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by Rory MacDonald | 3:04 am, 18/10/2010
They are convenient, sometimes necessary, and always costly. We’re not talking about a fuck buddy, but the Dunedin taxi service. Whether you jump in them on the cold, cold nights, or when you don’t want to be seen with whoever you’ve pulled from the increasingly scummy Metro Bar, taking a taxi in Dunedin is often a liberty that we students take for granted.
by Teuila Fuatai | 1:58 am, 18/10/2010
The Otago Daily Times last week ran a heart-warming tale about 73-year-old Wakari resident Tony Brosnan getting some students around to do his housework.
by Julia Hollingsworth | 1:49 am, 18/10/2010
The results of the OUSA referendum were announced last Thursday, with only 2 of the 13 motions meeting the required quorum of 1049 votes.
by Julia Hollingsworth | 1:07 am, 18/10/2010
The role the Otago Daily Times played in the recent local body elections is coming under scrutiny.
by Julia Hollingsworth | 11:08 pm, 17/10/2010
Finance and Services Officer James Meager has resigned from his position on the OUSA Executive. Meager’s resignation letter casts doubt on the way the Exec is run and OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan’s leadership style.
Whoops, how ‘bout another Semester then?
by Gregor Whyte | 4:02 am 20/07/2010
The University of Otago has been caught in an embarrassing situation after it incorrectly calculated the points a student required to graduate.
Fifth-year BCom/BSc student Oscar Harvey was told by an Advisor of Studies at the start of the year that he needed to take four papers to graduate, and was duly marked as a finalist. Acting on this advice Harvey scheduled two papers for each semester, which meant that he was ineligible for the Student Loan.
However, last week Harvey received a call from the University telling him that a mistake had been made and that he needed to take a further four 100-level papers from any discpline to complete his double degree. Since Harvey had planned to travel over the summer this would require taking six papers in the second semester, a loading over the maximum allowed by the University.
Critic contacted the University asking how such an oversight could happen, and whether Harvey would be required to complete all four extra papers. Director of Academic Service John Price replied that “Verifying that a student has met the requirements for a degree can be complicated, and the checking is particularly complex when a double degree is involved – as is the case in this current incident. Information given to students makes it clear that students must accept responsibility for their own course.”
He did however concede that “whenever a student is checked-off by an Adviser of Studies as a finalist, but is subsequently found not to be on track to complete, the issue is taken very seriously indeed by the University.” Adding that “possible ways of mitigating the issue from the student’s perspective are always considered, but this must be balanced against the University’s responsibility to protect the integrity of its academic programmes.”
Harvey informed Critic that, subsequent to Critic’s investigation beginning, the University had rung him and informed that he would only be required to complete three of the 100-level papers to graduate in order to make finishing this semester possible.
“I was stoked that the Uni compromised and is making me only do only three papers now,” Harvey says. “It would have been ideal though to do four papers each semester rather than two the first semester and five in the second semester.”
