FOI/202600514310 · FOI · cost limit
School sector movement in S6 and university access information: FOI release
Information requested
For the most recent five years available:
1. Private to State Sector Movement & Application to Scottish Universities
The number of pupils transferring from independent/private schools to state secondary schools in S6 Any national-level statistics or analyses on this pattern of movement Any statistics on pupils which have transferred from the private to the state sector in end of S5 or in S6 and have applied to Scottish universities (and which ones)
2. Attainment and Outcomes
Any analysis held by the Scottish Government on attainment levels (particularly Highers) by private and state school sector. Any work examining the relationship between school sector, attainment, and higher education entry.
3. Higher Education Access
Data showing the proportion of Scottish-domiciled entrants at Scottish University by school type (private vs state). Any analysis of changes in this proportion over time, particularly at highly selective institutions.
4. Policy and Assessment Any internal reports, briefings, or correspondence relating to:
The impact of school sector on university admissions The use of contextual admissions in Scotland Potential inconsistencies arising from recording school type at the point of application rather than at the point of qualification attainment
5. Proposed or Considered Reforms
Any documentation or discussion of potential policy changes relating to how educational background is assessed for university admissions.
Response
1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. However, you may wish to contact each individual local authority who may be able to provide some of the information you request.
2. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. However you may wish to contact Qualifications Scotland who may be able to provide some of the information you requested.
3. Data showing the proportion of Scottish-domiciled entrants at Scottish University by school type (private vs state).
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) used to publish information on full-time undergraduate enrolments at Scottish universities by whether the student was at state school or private school, split by country of provider (across the UK), domicile of student (e.g. Scotland, England etc), Entrant marker (e.g. 1st year student, returning student), and level of study. The data was last published for 2022-23 academic year and is available in Figure 6 on the HESA website: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb269/figure-6
Note: The reasons for HESA no longer publishing this data was due to an increasing number of unknowns in the data causing concern around data quality. This is referenced below the table on the HESA website.
4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that in order to locate and retrieve that information, we would need to conduct a search of all records held by the Scottish Government. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.
You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.
5. Scottish universities are autonomous institutions that have sole responsibility for their own admissions criteria, a process in which Scottish Ministers cannot intervene. All Scottish universities (with the exception of the Open University in Scotland which has an open admissions policy) now use a form of contextual admissions. These extend to a wide range of indicators including widening access programmes, family indicators, and protected characteristics. We are working with the Commissioner for Fair Access and sector representatives on exploring individual level measures that can be used to support universities and colleges to make more contextualised admissions. In his latest annual report (The future for fair access in Scotland – an expansive conception of fair access as a national mission Commissioner for Fair Access: annual report 2025/26 - gov.scot) the Commissioner for Fair Access commits to reviewing the deployment of contextual admissions and Minimum Entry Requirements across Scottish HEIs to appraise whether the impact on fair access is optimal. About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.
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