Kia ora Brendan

We acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request.

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 3 June 2021). If we are unable to respond to your requests by then, we will notify you of an extension of this timeframe.

Ngā mihi,
Vanessa Vidallon
For the Office of the Registrar

Corporate Records Services | Ngā Ratonga Kōrero Rangatōpū
University of Otago | Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo
Tel/Waea +64 3 479 7409

224 Hanover Street, Dunedin | Ōtepoti
PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054
New Zealand | Aotearoa

Email/Īmera [email address]
Website/Pae tukutuku www.otago.ac.nz/records

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Kia ora Brendan

I refer to your information request dated 6 May 2021 made under the Official Information Act 2021.

I am currently processing your request and would like to clarify a couple of matters with you please - to help us determine a decision on your information request.

1. In items 2 and 3 of your request, you have asked for the “mean” grade of those applicants under the rural sub-category who received an offer into the MBChB programme, and the “mean” grade of applicants under the rural sub-category who applied for the MBChB programme.

We are currently preparing a report which will contain information relating to:
• the median score for the commencing class of 2020 and 2021 for the rural sub-category for HSFY admission; and
• the median GPA for the commencing class of 2020 and 2021 for the rural sub-category for Graduate admission.

We consider the median score as a better measure for this purpose, as it provides a better indication of central tendency than the mean.

Can you please confirm whether you would be agreeable to amend your request to the median score/GPA as described above instead of the mean?
To the extent we are required to provide data that will not be included in our report (eg the mean scores), we may need to propose a charge under s15(1A) of the Act as it will take our staff time to collate and calculate.

2. You have requested that we exclude data from those applicants who “did not meet the threshold for the UCAT”.
All applicants are required to complete UCAT. The report we are currently preparing contains data for applicants that have met the threshold requirements as determined by the Medical Admission Committee. Can you please confirm whether you require something different. As noted above, to the extent we need to prepare data that is not included in our report, we may need to propose a charge under s15(1A) of the Act. This is because it will take our staff some time to collate and calculate.

We would be grateful if you can get back to us with the above clarifications so that we can continue processing your request.

Ngâ mihi

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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