The Ombudsman has published an external review determination relating to an applicant’s request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1991.

The Applicant sought access to documents held by the former University of Adelaide about a marking rubric from an entrance interview.

The agency refused access relating to the names of interview components, the applicant’s scores and overall rankings based on the business affairs clause and prejudice of operations of agencies clause.

The Ombudsman reversed the agency’s determination as the FOI Act prevents an agency from claiming a business affairs exemption over its own information. The Ombudsman was also not satisfied that the information in the document would prejudice university operations as the information was not materially different from publicly available information.

The agency has confirmed that it has released documents in accordance the Ombudsman’s determination.

A copy of the full determination is available here:
(Anonymised) University of Adelaide (2025/06702) (PDF, 235.0 KB)