Candidate Data

The UCAT Consortium seeks to minimise bias due to factors such as age, gender, nationality, ethnicity or socio-economic background. In order to do this we collect demographic, admissions and educational data on applicants to medical and dental schools in the UK. The data collected provide the UCAT Consortium with an effective, reliable mechanism for: 

  • The administration of the test (i.e. to verify candidate details and to be able to communicate correct test results to participating medical and dental schools)
  • The verification of the internal reliability of the test (i.e. is it a fair test and does it favour particular demographics of candidates)
  • The establishment of the predictive validity of the test with regards to medical/dental school and postgraduate performance
  • Undertaking research related to admissions to medicine and dentistry that reflects the legitimate interests of UCAT

Research and analysis only takes place on anonymised data and UCAT is committed to ensuring that no individual or groups of individuals can be identified in any published research undertaken on its behalf. 

We seek to obtain the following data from UCAS for candidates sitting the UCAT:

About you:

UCAS PID; any declared disability; date of birth; area of domicile (UK, EU, non-EU); school or college details; ethnicity; nationality; parental attendance in HE; classification of area based on young participation in HE; gender; socio-economic group.

About your application:

Course and university choices; University decisions; your decisions in response to offers; year of entry.

Qualifications:

Subjects and grades achieved at GCSE

Further details regarding how we collect, store and process your data can be found in our Data Privacy Policy.


Requests for Information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) or Data Protection Act (DPA).

Individuals may make requests for information to the UCAT Consortium under FOI or request access to their personal data under the DPA.  Requests will be dealt with in line with guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If you feel that the service you have received does not meet these aims or your expectations, in the first instance please contact the UCAT Consortium by email [email protected]

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, please contact us again and we will ask a member of the UCAT Board to review the response.  Please note that requests for review must be received within forty days of the date of our response.

If you remain dissatisfied after following these steps, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).  You should do this within two months of receiving the UCAT Consortium's final response to your complaint.

For further advice on making a complaint to the ICO, please see their website at https://ico.org.uk/