Decision to exclude the PGSA from the proposed Student Success Committee
Andrew Tipton made this Official Information request to Victoria University of Wellington
Currently waiting for a response from Victoria University of Wellington, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: Andrew Tipton
Dear Victoria University of Wellington,
For a number of years, the university has had a Student Experience Committee (the "SEC"), which is an advisory committee whose purpose is "to advise the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori) and Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) on matters relating to students (as relevant to their portfolios)."
The Postgraduate Students' Association (the PGSA) has a representative on the SEC, and this is set out in the Terms of Reference for the SEC.
Recently, it has been proposed to transform the SEC into a Student Success Committee (the "SSC") and expand its remit as well as delegate some decision-making authorities to the Committee. As part of this work, a proposed Terms of Reference for the SSC were drafted and presented to Academic Board for its 24 February 2026 meeting.
The proposed Terms of Reference for the SSC had removed the PGSA representative from the Committee.
Against this background, I wish to make an Official Information Act request for information relating to the proposed Terms of Reference for the SSC and, more specifically, the decision-making process that led to the PGSA being excluded from the proposed Terms of Reference.
(For completeness, I note that Academic Board has now chosen to approve the proposed Terms of Reference with an amendment to restore the PGSA representative as a member of the committee. Therefore, this request is simply seeking to obtain insight into how and why the original proposal ended up not including the PGSA as a member.)
The information that I seek about this decision might be contained in documents such as working drafts of the proposed Terms of Reference, in the minutes of meetings related to either the Student Experience Committee or the proposed Student Success Committee, or in email and/or Teams messages.
I would also like to request copies of any correspondence with the PGSA or with VUWSA regarding the proposed Student Success Committee. This would include, for example, correspondence where either of these students' associations were consulted on the proposed changes to the membership of either the SEC or the proposed SSC.
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Tipton
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora
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have a decision due date of 13 February 2026.
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Accordingly, we would be grateful if you could please instead consider the
following alternative methods to answer commonly requested information:
* If you are a prospective student seeking information to apply to study
with us, please contact the University’s Student Success Advisers for
admissions advice:
[1]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol...
* If you are a student seeking advice on studies, student
administration, support services, and student life in general, please
contact Tîtoko—Centre for Student Success:
[2]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/tools-an...
* If you are seeking grade distributions or copies of test papers,
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* If you are seeking agendas and minutes from the University Council,
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* Meeting dates and agendas:
[4]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
* Minutes:
[5]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
* If you are seeking agendas, papers, and minutes from the University’s
Academic Board, you can find these on the University’s website here:
[6]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
* If you are seeking other key University documents, such as our Annual
Report, Ki te râ—Student Wellbeing Outcomes Framework, Strategic Plan
and more, you can find these on the University’s website here:
[7]https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
If you have found the information through any of the alternative means,
please confirm by email if you would like to withdraw your OIA request.
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Thank you.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Team
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
References
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1. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol...
2. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/tools-an...
3. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/programmes-...
4. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
5. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
6. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
7. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/...
From: OIA Requests
Victoria University of Wellington
Kia ora
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act 1982
(OIA) request of 25 February 2026.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and not
later than 25 March 2026, being 20 working days after the date your
request was received.
If you have any questions or concerns relating to your request in the
meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ngā mihi
Kayana Shaw (she/her)
Senior Advisor, Official Information and Privacy | Legal Services
Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington
[1]www.wgtn.ac.nz | 0800 04 04 04
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Tipton <[2][FOI #33852 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 25 February 2026 5:07 pm
To: OIA Requests <[3][VUW request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Decision to exclude the PGSA from
the proposed Student Success Committee
Dear Victoria University of Wellington,
For a number of years, the university has had a Student Experience
Committee (the "SEC"), which is an advisory committee whose purpose is "to
advise the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students), Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Māori) and Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) on matters relating to
students (as relevant to their portfolios)."
The Postgraduate Students' Association (the PGSA) has a representative on
the SEC, and this is set out in the Terms of Reference for the SEC.
Recently, it has been proposed to transform the SEC into a Student Success
Committee (the "SSC") and expand its remit as well as delegate some
decision-making authorities to the Committee. As part of this work, a
proposed Terms of Reference for the SSC were drafted and presented to
Academic Board for its 24 February 2026 meeting.
The proposed Terms of Reference for the SSC had removed the PGSA
representative from the Committee.
Against this background, I wish to make an Official Information Act
request for information relating to the proposed Terms of Reference for
the SSC and, more specifically, the decision-making process that led to
the PGSA being excluded from the proposed Terms of Reference.
(For completeness, I note that Academic Board has now chosen to approve
the proposed Terms of Reference with an amendment to restore the PGSA
representative as a member of the committee. Therefore, this request is
simply seeking to obtain insight into how and why the original proposal
ended up not including the PGSA as a member.)
The information that I seek about this decision might be contained in
documents such as working drafts of the proposed Terms of Reference, in
the minutes of meetings related to either the Student Experience Committee
or the proposed Student Success Committee, or in email and/or Teams
messages.
I would also like to request copies of any correspondence with the PGSA or
with VUWSA regarding the proposed Student Success Committee. This would
include, for example, correspondence where either of these students'
associations were consulted on the proposed changes to the membership of
either the SEC or the proposed SSC.
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Tipton
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References
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2. mailto:[FOI #33852 email]
3. mailto:[VUW request email]
4. mailto:[FOI #33852 email]
5. mailto:[VUW request email]
6. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
7. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
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