21 December 2022
By email:
[email address]
Dear Rosie
I refer to your information request dated 15 September 2022 made under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act). You have requested grade and mark distributions for the CELS191, CHEM191,
HUBS191, PHSI191, BIOC192, HUBS192, POPH192 and STAT115 papers in 2022.
Subject to the following comments, please find attached the information you have requested. Please
note that there are two pages in the attached document (one for each Semester).
• we note that the grade and mark distributions for the Semester 2 compulsory Health
Sciences First Year (HSFY) papers (BIOC192, HUBS192, POPH192) have not been finalised yet.
Once special examinations have taken place for these papers and all student results have
been finalised, we will be happy to release the grade and mark distributions for these
papers. These are scheduled to take place in mid-February 2023. We are not comfortable
releasing the mark and grade distributions for these paper before special examinations have
taken place – as this may affect students’ wellbeing and disrupt students’ performance in
the special examinations.
• we also want to ensure we protect the health and safety of our students. Given that the
Semester 2 compulsory HSFY papers are part of a competitive process for admission into
restricted entry health science professional programmes, we do not wish for the early
disclosure of this information to be used for improper gain or advantage, pursuant to section
9(2)(c) and 9(2)(k) of the Act. We are concerned that if students view the marks before
special examinations are completed, they may try to infer selection to the health science
professional programmes based on incomplete data.
• on occasions where fewer than five students have failed a paper (i.e. received a grade of Fail
D, Fail E, Failed Compulsory Assessment or Failed Terms), we have determined that it is
necessary to withhold the marks and specific grades for these students to protect their
privacy and wellbeing. We consider that withholding this information is necessary to protect
against the identity of these students being determined or inferred, and their personal
information (i.e. their marks) could be disclosed. We therefore withhold this information
pursuant to section 9(2)(a) of the Act.
• as clarified with you, the attached data contains the mark and grade distributions for
students who were enrolled in HSFY only. Students are included if they were enrolled in the
HSFY programme at 30 April 2022. Students may move out of the HSFY programme between
Semesters – therefore a student may be included in the Semester 1 data but not included in
the Semester 2 data.
• students who withdrew from the papers or received an Aegrotat Pass (not a mark) are
excluded from the data.
I trust that this information will be helpful. We will be in touch with regards to the grade
distributions for the Semester 2 HSFY papers once the grade and mark distributions for these papers
have been confirmed and are available.
In the above cases, we consider that good reasons exist for withholding information and this is not
outweighed by other considerations which would make it desirable, in the public interest, to make
the information available. If you are not satisfied with our response to your information request,
section 28(3) of the Act provides you with the right to ask an Ombudsman to investigate and review
this response. However, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.
Yours sincerely
Kelsey Kennard
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator
Office of the Registrar
