Number of entrants

- Validation status - (NCTJ, BJTC, Both or none)

- Gender

- Ethnicity (Where data is held this should be broken down into specific
ethnic groups e.g. White, Asian, Black, Chinese)

Could you also provide the following:

- The total number of students graduating from each course

- The details of the final year cohort, broken down by:

-- Classification of degree (e.g. First, second etc.)

-- Gender

-- Ethnicity (Where data is held this should be broken down into specific
ethnic groups e.g. White, Asian, Black, Chinese)

The Excel file contains multiple sheets covering most of the undergraduate
aspect of the FOI:

• Entrants
• Entrants by gender
• Entrants by ethnicity
• Enrolled students by gender (and year of course)
• Enrolled students by ethnicity (and year of course)
• Number graduation
• Graduation classification
• Graduate gender
• Graduate ethnicity

Please see attached spreadsheet. Please note there is no information
regarding validation status as no undergraduate journalism course is
accredited.

Finally, could you please provide the following information for any
postgraduate qualifications in your institution where the course name
includes the word journalism (excluding PhD), broken down by:

- Total Number of entrants

- Gender

- Ethnicity (Where possible this should be broken down into specific
ethnic groups e.g. White, Asian, Black, Chinese)

- The total number of students graduating from each course broken down by:

-- Classification of award (e.g. pass, merit, etc.)

-- Gender

-- Ethnicity (Where data is held this should be broken down into specific
ethnic groups e.g. White, Asian, Black, Chinese)

Where possible I would like the data for the last 10 academic years or,
for courses that have been running for less time, as much data as is
available.

Postgraduate data has not been included due to commercial sensitivity.
The University holds this information however we consider this information
exempt from disclosure under S43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
entitled “Commercial Interests”. In particular, section 43(2) states that
information is exempt if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be
likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the
public authority holding it).

 The release of information on postgraduate entrants into the public
domain would be highly likely to prejudice the University’s commercial
interests, by allowing competitor institutions to undermine the
University’s recruitment activity. Disclosure of this information would
reveal details of the outcome of the University’s recruitment strategy and
to release this information into the public domain would enable our
competitors to benefit by copying our strategy or programmes. In so doing
this will affect the University’s ability to distinguish itself from its
competitors in a highly competitive market.

Any loss of market share and reduction in enrolled student numbers would
have a significant impact on the University’s student fee income and would
further impact the University’s long term financial sustainability. As
public funding sources for higher education have declined, student fee
income has become an increasingly important source of income and is a key
factor in ensuring the University’s long term financial sustainability.
The ability for the universities in general, and Cardiff University in
particular as a major research intensive university in Wales, to compete
effectively in a global market is an important strategic objective as set
out by the Welsh Government in 'For Our Future: the higher education
strategy plan for Wales' and in the Welsh Government Policy Statement on
Higher Education which is available at:
[1]http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publicat....
It is also important that Cardiff University is able to continue competing
on an equal footing with similar large, research intensive institutions in
the UK and overseas.

Based on the above it is considered that the commercial interest of the
University would be likely to be prejudiced by release and as such the
Section 43(2) exemption is engaged.

In applying the Section 43 exemption the University has taken account of
the public interest as required by the Act. The University has reviewed
the arguments in favour of disclosing the information (openness and
transparency in public life) and found them to be outweighed by the
greater general public interest in protection of the University's
competitive edge and market positioning.

The University must consider the public interest test when applying this
exemption and this is considered below.

Public Interest Test

Factors in Favour of Disclosure

It is in the public interest to release information that provides a
greater public understanding of the way the University operates and its
provisions for future delivery of its services.

Factors in Favour of Non-disclosure

It is not in the public interest to release information that would be
likely to damage the commercial interests of the University by undermining
its ability to compete in the marketplace.

It is not in the public interest to release information that would reduce
the efficiency and effectiveness of the University by having the effect of
damaging the ability of the University to pursue its recruitment
strategies on an equal footing to other public and privately funded
education institutions.

On balance it is considered that it would not be in the public interest to
release this information and therefore the information will not be
released at this time.

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry. Should you feel
dissatisfied with this response or the way in which your request was
handled you can request an Internal Review. This should be made in writing
within 40 working days of the date of this email. Please provide your
unique reference number of your request, information on why you are
dissatisfied and any detail you would like us to consider as part of the
Internal Review process. Email your request to [2][email address] where it
will be forwarded to the Head of Compliance and Risk who will be
responsible for overseeing the review.

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your complaint, you
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for
consideration. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the
following address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Cardiff University. If you require further assistance please feel free to
contact me.

Kind regards

Swyddfa Ysgrifenydd y Brifysgol University Secretary’s Office

Prifysgol Caerdydd Cardiff University

Ebost : [3][email address]   Email: [4][email address] 

Mae'r Brifysgol yn croesawu The University welcomes correspondence
gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg neu'n in Welsh or English.  Corresponding in
Saesneg.  Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg Welsh will not lead to any delay.
yn creu unrhwy oedi.

References

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