Dear Zhu,

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

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

NB Due to the current situation with the Covid-19 virus and the
University’s response to it, there may be a delay in receiving your
response at this time.

With best wishes

Lisa

Dr Lisa Crawley l  Information Officer  l Information Governance Office
l Directorate of Compliance and Risk l  Professional Support Services |
Room G7 Christie Building  l Compliance & Risk Management Office l  The
University of Manchester  l  Oxford Road  l  Manchester  l  M13 9PL  l 
Tel +44 (0)161 275 8400  

[1]www.manchester.ac.uk

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D320C7.272763F0

We are all responsible for protecting person identifying data held by the
University, including who we share that data with. Stop and think before
you send your email.  For further guidance see:
[3]www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

References

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Dear Zhu,

Thank you for your request for information received by The University of
Manchester on 17 June 2020 which was as follows:

1. The number of applications, offers and intake for each of the
undergraduate courses provided by U of Manchester for the past 5 admission
cycles.

2. The number of applications, offers and intake of Chinese
students(Chinese nationality) for each of the undergraduate courses
provided by U of Manchester  for the past 5 admission cycles.

The University has now considered your request and unfortunately the
information you are seeking cannot be provided at this time. This is
because we believe the information breakdown requested for each
undergraduate course is exempt from disclosure by virtue of the listed
exemption at Section 43 (2) – Commercial Interests. Please see the refusal
notice below for further details.

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/or 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/or 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. It has been highly publicised recently that
the current situation with the Coronavirus is impacting greatly on the
competitive environment in which universities operate and therefore it is
arguably even more important at this time that we do not take any action
that may further impact on our position in a competitive market.

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 and offer 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 have provided some data available at school level below as a gesture of
goodwill. We are able to present the data in this way as the exemption is
not engaged at school level. We trust this information is of use to you.

1. The number of applications, offers and intake for each of the undergraduate courses provided by U of
Manchester for the past 5 admission cycles.
Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
School Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake
Alliance
Manchester
Business
School 4676 2616 813 4800 2844 828 4813 2701 700 5008 2563 625 6739 3146 739
Faculty
Office - FSE 1767 834 376 1718 557 309 1732 638 321 1619 642 347 1603 560 324
School of
Arts,
Languages
and Cultures 9206 5857 1650 9278 6306 1676 9176 5657 1563 8379 5068 1589 8944 5777 1536
School of
Biological
Sciences 4847 2394 716 4858 2469 751 4857 2566 727 5295 2681 743 5928 2921 725
School of
Engineering 8848 4887 991 8503 4926 957 8555 4864 941 8507 4730 915 9322 4849 974
School of
Environment,
Education
and
Development 3103 1819 549 3015 1915 508 3303 2150 473 2982 1844 419 3685 2207 485
School of
Health
Sciences 10884 3295 1412 10779 3043 1308 10080 3217 1269 9319 3168 1193 9972 3137 1036
School of
Medical
Sciences 3359 884 589 3639 898 581 3233 1078 627 4064 1201 685 4796 1228 660
School of
Natural
Science 6682 4138 1315 6314 3976 1217 6617 4117 1265 6702 4257 1257 6836 4513 1287
School of
Social
Sciences 13636 7970 1663 13429 7918 1500 14155 7893 1388 15710 8613 1505 16585 9039 1575
2. The number of applications, offers and intake of Chinese students (Chinese nationality) for each of the undergraduate courses provided by U of
Manchester  for the past 5 admission cycles.
Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
School Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake Applications Offers Intake
Alliance
Manchester
Business
School 765 373 142 820 484 141 863 470 140 953 439 134 1353 602 175
Faculty
Office - FSE 29 15 3 39 9 3 22 11 5 50 33 13 84 40 19
School of
Arts,
Languages
and Cultures 107 61 46 218 160 131 219 150 110 269 211 164 207 125 48
School of
Biological
Sciences 94 68 18 143 101 18 146 101 20 210 153 28 279 202 23
School of
Engineering 611 362 120 662 423 129 756 499 118 962 557 134 1342 693 202
School of
Environment,
Education
and
Development 248 144 20 232 141 23 306 161 26 293 154 30 507 281 58
School of
Health
Sciences 68 40 8 74 41 7 152 103 58 204 166 112 145 90 18
School of
Medical
Sciences 23 7 4 18 4 1 19 6 1 22 1 1 26 7 4
School of
Natural
Science 829 565 263 813 596 265 1012 727 312 1239 841 332 1731 1242 472
School of
Social
Sciences 1057 555 148 1203 721 190 1311 709 169 1580 840 229 1859 924 254

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. We will not accept appeals received after this date, as per the
Freedom of Information Code of Practice, Section 5.3.

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

Sharon Glen | Information Officer | Information Governance Office |
Directorate of Compliance and Risk |Professional Services | G7 Christie
Building | The University of Manchester | Oxford Road | Manchester | M13
9PL | Tel +44(0) 161 306 7549| [3]www.manchester.ac.uk

[4]data_matters_logo2-(3)

We are all responsible for protecting personal data held by the
University, including who we share that data with. Stop and think before
you send your email.  For further guidance see:
[5]www.dataprotection.manchester.ac.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/
5. http://www.dataprotection.manchester.ac....