Info on Adjustment - Economics

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and Compliance Services Team. 
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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Mohammed,
Thank you for submitting an FOI request, requesting information from the
University of Warwick. In order to comply with your request, we would be
grateful if you could please clarify the following:

* For the years you have listed, are you looking for the entry of that
year? e.g. 2017 applications to being in the 17/18 academic year. If
this is the case then please note that the University is unable to
provide admissions data for applicants for entry onto courses starting
in the 2021/22 academic year as the current admissions cycle is not
yet complete. The University will not be in a position to provide this
until after the enrolment data is available for the 2021/22 academic
year for the various cohorts of students which is usually at the end
of October (31st) in each given year.
* Please could you clarify what you mean by adjustment?
* Please could you clarify what you mean by seats? Do you mean places on
courses?
* Please could you clarify what you mean by accepted places? Is it
possible you mean enrolled students as the University may offer a
place to a student which is not then accepted/taken up?
* For questions 3 and 4, please can you clarify what you mean by most
common grades and most common subjects?
* Pending the Legal and Compliance Services team sending your request
onto the appropriate team, it may not be possible for the department
to provide the information requested under questions 3 and 4 as it
would exceed the costs limit under S.12 FOIA. Are you happy for your
request to proceed on the basis of excluding these questions if it
transpires that this is the case?

Please be advised that the University will be unable to proceed with your
request until you have provided the requested clarifications and the 20
working day statutory time limit does not begin until clarification has
been received. Should we not receive a reply to this email, your request
will be closed in 20 working days.
Kind Regards,
 
Legal and Compliance Services
 

show quoted sections

Mohammed
Thank you for your email dated 16 April 2021 requesting information from
the University of Warwick under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please find below your request and the University’s response.
FOI Request
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:

 1. Economics Studies and global sustainable development,
 2. Economics,
 3. Economics and Industrial Organisation,
 4. Economics politics and international Studies,
 5. Economics Psychology and Philosophy;

 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 Warwick assesses if a student
should be accepted or rejected through adjustment,
 6. The contact number of the University of Warwick through which the
Adjustment process will take place.
 7. Can students who have already been rejected a place through the
January-May assessment phase re apply and get accepted through
Adjustment? If so, do they have to apply for the same course?

After the University sought clarification from you on 19 April 2021, you
provided the following further information:
 

 1. Yes I am looking for entry of that year, and as mentioned in my
initial request, only provide data for 2021 entry if it is available.
You have explained that it is not, and therefore it is alright to omit
2021 entry data.

 2. Adjustment is the UCAS process in which A level students on their
results publications day -if having met or exceeded their predicted
grades- can directly contact Universities of their choice to request a
place on a course. Here is the UCAS link which will further explain it
if you still do not understand -
[1]https://www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/...

 3. By seats,I do mean places available on a course

 4. By accepted places, I mean enrolment through the aforementioned
adjustment process.

 5. For question 3 and 4, by common grades I mean what was the modal grade
achieved by students being enrolled through adjustment; and by most
common subjects, I mean the 5 modal A level subjects amongst the pool
of students enrolling through the adjustment process.

 6. Omitting the response to question 4 in the case of exceeding the costs
limit is acceptable.

Response
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:

 6. Economics Studies and global sustainable development,
 7. Economics,
 8. Economics and Industrial Organisation,
 9. Economics politics and international Studies,
10. Economics Psychology and Philosophy;

 2. The number of applicants accepted in each of the above course through
adjustment in the respective years;

 
Please find the requested information in the below table.

Courses Applicants potentially accepted through adjustment

2017 2018 2019 2020
Economics < 5 0 0 See data note*
Economics and Industrial Organisation 0 0 0 See data note*
Economics politics and international Studies 0 0 0 See data note*
Economics Psychology and Philosophy 0 0 0 See data note*
Economics Studies and global sustainable 0 0 0 See data note*
development

Data Notes:

* Please note that the coding used for applicants who comes through
adjustment is the same coding used for applicants who come through
Clearing. The same coding is also used in August for any other ‘ad
hoc’ scenarios by which an applicant has been accepted other than the
traditional route therefore the information provided in the table
above could incorporate any one of these situations, not just
adjustment.
* * Please also note that in 2020 the coding referred to in the bullet
point above was also used to code any applicants whose grades were
changed post-results day and subsequently accepted and there it is
impossible to provide meaningful and accurate data for this year.
* Please note that where the University has stated the value as ‘< 5’ it
declines to provide the actual figure on the grounds that the numbers
are very small and could potentially lead to the identification of
individuals, which may place the University in breach of the General
Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018. The
University is relying on the exemption under section 40(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 in this regard.

 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 University declines to provide further information in relation to the
most common grades and subjects of those students accepted through
adjustment for two reasons:

 1. As explained above, due to the way applicants are coded there is no
way of telling for absolute certainty which students were accepted
through adjustment and;
 2. Due to the small pool of students disclosed in the table above,
disclosing their grades would most likely amount to personal data of
those students, which could potentially lead to the identification of
individuals, which may place the University in breach of the General
Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018. The
University is relying on the exemption under section 40(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 in this regard.

 5. The process of how the University of Warwick assesses if a student
should be accepted or rejected through adjustment,

There are two stages: firstly, it will depend if there are places
available on the course, and secondly if the student has met the entry
requirements. The department will then review if they want to accept
people through this route.

 6. The contact number of the University of Warwick through which the
Adjustment process will take place.

It is the same number as the Clearing hotline.

 7. Can students who have already been rejected a place through the
January-May assessment phase re apply and get accepted through
Adjustment? If so, do they have to apply for the same course?

There is not an ‘application’ process – applicants would have to call the
hotline and see if there are places available for consideration.
I trust that this information will be helpful to you, however, should you
be dissatisfied with the way in which your request has been handled you
can request an internal review within one month of our response and, in
the first instance, you are advised to follow the procedure outlined here:
[2]http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/legal...
If you remain dissatisfied with how your request has been handled, you
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Walter Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113) ([3]https://ico.org.uk/).
Yours sincerely,
Jane Furze
Director, Marketing and Communications, Regional Strategy and Warwick
Institute of Engagement
University House | Kirby Corner Road | CV4 8UW | Coventry | UK | Strategy
Group
 

References

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1. https://www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/...
2. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/legal...
3. https://ico.org.uk/