Thank you for your email.  

Please note, if you are sending an automated request for personal data
erasure via a third-party, before we can proceed with your request we
require a copy of your ID, scanned copy of a driving licence/passport.

If your enquiry is related to a current application to study at King's
please contact the relevant admissions team directly:

[1]https://www.kcl.ac.uk/aboutkings/orgstru...

For all other enquiries relating to requests made under the Freedom of
Information Act (2000), the Environmental Information Regulations (2004),
or the Data Protection Act and UK GDPR (2018) a member of the Information
Compliance team will be in touch separately with official acknowledgement
of your request.

Kind regards,

Information Compliance

References

Visible links
1. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/aboutkings/orgstru...
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/aboutkings/orgstru...

Dear Katie Lau,
 
Thank you for your email. We will treat your request for information as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received by the university on 24th June 2023. We will endeavour to respond to your request within the statutory 20 working day time frame.
 
Please note that the university has adopted the Model Publication Scheme and also publishes FOI responses on our Disclosure Log. The Fees Regulations state that requests received within 60 consecutive working days can be aggregated.

Kind Regards,

Lakeisha Dowsey-Magog (she/her)
Information Compliance Officer
Department of Business Assurance
King’s College London
Room: SW1.09
Somerset House East Wing
Strand Campus
WC2R 2LS

show quoted sections

Dear Katie Lau,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the
Act”)

Further to your recent request for information held by King’s College
London, I am writing to confirm that the requested information is held by
the university.

Your request

We received your information request on 24^th June 2023 and have treated
it as a request for information made under section 1(1) of the Act.

You requested the following information:

Could you please provide me with the admission statistics for all of your
undergraduate programmes for the cohort starting in September 2023?

I would like to know:

- total number of home applications and offers made for each course

- total number of overseas applications and offers made for each course

- total number of home independent school applicants and offers made for
each course

- total number of overseas independent school applicants and offers made
for each course

- total number of hong kong applicants and offers made for each course

- total number of hong kong independent school applicants and offers made
for each course

Our response

The University can confirm it holds some of the requested data for the
current admissions cycle for 2023 entry, however, this information has
been withheld in accordance with section 43(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act – Commercial Interests.  

Student recruitment has been recognised as a commercial activity for
universities (see ICO decision notice:
[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...).
Since the UK government removed caps on the number of students
institutions could accept from 2015/16, King’s College London (KCL), must
operate within an increasingly competitive global market to continue to
attract the best students. Furthermore, it is also recognised that the
worldwide Coronavirus pandemic is placing additional pressure on
universities required to operate in this already highly competitive
environment ( [2]https://www.timeshighereducation.com/pol...).
Consequently, Higher Education Providers (HEPs) such as King’s must
recognise the impact these dynamics are having in conferring elevated or
additional commercial value on certain internal information around
recruitment. 

We consider that the records we hold in this regard are exempt under
Section 43(2) as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial
interests of King’s College University. Disclosure of information to this
level, at this point in the admissions cycle, would likely harm the
ability of KCL to compete with other providers in the management of their
admissions decisions and offer making. The College acknowledges the public
interest in a healthy and competitive marketplace. However, disclosure of
information which would be likely to undermine the competitiveness of
King’s by allowing competitors to gain access to key information about our
programmes, their level of interest and take up, exposing demand and
provision. Other HEPs would be likely to use this information to inform
their marketing strategies in the following cycle; more aggressively
targeting specific areas perceived as weak. They would be likely to use
this commercial intelligence to see areas which are over and under
subscribed and target their recruitment accordingly. This would be likely
to impact on the College’s number and quality of applicants, undermining
its ability to compete in the sector. 

This is a qualified exemption and requires the consideration of a public
interest test: assessing whether the balance of the public interest
favours disclosing the information or maintaining the exemption. In this
case we have considered that the public interest favours non-disclosure.
It is in the public interest for the university to be able to fairly
attract best candidates and maintain its position as a world leading
university.  

This completes the university’s response to your information request.

Your right to complain

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
information request or feel that it has not been properly handled you have
the right to complain or request a review of our decision by contacting
the Director of Information Governance & Data Protection Officer within 60
days of the date of this letter.  

Further information about our internal complaints procedure is available
at the link below: 

[3]http://www.kcl.ac.uk/college/policyzone/...

In the event that you are not content with the outcome of your complaint
you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted the internal complaints procedure provided by King’s College
London.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address:

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Lakeisha Dowsey-Magog (she/her)

Information Compliance Officer

Department of Business Assurance

King’s College London

Room: SW1.09

Somerset House East Wing

Strand Campus

WC2R 2LS

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
2. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/pol...
3. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/college/policyzone/...