Economics Adjustment stats- Bristol

Dear Mr Sheikh,

Freedom of Information Request (our reference FOI21-233)

We refer to your Freedom of Information request dated 28^th April.

You requested the following information:

“I write to get some information about admissions through Adjustment at
the University of Bristol.

Can you please provide me with the following information for the
admissions cycles of the Years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 (and 2021 if
available):

1) The number of seats available for adjustment in the courses:
a) BSc Economics and Management (LN12)
b) BSc Economics and Mathematics (LG11),
c) BSc Economics (L100)
d) BSc Economics and Econometrics (L140)
e) BSc Economics and Finance (LN13)

2) The number of applicants accepted in each of the above course through
adjustment in the respective years;
3) The Most common grades students received on results day to get accepted
onto the courses through Adjustment;
4) The 5 most common subjects of the students that get accepted onto the
courses through Adjustment.

The following requests do not require an answer for each year:

5) The process of how the University of Bristol assesses if a student
should be accepted or rejected through adjustment,
6) The contact number of the University of Bristol through which the
Adjustment process will take place.
7) For the courses mentioned above, if any has a variation that allows for
a placement year or a year abroad, are the number of seats available for
enrolment different, from that of the variation with no year abroad or
placement year?”

University’s Response

Further to Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”) we
confirm that the information requested is held by the University of
Bristol (the “University”) however, most of the information is exempt from
disclosure as explained below.

1. This information is exempt from disclosure. Further details can be
found below.

2 – 4.  There are less than 5 applicants who came through adjustment.
The University does not release exact counts of less than five because
these are personal data of third parties or, if linked with other personal
identifiers in the public domain, would be likely to become personal data.
This information has been withheld under section 40(2) of the Act, on the
grounds that disclosure would likely breach the data protection principles
enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018.Therfore, we are unable to
provide the breakdown requested.

5- 6. This information is available on the University website at the
following link: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/clearing/adjus...,
it currently shows information for 2020 but this will be updated in due
course.

Exempt Information:

The information requested in questions 1 and 7 concerning number of places
available is exempt from disclosure as the disclosure of this information
would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of the
University.

Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption that requires the University to
weigh the public interest in favour of disclosure, which is presumed from
the FOIA, against the public interest in withholding the information.

While there is public interest in transparency in relation to the
admissions process, the University is very open about its admissions
policies and procedures and is happy to disclose various other admissions
related data. The University operates in an extremely competitive sector.
Disclosing the registration targets would weaken our position by giving
competitors an insight into our market share strategies allowing patterns
and trends to be identified. This would be very beneficial to them as they
would be able to tailor their own strategies to match or exceed ours.
Therefore, disclosure of the exempt information could cause the University
genuine commercial prejudice if it was available to competitors within the
sector. To allow universities to compete effectively they must be able to
withhold certain information from public disclosure in order to develop
successful admission strategies. On balance, the University has
found Section 43(2) can be applied to this information.

Internal Review Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, then you have a
right under Section 50 of the Act to request an internal review.  All such
requests must be sent to us within 40 days, and must clearly state our
reference number (at the top of this email) and your reason for requesting
an internal review.  We will aim to respond to your request for an
internal review within 20 working days of receipt.

Your request for an internal review should be sent to
[University of Bristol request email], quoting your FOI reference number.
Alternatively, you could post it to:

Director of Legal Services

Secretary’s Office

University of Bristol

Beacon House

Queens Road

Bristol

BS8 1QU

Information Commissioners Office

Should you remain dissatisfied with the final outcome of the internal
review then you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner (the
“ICO”) for an independent review.  The ICO is the Government’s Independent
Body responsible for overseeing the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the
Data Protection Act 2018 and The Environmental Information Regulations
2004.

Please note the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the
University’s internal review procedure. All correspondence to the ICO must
quote the University’s reference number and your reasons for your appeal. 
The ICO’s contact details are as follows:

The Information Commissioners Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

More information can be found at the ICO’s website
at [1]http://www.ico.org.uk

Kind Regards

Freedom of Information Team

University of Bristol

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/