Kia ora Laura

I refer to your request for clarification on the University's responses to your two Official Information Act requests dated 7 August 2023 and 5 April 2024. Copies of each request are re-attached for your reference. In both of your requests, you requested information related to entry to the University's Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme via the Graduate and Alternative categories. In each of these requests, you asked for statistics "excluding sub-categories".

The University recently re-named "sub-categories" to "equity groups". For the purposes of our response, we will refer to sub-categories as "equity groups". For background - as outlined in the University's Guidelines for Admission for the BDS programme, there are five equity groups - Māori, Pacific, Socioeconomic, Refugee, and Rural. Any domestic applicant who does not apply under an equity group has their application processed under the General category. If an applicant applies under an equity group, but is not actually eligible to apply under that equity group, has their application processed as an application under the General category instead. I would recommend that you refer to the Guidelines for Admission on the University website for further information on the equity groups and relevant entry requirements for the BDS programme: https://www.otago.ac.nz/healthsciences/s....

To confirm your question, our responses to your two information requests were limited to applications to the BDS programme via the Graduate General and Alternative General categories only, as your request to exclude sub-categories/equity groups meant that Māori, Pacific, Socioeconomic, Refugee and Rural applicants were not included.

I hope this clarification is helpful. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any further questions.

Ngā mihi
Kelsey

Kelsey Kennard (she/her)
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator | Kaituitui Pārongo Ōkawa me te Tautukunga

University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te Kaunihera

Kia ora Laura

Apologies - the two responses I refer to in my email sent earlier are attached for your reference.

Ngā mihi
Kelsey

Kelsey Kennard (she/her)
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator | Kaituitui Pārongo Ōkawa me te Tautukunga

University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te Kaunihera