Dear Laura Stewart-Liberty

I acknowledge receipt of your email received by this office on 17 February 2022.

Your request will now be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and has been allocated reference FOI22-065 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 than17 March 2022.

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
Prifysgol Caerdydd
Ebost : [email address]

Mae'r Brifysgol yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg neu'n Saesneg. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhwy oedi.

University Secretary's Office
Cardiff University
Email: [email address]

The University welcomes correspondence in Welsh or English. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

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Dear Laura Stewart-Liberty

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request dated 17
February 2022.

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

For each academic year from 2017 to present (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20,
2020-21, 2021-22, up to the date this FOI request is received), I would
like to know the following:

(1) total number of undergraduate students, and total number of
postgraduate students enrolled in each academic year;

(2) total number of undergraduate students who have dropped out, ceased,
or interrupted their studies unofficially or officially in each academic
year;

(3) total number of postgraduate students who have also dropped out,
ceased, or interrupted their studies unofficially or officially in each
academic year.

I would like the above information divided by sex of the student, and the
academic department of study to be indicated, if possible.

The University confirms that it holds information about discontinuation
rates. However, the information that you have requested for academic years
2017/18 to 2020/21, is already in the public domain and is available from
HESA, the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination
of quantitative information about higher education in the UK, at
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/. Information on non continuation can be found at:
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/08-03-2018/n.... Please
note that while high level statistics are readily available from the HESA
website, in order to obtain data at institution level, it might be
necessary to submit a custom data request directly to HESA. Information
about this service including how to make a request is available at
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/services/custom/d.... Accordingly this information
is reasonably accessible to you by other means and is exempt from
disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All
Universities and other higher education providers in the UK are required
to submit annual information to HESA (the Higher Education Statistics
Agency). If the answer to your query is available from HESA you can expect
comparable and consistent data for all HE providers while saving the time
and resources of publicly funded universities.

HESA publishes open data under a Creative Commons license about students,
staff, finance and other aspects of higher education. HESA can also
provide tailored datasets to answer specific questions, although HESA
itself is not a public authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and may charge a license fee for the use of tailored data extracts.

Information in relation to academic year 2021/22 is due to be published by
HESA in January 2023 and will be available to the public on the HESA
website at: http://hesa.ac.uk/     As this information is intended for
future publication it is exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 22 of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 subject to a public interest test. 

 It is acknowledged that there is a public interest in making information
available that contributes to public debate and understanding about higher
education and this would include information around student numbers.
However, HESA is the official agency for the collection, analysis and
dissemination of quantitative information about higher education in the
UK. It would not be in the public interest to undermine established
processes for the publication of such information particularly where a
commitment has been made to make this information generally available and
a date for publication has been fixed. Therefore, in the absence of any
compelling public interest to disclose this information prior to its
scheduled release date it is considered reasonable, in all the
circumstances, to withhold this information prior to HESA's publication
date. As such Section 22 of the FOI Act applies.

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
[1][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

References

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