If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days. 
For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection Office
Office of General Counsel 

References

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Dear Youchen,

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000. I apologise for the delay in the provision of
this response.

We confirm that we hold some information of the description specified in
your request, please see our response below and the attached documents.

Your request

Dear University College London,

My name is Youchen Li, and I am requesting for the following information.
Could you provide data from 2019/2020 to 2024/2025 admission cycle.

1. Number of applicants and offers made (all postgraduate taught
programmes)

2. Number of Chinese* applications and offers made (all postgraduate
taught programmes)

3. The total number of unconditional offers given to PG taught students
and their previous institutions

4. The total number of unconditional offers given to PG taught Chinese
students and their previous institutions

*Chinese means applicants whose nationality is China

Our response

Please see the attached tables showing the number of applicants,
applications, and unconditional offers made for Postgraduate Taught
Courses for the academic years 2019/20 to 2024/25, including information
for applicants of Chinese nationality.

Please note the following:

• As you can see for questions 1 and 2, we are unable to disclose the
exact numbers of applicants or offers made where the number was 5 or
fewer in each of these categories.

This is because to provide the exact numbers may inadvertently lead to the
identification of these individuals. Whilst there are no personally
identifiable details within the data being withheld, that data, when
combined with other data that may already be available in the public
domain, could be used by ‘motivated intruders’ and other knowledgeable
third parties to identify the individuals concerned. Linking together
separate strands of data available in this way can indirectly lead to an
individual being identified which would breach the first data protection
principle. Further, these individuals would have no expectation that their
identities, by virtue of disclosing this type of information, would be
made known to the wider public and it would be considered unfair to do so.

As this data would be likely to become personal data, this information is
exempt from disclosure and has been withheld under section 40(2) of the
FOIA by virtue of s40(3A)(a). Section 40(2) of the FOIA allows a public
authority to withhold information under the FOIA where (i) the requested
information is personal data relating to someone other than the requester
and (ii) its disclosure would breach any of the data protection
principles.

It is for these reasons that this information is exempt under section
40(2) of the Act. As the section 40(2) exemption is absolute, there is no
need to conduct a public interest test.

• For question 3 and 4, we are only able to provide you with total
numbers of unconditional offers given to postgraduate students.
However, we are not able to provide you with information about their
previous institutions.

This is because to comply with the full request would exceed the
appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act
2000 (FOIA), which is currently set at £450 (equivalent to 18 hours work)
by virtue of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This is because UCL does not transfer
information related to an applicant’s previous education establishments
into the centralised record system. Therefore, the admissions team would
need to review each applicant’s individual application to UCL to retrieve
this information. As there are thousands of applicants over the six
academic years requested, this process would take over 18 hours.

Section 12(1) states that a public authority does not need to “…comply
with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.” The
section 12(1) exemption applies because we estimate that, to locate,
retrieve and extract the data, would take longer than 18 hours to complete
for the reasons given above.

Whilst we are not able to process your request as currently framed, we may
be able to consider a smaller request if you are able to refine its scope
in some way. For example, the number of applications by, and offers given
to students from universities in mainland China and their previous
institutions for the 2023/24 academic year.

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example by publishing or issuing copies to the public, will require the
permission of the copyright owner.

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me using the details
provided in this letter and including the request reference number. If you
are unhappy with our response to your request and wish to make a complaint
or request a review of our decision, please email [1][email address].
Emails should include the words ‘Internal Review’ in the subject and be
marked ‘For the Attention of the Vice-President (Operations)’.
Alternatively, please write to:

Vice-President (Operations)
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT

Please note that complaints and requests for internal review received more
than two months after the initial decision will not be handled. If you are
not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) by using the
following web address: [2]www.ico.org.uk/foicomplaints or by writing to
the ICO at the following address:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113

[3]https://ico.org.uk/

You should do this within two months of our final decision. Further
information on the FOIA is available on the ICO’s website:
[4]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici....

Kind regards,

Gladys Mandangu

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Administrator

Data Protection Office

Office of the General Counsel

University College London

Email: [5][email address]

Confidentiality and Legal Privilege: The contents of this email and its
attachment(s) are confidential to the intended recipient and may be
legally privileged. They are not to be disclosed, copied, forwarded, used
or relied upon by any person other than the intended addressee. If you
believe that you have received the e-mail and its attachment(s) in error,
you must not take any action based on them and you must not copy or show
them to anyone. Please respond to the sender and delete this email and its
attachment(s) from your system.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/foicomplaints
3. https://ico.org.uk/
4. https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...
5. mailto:[email%20address]

Dear Youchen,

Thank you for your email.

We require some clarification to ensure that we provide the information that you require. Could you please confirm:

- Does your request relate to only postgraduate courses at UCL?
- Are you also asking for a list of all of the previous institutions in China of these students?

Kind regards,

Rowan Glover-Perrett
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Administrator
Data Protection Office
Office of the General Counsel
University College London
 
Tel:        020 3108 5446 (ext. 55446)
Email:    [email address]
 
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
 
Confidentiality and Legal Privilege: The contents of this email and its attachment(s) are confidential to the intended recipient and may be legally privileged. They are not to be disclosed, copied, forwarded, used or relied upon by any person other than the intended addressee. If you believe that you have received the e-mail and its attachment(s) in error, you must not take any action based on them and you must not copy or show them to anyone. Please respond to the sender and delete this email and its attachment(s) from your system.

show quoted sections

Dear Youchen,

Thank you for your email.

By way of an update, we are actively processing your request and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

We thank you for your patience while we process your request.

Kind regards,

Rowan Glover-Perrett
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Adviser
Data Protection Office
Office of the General Counsel
University College London

Tel: 020 3108 5446 (ext. 55446)
Email: [email address]

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Confidentiality and Legal Privilege: The contents of this email and its attachment(s) are confidential to the intended recipient and may be legally privileged. They are not to be disclosed, copied, forwarded, used or relied upon by any person other than the intended addressee. If you believe that you have received the e-mail and its attachment(s) in error, you must not take any action based on them and you must not copy or show them to anyone. Please respond to the sender and delete this email and its attachment(s) from your system.

show quoted sections

Dear Youchen,

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000. I apologise for the delay in the provision of
this response.

We confirm that we do hold information of the description specified in
your request; please see our response below and attached.

Your request

Could you please provide the number of applications by, and offers given
to, students from universities in mainland China and their previous
institutions for the 2023/24 academic year?

Could you please provide data specifically related to postgraduate
courses, including the number of students from each institution in China?

Our response

Please see our response attached. Please also note the following:

• Exact numbers of applicants totalling 5 or fewer have been withheld.
This is because to provide the exact numbers may inadvertently lead to
the identification of these individuals. Whilst there are no
personally identifiable details within the data being withheld, that
data, when combined with other data that may already be available in
the public domain, could be used by ‘motivated intruders’ and other
knowledgeable third parties to identify the individuals concerned.
Linking together separate strands of data available in this way can
indirectly lead to an individual being identified which would breach
the first data protection principle. Further, these individuals would
have no expectation that their identities, by virtue of disclosing
this type of information, would be made known to the wider public and
it would be considered unfair to do so.

As this data would be likely to become personal data, this information is
exempt from disclosure and has been withheld under section 40(2) of the
FOIA by virtue of s40(3A)(a). Section 40(2) of the FOIA allows a public
authority to withhold information under the FOIA where (i) the requested
information is personal data relating to someone other than the requester
and (ii) its disclosure would breach any of the data protection
principles. It is for these reasons that this information is exempt under
section 40(2) of the Act. As the section 40(2) exemption is absolute,
there is no need to conduct a public interest test.

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example by publishing or issuing copies to the public, will require the
permission of the copyright owner.

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me using the details
provided in this letter and including the request reference number. If you
are unhappy with our response to your request and wish to make a complaint
or request a review of our decision, please email [1][email address].

Emails should include the words ‘Internal Review’ in the subject and be
marked ‘For the Attention of the Vice-President (Operations)’.
Alternatively, please write to:

Vice-President (Operations)
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT

Please note that complaints and requests for internal review received more
than two months after the initial decision will not be handled.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) by using the
following web address: [2]www.ico.org.uk/foicomplaints or by writing to
the ICO at the following address:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113
[3]https://ico.org.uk/

You should do this within two months of our final decision. Further
information on the FOIA is available on the ICO’s website:
[4]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici....

Kind regards,

Rowan Glover-Perrett

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Adviser

Data Protection Office

Office of the General Counsel

University College London

Tel:        020 3108 5446 (ext. 55446)

Email:    [5][email address]

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Confidentiality and Legal Privilege: The contents of this email and its
attachment(s) are confidential to the intended recipient and may be
legally privileged. They are not to be disclosed, copied, forwarded, used
or relied upon by any person other than the intended addressee. If you
believe that you have received the e-mail and its attachment(s) in error,
you must not take any action based on them and you must not copy or show
them to anyone. Please respond to the sender and delete this email and its
attachment(s) from your system.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/L...
3. https://ico.org.uk/
4. https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/R...
5. mailto:[email%20address]