Durham PPE 2018 Admission Statistics

The request was successful.

Mitsuhiko Harada

Dear Durham University,

As adviced by the University in the previous request for information regarding PPE applicants for 2019 entry, could you please provide me with information regarding PPE applicants for 2018 entry for the following:

1. The total number of applicants
2. The mean, minimum and maximum number of A*s at GCSE of successful applicants
3. The GCSE grades of each applicant and indicate whether an applicant received an offer
4. The predicted A-Level grades of each applicant and indicate whether an applicant received an offer
5. The A Level School type of each applicant and indicate whether an applicant received an offer

Yours faithfully,

Mitsuhiko Harada

ACCESS I., University of Durham

Dear Mitsuhiko Harada

Freedom of Information Request

I acknowledge receipt of your email below requesting information from Durham University.

Please be advised that the University will respond as soon as possible and in any event within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Unit
Durham University

Information Governance Unit, University Secretary’s Office
t: +44 (0) 191 334 6103/46246  e: [Durham University request email]

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This message is intended solely for the addressee(s) in the first instance and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, delete the message from your system immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other party.

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ACCESS I., University of Durham

Dear Mitsuhiko Harada

 

Colleagues have asked me to get in touch with you to request clarification
in relation to your request below.  Specifically, they would be grateful
if you could confirm, in relation to question 2, how you would like to
define 'successful applicants' - do you mean those who received an offer,
or something else?

 

It would not be possible to respond to questions 3,4 and 5 in the format
requested as even if identifying details were removed this would be
considered to be personal data.  It is possible to provide summarised data
and colleagues have suggested that for questions 3 and 4 a points based
system is used to create attainment groupings and give the number and
percentage of applicants in each group receiving an offer.  For question
5, it would be possible to provide the number and percentage of applicants
in each school type receiving an offer.  Typically we use State School,
Independent School and School N/A (this would typically cover applicants
who have applied from outside the UK).  Would this be acceptable to you or
would you like to request an alternative method of grouping the data?

 

Unless otherwise requested, we will provide data for applicants from all
domiciles.  Many overseas applicants take qualifications other than GCSEs
and A levels.  Would you like data on all applicants where possible and
exclude non-standard qualification, or would you prefer us to restrict
your entire request to UK applicants?  If you would like us to report only
on UK applicants, please could you confirm whether you would like to
define this by nationality, domicile or fee status.

 

Your request will be placed on hold until we receive the requested
clarification from you.  If however we do not receive clarification within
30 days of this email we will consider the request closed.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Information Governance Unit

University Secretary’s Office

The Palatine Centre
Stockton Road
Durham
DH1 3LE

t: +44 (0) 191 33 46103 / 46246

w: [1]https://www.dur.ac.uk/university.secreta...

 

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[FOI #567016 email]

 

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Mitsuhiko Harada

Dear ACCESS I.,

1. Yes 'successful applicants' mean ones who received an offer.
2. Your colleagues' suggested method for groupings for question 3 and 4 would be fine.
3. Your suggested grouping would be fine for question 5.
4. Please include all applicants where possible but exclude any qualifications other than GCSE/IGCSE and A Levels.

Yours sincerely,

Mitsuhiko Harada

ACCESS I., University of Durham

Dear Mitsuhiko Harada

 

Colleagues have asked me to get in touch with you to request clarification
in relation to your request below.  Specifically, in relation to question
4, about the A-level grades and whether the applicant received an offer,
you are requesting predicted A-level grades – is this because you
originally asked about the current cycle's applicants, but haven't updated
the question now that you are requesting information in relation to the
2018 entry?

 

Could you confirm if you are requesting predicted A-level grades, or
whether you would like the actual A-level results?

 

Your request will be placed on hold until we receive the requested
clarification from you.  If however we do not receive clarification within
30 days of this email we will consider the request closed.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Information Governance Unit

University Secretary’s Office

The Palatine Centre
Stockton Road
Durham
DH1 3LE

t: +44 (0) 191 33 46103 / 46246

w: [1]https://www.dur.ac.uk/university.secreta...

 

show quoted sections

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #567016 email]

 

Is [Durham University request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Durham University? If so, please contact us using this form:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

 

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

 

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

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Mitsuhiko Harada

Dear ACCESS I.,

I am requesting for the predicted A Level grades, as offers were given under those basis.

Yours sincerely,

Mitsuhiko Harada

ACCESS I., University of Durham

Dear Mr Harada

 

Thank you for your request for information from Durham University.
Colleagues have provided the information below in response to your
questions.

 

Every year we receive more applications than the number of offers we can
make for PPE.  This means that we inevitably we have to disappoint many
excellent applicants who meet and often exceed our standard offer
requirements, but whose applications are, in our assessment, not the
strongest we have received.

 

We take a holistic approach to every application, seeking to recruit the
most able and motivated students who can best benefit from a Durham
University education.  Applications are individually assessed in an open
competition relative to other applications to the course.  We take
multiple factors into account to identify those candidates with the
greatest merit and potential.  Only after taking these factors into
account do our admissions selectors make their final decision.

 

The University has targets for each of its courses and has a set number of
offers that can be made for each course in any given admissions cycle to
meet those targets.  Consequently, admissions is a competitive and
comparative process.  So as well as assessing each application against our
entry requirements and selection criteria, we also compare them to the
very best examples of applications received that year for the specific
course.  The best applications from those received, that is those that are
most competitive, will be the applications that are successful.  As a
consequence, one of the most common reasons why applications are
unsuccessful is simply that there were other applications that were, in
our opinion, stronger.  That does not mean that an unsuccessful
application did not have merit or that it would not be successful in
another cycle, just that it was not as strong as others on this occasion.

 

[1] Total number of applicants for 2018 entry to the PPE (VL52) programme.

 

In our response, we have only considered applicants who applied to and
received an offer for PPE (VL52). Where applicants applied to VL52, but
received an offer for an alternative programme (or, in rare cases, applied
for an alternative programme but received a decision for VL52) they are
not counted in the response. It does not distinguish between applicants
that applied in previous cycles and deferred to 2018 and direct
applications (i.e. applied in the 2017 application cycle for 2018 entry).

 

Total number of applications with GCSE/IGSCE results = 210

This number has been rounded using the HESA rounding strategy.

 

[2] The mean, minimum and maximum number of A*s at GCSE of successful
applicants for 2018 entry.

 

Number of A*s at GCSE/IGSCE of successful applicants (received an offer)

 

Measure A*s
Mean 5.35
Minimum 0
Maximum 19

 

[3] The summarised GCSE grades and indicate whether an applicant received
an offer for 2018 entry.

 

A points-based system has been used to create attainment groupings, where
A* = 6, A=5, B=4, etc. The number of applicants with an offer per group
have been given, along with the percentage of applicants in each group
that received an offer.

 

Percentage of group
Points group Offer made made an offer
0-10 25 84%
11-20 40 91%
21-30 25 87%
31-40 30 85%
41-50 60 78%
51-60 35 76%
61-70 10 100%
71-80 5 100%

These figures have been rounded using the HESA rounding strategy.

 

 

[4] The summarised predicted A-level grades and indicate whether an
applicant received an offer for 2018 entry.

 

A points-based system has been used to create attainment groupings, where
A* = 5, A=4, B=3, etc. The number of applicants with an offer per group
have been given, along with the percentage of applicants in each group
that received an offer.

 

Percentage of group made an
Points category Received offer offer
<3 0 0%
4-6 5 70%
7-9 10 63%
10-12 15 65%
13-15 220 92%

These figures have been rounded using the HESA rounding strategy.

For A levels we have excluded General Studies and have only used
applicant’s top three A level grades for calculating the points category.
It should be noted that individual subject scores are also taken into
consideration when making admissions decisions.

 

[5] The summarised A-level school type and indicate whether an applicant
received an offer for 2018 entry.

 

Percentage of group made an
School Type Offer given offer
Independent School 365 80%
School N/A 45 64%
State School 540 92%

 

These figures have been rounded using the HESA rounding strategy.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the University’s response to your freedom of
information request, you can ask us to internally review our handling of
your request, including the application of any exemptions applied.  To do
this, please email [1][Durham University request email] or write to:

 

Information Governance Unit

University Secretary’s Office

Durham University

The Palatine Centre

Stockton Road

Durham

DL1 3LE          

 

Please state the grounds on which you wish the decision to be reviewed and
enclose any other information that may be useful in considering the matter
further.  We aim to inform you of our decision within 20 working days from
the date your request for internal review is received.

 

If you are not satisfied with the results of the internal review you may
apply to the Information Commissioner's Office for an independent review.

 

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Unit

Durham University

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Information Governance Unit, University Secretary’s Office

t: +44 (0) 191 33 46103/46246  e: [3][Durham University request email]

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