28 May 2024
Education Vice-President
New Zealand Law Students’ Association
By email
: [FYI request #26585 email]
Tēnā koe
I refer to your information request dated 30 April 2024 made under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act). You requested the following information regarding enrolments to the University of Otago’s
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme:
“1. The total number of law students who are enrolled at the university, and 2. The number of
law students within each year level from:
a. 1st year;
b. 2nd year;
c. 3rd year;
d. 4th year; and
e. 5th year and above.”
By email dated 3 May 2024, you amended your request to include the following information:
“Regarding my previous request, could I please have the total number of students by
headcount? (Rather than Equivalent Full Time Students).
Along with my previous requests, may I also please request the following information:
1. The number of law students who identify as:
a. Asian
b. European
c. Māori
d. MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African) e. Pasifika d. Other
2. The number of law students who identify as a. Male b. Female c. Gender diverse.”
By email dated 14 May, at our request, you also clarified that by “Law students”, you were referring to
anyone enrolled in the LLB programme plus those enrolled in LAWS101.
Subject to the below general comments, see below our response to your request:
• The data is correct as at 13 May 2024.
• The data we have provided is limited to all students enrolled in LAWS101, and all students
enrolled in the LLB and LLB(Hons), who are also enrolled in at least one 200-, 300- or 400-level
LAWS paper in 2024.
1. The total number of law students who are enrolled at the university, and the number of law
students within each year level
Subject to the following comments, please see the below table which contains the information you
have requested:
• The University does not hold information based on which year of the programme a student is
in due to the range of study options available to students (e.g., full-time or part-time
enrolment, and the ability to study a double degree). Students are also able to take any
combination of 300- and 400-level optional papers during the third and fourth year of the LLB
or LLB(Hons) degree (e.g., in 2024, there may be students studying 300- and 400-level papers
at the same time). Therefore, the information we have provided is based on enrolments by
LAWS paper level.
• Students are counted once per each LAWS paper level enrolled in, and therefore may be
counted in more than one level. For example, a student enrolled in 300- and 400-level LAWS
papers as at 13 May 2024 will be counted twice in the table. However, we have also included
the total unique student headcount at the bottom of the table.
Year Level
Headcount
LAWS101
501
200-level
296
300-level
409
400-level
702
Total Unique Headcount
1,453
2. The number of students who identify as Asian, European, Māori, MELAA (Middle Eastern,
Latin American, and African), Pasifika, Other
Subject to the following comment, please see the below table which contains the information you
have requested:
• Students may identify with up to three ethnicities, therefore the sum of the ethnicity data
reported may exceed the unique student headcount noted at the bottom of the table.
Ethnicity
Headcount
Asian
131
European
1,282
Māori
243
Middle Eastern/Latin American/African
40
Pacific Peoples
97
Other Ethnicity
19
Total Unique Headcount
1,453
3. The number of law students who identify as male, female, gender diverse
Please see the below table which contains the information you have requested:
Gender
Headcount
Female
952
Male
498
Gender Diverse
3
Total
1,453
I trust that this information will be helpful.
Ngā mihi
Kelsey Kennard
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator
Office of the Registrar
