Dear Morteza

We acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request of 17 November 2020.

If we have any questions or need to seek clarification on any points we will be in touch soon. Otherwise, we will seek to respond to your request as soon as practicable and no later than 20 working days after the date your request was received (by 15 December 2020). If we are unable to respond to your requests by then, we will notify you of an extension of this timeframe.

Can you please confirm that you meet the criteria in section 12 of the Official Information Act - i.e. that you are a New Zealand citizen, a permanent resident of New Zealand or a person who is in New Zealand.

Kind regards
Mayhaka

Mayhaka Mendis • Manager, Policy and Compliance, Office of the Registrar • Deputy Privacy Officer • Te Whare Wânanga o Ôtâkou, University of Otago • P.O Box 56, Dunedin • Tel +64 3 479 8993

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Dear Morteza

 

We refer to your request of 17 November 2020 under the Official
Information Act.

 

You have asked how many PhD students at the University of Otago received
an outright fail (no degree awarded) as the outcome of their oral
examination in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020.

 

Our response

The oral examination is only one component of the PhD examination. The
University does not separate out failing an oral as failing the entire PhD
examination. Performance on both the thesis and the oral are needed at the
doctoral level.

 

Whilst approximately 5-6% of candidates fail their first examination, most
who resubmit a revised thesis, go on to pass. 

 

The number of PhD candidates who failed their second examination in the
years 2018 to 2020 is less than 5, and therefore we cannot report the
actual numbers due to privacy reasons. This is consistent with Section
9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act.

 

 

 

Kind regards

Mayhaka

 

Mayhaka Mendis • Manager, Policy and Compliance, Office of the Registrar •
Deputy Privacy Officer • Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou, University of Otago •
P.O Box 56, Dunedin • Tel +64 3 479 8993

 

 

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Dear Morteza

I refer to your emails dated 11 December and 13 December 2020 in relation to our email of 11 December 2020 responding to your information request under the Official Information Act.

We note that in your email of 13 December 2020 you state that "To clarify my OIA request further, I need to know how many PhD candidates failed their examination, following their oral examination, without having been given any right to revise and resubmit their work and without any degree awarded (outright failure), at the University of Otago in the years 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively."

To clarify our statements in our email response of 11 December 2020:

1. The number of PhD candidates that failed (i.e. outright failure):
2018 = 0
2019 = <5
2020 = 0

2. The University's standard practice is not to report on numbers where those numbers are below 5. This is for privacy reasons. Where the numbers of the candidates are very low, there is a risk that the identity of those candidates could be determined/inferred. Accordingly, we withhold this information pursuant to section 9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act.

3. The statement in our email of 11 December 2020 to "Whilst approximately 5-6% of candidates fail their first examination, most who resubmit a revised thesis, go on to pass" - was simply an attempt to be helpful and provide some context. The PhD examination process normally includes an oral examination - this requirement was instigated in 2014. The oral examination is not assessed as pass or fail, but rather the PhD examination (of which the oral is a component) is marked as pass (with minor corrections or amendments) or fail (revise and resubmit or award another degree or no degree awarded). For candidates revising and resubmitting their thesis, at the second examination the candidate can pass (again with minor corrections or amendments)) or fail (but this time only with the recommendation for the award of another degree or no degree awarded).

I trust this follow-up response is clearer.

I note your right to seek a review of these decisions via a complaint to an Ombudsman. However, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.

Kind regards
Mayhaka

Mayhaka Mendis • Manager, Policy and Compliance, Office of the Registrar • Deputy Privacy Officer • Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou, University of Otago • P.O Box 56, Dunedin • Tel +64 3 479 8993

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Dear Morteza

We refer to your information request made under the Official Information Act 1982, seeking to know the number of PhD candidates that failed (i.e. outright failure) at the University of Otago in the years 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

We note that on 14 December 2020 we informed you that there were no PhD candidates that failed in 2018 or 2020.

The University of Otago takes its obligations to protect the privacy of personal information seriously. We also carefully consider the wellbeing of our students in our actions and decision making. It is for these reasons that we withheld the information you requested for 2019.

However, following receipt of correspondence from the Office of the Ombudsman, including in relation to their consultation with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, we are now willing to release the 2019 data to you.

We confirm that 1 student failed their PhD in 2019.

Kind regards
Mayhaka

Mayhaka Mendis • Manager, Policy and Compliance, Office of the Registrar • Deputy Privacy Officer • Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou, University of Otago • P.O Box 56, Dunedin • Tel +64 3 479 8993

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