Information Assurance and Governance
Office of the Principal
1 July 2019
Dear Ms Thomson,
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Our Ref: 228-19
I refer to your enquiry dated 3 June 2019 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (“the FOISA”) asking to be supplied with the amount received in undergraduate tuition
fees in each of the last six years for:
1. Scottish domiciled students
2. RUK students (England, Wales & NI)
3. EU students
4. Non-EU/ overseas students.
The information requested is not recorded in such a way that enables the University to answer
your enquiry ful y through the process of locating and retrieving data. For example, as there is no
difference in the fee status of Home and EU students, tuition fees from these cohort of students
are combined and recorded in our financial records together. To split this data down to be able to
report tuition fees for Scottish domiciled and EU students separately, would require colleagues in
two separate departments having to produce data from separate data sources which would then
have to be matched up and pulled together into one single dataset for further analysis and
interrogation.
The level of intel ectual input, cross-referencing information from various sources goes beyond
the provisions of the FOISA requiring new information to be created which is out with the
provisions of the FOISA. This is consistent with the conclusion reached by the Scottish
Information Commissioner such in Decision 036/2005
Mr George Munro and Inverclyde
Council, when the question as to what constitutes the creation of information was considered.
Section 17 of the FOISA requires that a Scottish public authority confirms in writing where
information requested of it is not held and notice is therefore given to this effect.
Advice and Assistance
For your information, details of tuition fees are published as part of the University’s Financial
Statements each year. Our Financial Statements can be found on our website at:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/money/financialstatements/ . In particular, please refer to
Note 1,
Tuition Fees and Education contracts (page 47, 2017/18 Financial Statements) which
Information Assurance and Governance
01334 462776
xxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532
gives the amount received in tuition fees for Home/EU students, RUK students and
International students. We can look to provide you with the information reported in the
Financial Statements broken down to show the amount of tuition fees for Undergraduate and
Postgraduate students separately i.e. for each student category: Full-time home and EU
undergraduate students; Full-time Postgraduate home and EU students; Full-time
international undergraduate students; Full-time international postgraduate students etc. If you
would like to be provided with this alternative data please let me know and I will arrange for
this to be processed where possible to do so.
Your right to seek a review of how your information request was managed
If you are not satisfied with the University’s response and/or our reasoning set-out above, you
have the right to request a review of our decision. The time lines in which this right is available
are set out in section 20(5)(a) and (b) FOISA. In broad terms the right to seek a review must
be exercised within 40 working days of receiving this response.
Any request for review should be put in writing or some other permanent form e.g. an e-mail
and should be sent to the University of St Andrews, through the contact details provided
below.
A request for a Review should:
a) state your name and address;
b) describe the nature of your original request; and
c) explain the reasons why you are dissatisfied with our response.
Freedom of Information / Environmental Information
University of St Andrews
Butts Wynd (Building)
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9AJ
Email
xxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
Telephone +44(0)1334 462776
If you remain dissatisfied with how your request for information has been dealt with following
Review, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) for a
decision. In the event of an appeal to the SIC, the Commissioner will generally only be able
to investigate the matters raised in the request for review.
Details on how to make an appeal online to the SIC can be found on their website:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Unhappywiththeresponse/AppealingtoCommis
sioner.aspx
Alternatively, you can contact the SIC by post, telephone or email at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
E-mail: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Website: www.itspublicknowledge.info
This concludes the University’s response.
Yours sincerely
JUNE WEIR
Information Assurance and Governance Officer
Information Assurance and Governance
01334 462776
xxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532
