17 August 2023
Tēnā koe Jane
I am responding on behalf of the University to your recent OIA request, in which you have asked for a range of
information relating to Kaplan and Singapore Institute of Technology. I respond to each part of your request as
follows:
1. What is the current status of the agreement with Kaplan signed?
We have three agreements signed with Kaplan (specifically 2 x Kaplan ANZ and 1 x Kaplan Professional).
2. Why was the agreement with Singapore Institute of Technology cancelled?
As at the date of your information request, Massey’s agreement with SIT for the joint delivery of the Food
Technology programme has not been cancelled.
3. What are the current programmes under Kaplan? How much revenue is Kaplan generating? How much
investment was made into Kaplan? Did Massey lose money in Kaplan? How much?
The programmes delivered by Kaplan on behalf of Massey University are publicly available here:
https://college.massey.ac.nz/(Kaplan ANZ) and
https://www.kaplanprofessional.edu.au/certificate-in-financial-advice (Kaplan Professional).
Massey University does not hold information in relation to revenue generated by Kaplan International (section
18(g)). Massey has made no financial investment into Kaplan (note this does not include staff time). Massey
has not lost any money in our partnership with Kaplan.
4. Who made the decisions regarding signing the MOU with Kaplan? Who currently oversees the agreement
with Kaplan? Please share all emails among decision makers about Kaplan.
The Vice-Chancellor signed the initial collaboration agreement with Kaplan. The DVC Students and Global
Engagement maintains oversight of the Kaplan partnership, and there are other key roles across the university
who engage with Kaplan at the management and delivery levels.
Your request for all emails amongst decision makers about Kaplan is refused under section 18(f) of the OIA. As
you may be aware the Collaboration Agreement itself was signed in early 2021 (see article
here), this followed
many months of work by staff internally on establishing the processes and systems for Massey and Kaplan to
work together. Much of this work required operational decision making.
To identify information which may be relevant to this part of your request would have a significant and
unreasonable impact on the university’s ability to carry out its business-as-usual operations. All email
correspondence sent and received across a group of approximately 20-30 staff would need to be read through
in their entirety from the period the initiative was proposed through to the date of receipt of your request – a
time period of approximately three years. A key word search using ‘Kaplan’ would not be sufficient to capture
all decisions ‘about Kaplan’ as many decisions made as part of the establishment of the collaboration
arrangement would not have explicitly mentioned ‘Kaplan’ but would be operational matters for everything
from academic decision making and quality assurance, to office and teaching space for Massey University
College.
5. How much revenue did Massey lose in opportunity cost by discontinuing the collaboration with Singapore
Institute of Technology?
Please refer to the response to part 2 of your request.
6. How many staff lines did Massey disestablish in discontinuing the agreement with Singapore Institute of
Technology?
No staff positions have been disestablished.
7. What was the ranking of Massey Food Technology in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022?
Rankings information is publicly available via each ranking organisation. Information from Shanghai Ranking,
US Best News Global Rankings and Scimago Institutions Rankings is shown below.
Shanghai Rankings - Food Science and Technology
Year
World Rank
2022
51-75
2021
51-75
2020
51-75
2019
41
2018
39
2017
45
US News Best Global Rankings - Food Science and Technology
Year
World Rank
2022
86
2021
88=
Scimago Institutions - Food Science
Year
World Rank
2023
104
2022
95
8. How many staff are currently employed in Food Technology? What are their ranks? How many students
does Massey currently have in Food Technology? Please break down by campus.
The College of Sciences have the following staff in Food Technology: 5 professors, 2 associate professors, 13
senior lecturers, 1 lecturer, 1 tutor and 2 technicians.
Please note that Food Technology is offered across four locations (including SIT) and staff within the Food
Technology discipline may operate across one or more of these campuses.
The following table provides student headcount of students enrolled in Food Technology programmes. Please
note that some students study on more than one campus.
Programme Title
Campus
2023 to April 15th
Bachelor of Food Technology with Honours
Auckland
60
Manawatu
88
Distance
11
Offshore
89
Bachelor of Food Technology with Honours
Total
211
Bachelor of Food Technology with Honours
Singapore Institute of
Total
Technology (in partnership)
216
Master of Food Technology
Auckland
23
Manawatu
19
Distance
3
Master of Food Technology Total
43
Master of Food Safety and Quality
Auckland
6
Manawatu
9
Distance
14
Master of Food Safety and Quality Total
24
Please be advised of your right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
I trust this is the information you require.
Ngā mihi,
Jodie Banner
Director of Governance and Assurance
