Dear Anastasiia,

I am writing to acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 received by The University of Manchester on 25 May 2024, our reference as per the subject line.

The University will respond to your request within 20 working days.

Regards
 
Kim
 
Kim Britt l Office Administrator
Directorate of Compliance & Risk
The University of Manchester 
Simon Building
Oxford Road l Manchester M13 9PL
 
 

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Dear Anastasiia,

Thank you for your request for information received by The University of
Manchester on 25^th May 2024, which was as follows:

I would like to know for every postgraduate programme (both taught and
research) for the 2023/24 and 2022/23 admission cycles:

- the programme name,

- the programme code,

- the number of applications,

- the number of offers made,

- the number of acceptances,

- the number of enrolments.

The University has now considered your request and unfortunately the
information you are seeking cannot be provided at this time. This is
because it is deemed to be exempt from disclosure by virtue of the listed
exemption at Section 43 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 –
Commercial Interests. Further details of this follow in the refusal notice
below. 

Refusal Notice 

This Refusal Notice has been issued under Section 17 (1) of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). Under Section 1 (1) of the FOIA The University of
Manchester confirms that the information requested is held but we are
refusing to provide it in response to your request for the reasons set out
below.  

Section 43 (2) – Commercial Interests  

Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would,
or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person
(including the public authority holding it). 

We are applying Section 43 (2) as a prejudice-based exemption. We may rely
on this exemption if the disclosure would prejudice someone’s commercial
interests (including the University’s own).

Commercial interests may be prejudiced where a disclosure would be likely
to:  

· Damage its business reputation or the confidence that customers,
suppliers or investors may have in it 

· Have a detrimental impact on its commercial revenue or threaten its
ability to obtain supplies or secure finance 

· Weaken its position in a competitive environment by revealing market
sensitive information or information of potential usefulness to its
competitors. 

It is the latter of these three points that The University of Manchester
feels is relevant to this request. To determine where the public interest
lies with regard to this exemption, we have previously liaised extensively
with relevant staff in the University regarding requests of this nature,
including the Director of Student Recruitment & International Development,
the Heads of Teaching, Learning and the Student Experience in Faculties as
well as the University’s Head of Student Data, Analysis and Records. 

All felt that releasing information of the type requested at course level
would impact on the University’s competitive advantage and would therefore
prejudice our commercial interests.

Providing information on the level of applications, offers and acceptances
at course level would give a new or existing competitor key information
about our programmes. This could enable them to either start a new course
themselves (by identifying a perceived gap in the market which could then
impact on our numbers of applications, offers and acceptances) or to more
aggressively compete with us/poach from us (as they identify they could be
able to gain a bigger share of the market which could then impact on our
numbers of applications, offers and acceptances). Any disclosure under the
FOIA is considered as a disclosure to the world, so whereas it may not be
your intention to use the information in this way, it must be an important
factor in our considerations.  

Public Interest Test 

As Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption we are required to carry out a
public interest test to determine if the commercial interest is overridden
by the public interest from a release of the information concerned. 

Factors in Favour of Disclosure 

There is public interest in disclosing applications, offers and
acceptances data. To do so would ensure that members of the public can be
satisfied that the University of Manchester is open and transparent. It
may also assist public debate with regard to the issue of student
recruitment and offer making. 

Factors Against Disclosure 

Universities operate in an ever and increasingly competitive environment
and as such, the University would not wish to disclose information that
would be likely to prejudice our commercial interests and our position
within this environment. 

Therefore, we believe that for the reasons outlined above, the balance
lies in maintaining the exemption at this time. We can, however, provide
information on enrolments as this data is available through HESA.

Please find attached the list of PG programmes and their respective codes
along with the total enrolments in that academic year for our on campus
student population.

Please note that the numbers have been formatted to follow the HESA
standard rounding methodology (i.e. all numbers are rounded to the nearest
multiple of 5 and any number lower than 2.5 is rounded to 0 – although a 0
could indicate a 0 in any case). We have carried out these redactions due
to the low level of individual data involved.  We believe release of this
information would be too descriptive to properly preserve the anonymity of
individuals.  We are relying upon exemption 40(2) concerning personal data
to make such redactions.

We have also included “Mode of Attendance” as a column due to some
part-time and full-time programmes having the same name/description.

We hope you find the information provided of use.  However, if you feel
that The University of Manchester has refused access to information to
which you are entitled or has not dealt with your request appropriately
under the FOIA, you have a right of appeal. 

An appeal in the first instance should be directed to the Information
Governance Office at [1][email address]. You should include:  

· details of your initial request  

· any other relevant information  

You must make this appeal within 40 working days from receipt of your
response. The University will deal with your appeal within a reasonable
time, and will inform you of the projected time scale on receipt of your
complaint. You are also welcome to contact the Information Governance
Office with informal questions about the handling of your request.  

After The University’s internal appeals procedure has been exhausted, you
have a further right of appeal to the Information Commissioner’s
Office. Details of this procedure can be found at [2]www.ico.org.uk. 

Kind Regards,

Erika

Erika Mendonca | Information Officer | Information Governance Office |
Directorate of Compliance and Risk | Professional Services | G.004 |
Christie Building | The University of Manchester | Oxford Road |
Manchester | M13 9PL| [3]www.manchester.ac.uk. 

References

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