Thank you for your e-mail. The University will endeavour to respond to
your request under the Freedom of Information Act within 20 working days
of receipt. However, please note that due to the ongoing disruption caused
by the current Covid-19 pandemic, there may be unavoidable delays in
responding to your request. We would be grateful if you could bear with us
if we are unable to respond within the statutory time-frame, and we
apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

We may need to ask you certain questions to clarify your request to ensure
we fully understand what information is being requested. If so, the 20
working day deadline will be calculated once we have received such
clarification. 

The University's A-Z index can help in locating information that is
publicly available on the University's
website: [1]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/index/

Our Publication Scheme is available
at: [2]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/s...

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) annually publish certain
data about students and higher education: [3]https://www.hesa.ac.uk/.
Bespoke datasets can be requested from
Jisc: [4]https://www.jisc.ac.uk/tailored-datasets.

For further information about the University's FOI procedure, please
see: [5]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/secretary/foi/

References

Visible links
1. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/index/
2. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/s...
3. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/
4. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/tailored-datasets
5. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/secretary/foi/

Dear Younus Rahman,

Freedom of Information Request (our reference FOI21403)

We refer to your Freedom of Information request dated 16/08/2021.

You requested the following information:

I am writing to make a request for the following statistics for the
previous five admission cycles:

1) Total number of applications
2) Total number of interviews
3) Total number of offers
4) UCAT threshold
5) If there was no threshold: the lowest UCAT score
6) Interview scoring sheet
7) Weighting of each component (such as UCAT, Personal Statement, and
GSCE’s) in offering an interview

University’s Response

Further to Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”) we
confirm that the information requested is partially held by the University
of Bristol (the “University”). However, some aspects of your request we
consider to be exempt from disclosure under section 36 and section 21 of
the Act. Please see below for full details.

1)

16/17 = 4082

17/18 = 3559

18/19 = 4610

19/20 = 3696

20/21 = 2875

2)

16/17 = 838

17/18 = 811

18/19 = 1106

19/20 = 1027

20/21 = 900

3)

16/17 - 421

17/18 - 508

18/19 -555

19/20 = 624

20/21 = 625

4)

2016/17 – 2019/20 : In these academic years we did not use a UCAT
threshold. UCAT was one of a number of components that contributed to an
overall score.

2020/21 = 2690

5)

2016/17 – 2019/20 : Information not held. UCAT scores were not used
singularly during and part of the admission process prior to 2020/21.

2020/21 =  N/A

6)

The interview scoring sheets are considered exempt from disclosure
under section 36(2)(c) of the Act:

“Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in
the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the
information under this Act would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely
to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs.”

The disclosure of the scoring criteria into the public domain would be
likely to prejudice the effective conduct of the University’s public
affairs, namely its duty to use a fair and equitable process to select the
most suitable candidates for its courses. Disclosure of the scoring
criteria would undermine the admissions process, by giving applicants an
opportunity to pre-empt the questions in the questionnaire or to use the
criteria as a ‘tick list’ with which they seek to comply when completing
the questionnaire. This could leave the University in a position where it
needed to differentiate between equally capable candidates on some other
undeclared basis.

Public interest considerations

We are required to consider the public interest in disclosure of the
information when applying this exemption. There is a public interest in
disclosure, to demonstrate that the University’s admissions procedure is
clear and transparent, so applicants (and the public) can be assured that
the selection process is consistent and fair and there can be no
accusation of bias. The integrity of admissions procedures is essential
for all higher education institutions, to ensure that the public trusts
them to select the most suitable applicants, and thus make effective use
of public funds and students’ tuition fees.   

However, there is also a public interest in withholding the questionnaire
and scoring criteria from disclosure, to ensure a level playing field for
all applicants so that the University may identify the candidates most
suitable for its courses. This public interest is increased when the
course relates to a vocation such as Medicine where, with the welfare of
individuals at stake, it is in the public interest that the University
selects only the candidates most suitable for the study of the subject and
the practice of medicine.

If disclosed, applicants who were to find and use the scoring criteria
when preparing their application would potentially gain an unfair
advantage over other applicants. That could lead to the University
accepting applicants who have closely followed the criteria but who are
not as suitable for the programme as others. Equally, the University might
find itself having to create new application processes or criteria in
order to level the playing field again and differentiate between large
numbers of apparently suitable candidates.

7)

I can confirm that the University does hold the information you have
requested. However, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the
Freedom of Information Act because it is reasonably accessible to you by
other means and can be found by using the following link: [1]2016,
[2]2017, [3]2018, [4]2019, [5]2020.

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 [6]http://www.ico.org.uk

Kind Regards

Freedom of Information Team

University of Bristol

References

Visible links
1. http://www.bris.ac.uk/study/media/underg...
2. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/media/un...
3. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/media/un...
4. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/media/un...
5. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/media/un...
6. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Dear Younus,

Thank you for your email.

The 2021/2022 admissions data is currently exempt from disclosure and will
be available from December 2021.

Apologies for not including the links in the original email, please see
below:

[1]medicine.pdf (bris.ac.uk) 

[2]medicine.pdf (bristol.ac.uk)

[3]medicine.pdf (bristol.ac.uk)

[4]medicine.pdf (bristol.ac.uk)

[5]medicine.pdf (bristol.ac.uk)

Kind Regards,

FOI Team

To: SecOInformation Governance
([University of Bristol request email])
From: Younus ([FOI #782441 email])
Title: Re: Response to FOI Request - FOI21403
E-mail title: Re: Response to FOI Request - FOI21403 (Id nr.: 1286839)
Sent: 06/09/2021 16:31

Dear SecOInformation Governance,

Thank you for your reply. I have two questions in regards to your
response:

1. Would I be able to find out the admission statistics (Questions 1-3)
for 2021 entry?

2. You had not sent any links for Question 7, please could you send the
links?

Yours faithfully,

Younus

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Dear Younus,

I am very sorry for the error. Please find the documents attached.

Regards,

FOI Team

To: SecOInformation Governance
([University of Bristol request email])
From: Younus ([FOI #782441 email])
Title: Re: Response to FOI Request - FOI21403
E-mail title: Re: Response to FOI Request - FOI21403(Id nr.: 1288173)
Sent: 07/09/2021 12:08

Dear SecOInformation Governance,

Thank you for letting me know of the date that I will be able to find out
this information. You still have not sent any links on this message,
please could you try again?

Yours faithfully,

Younus

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