News

The University of Otago Council will today vote on recommendations from the University Senate to restrict enrolments for the 2011 academic year. The vote is a result of an influx of domestic enrolments which has pushed the University well beyond its Government funding for Equivalent Full Time Students (EFTS). As a result, this year the University is supporting over 500 EFTS places for which it does not receive Government funding.


 
 
Among the recommendations being considered by the Council is a cap on Summer School enrolments at 300 EFTS, down from the present 350, and a reduction in sub-degree qualifications offered by the University. However the major proposed change is the creation of a two-tiered entry system. This would see high-achieving students receive guaranteed entry on the basis of their Year 12 NCEA marks. All other students would be ranked, primarily on the basis of their Year 13 marks, and over subscribed courses would be subject to entry determined by ranking. There would, however, be the facility for Maori and Pacific Island students to gain priority entry.
 
In addition to these changes there would also be a tightening of domestic student transfers from other universities in New Zealand, such that if a student had failed over half their course at another university they would not be permitted to enrol at Otago for a two year period following such failure.
 
OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan says the changes are similar to those in place at Victoria, Massey and Auckland Universities. “Students who do really well will get guaranteed or preferential entry based on Year 12 marks, and from then on they will be ranked,” she says. “The change is one required for the University to keep giving current students quality degrees and the proposed model is a fair one.”
 
The vote does indeed come hot on the heels of Massey University announcing that it will adopt a point based system for entry, following Auckland and Victoria’s example.
 
New Zealand Union of Students Association Co-President David Do said that these tougher entry standards will deny able students access to university. “More than half of New Zealand’s university campuses have effectively closed off second semester entry and are moving towards limited entry next year. By turning away from open entry, a system that gave all suitably qualified New Zealanders a fair go, this year marks a sad turning point away from this cornerstone of our tertiary education system.” 
 
However the Government is unsympathetic, with Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce saying that schools and universities should look to offering thousands more places to international students as an economic lifeline for institutions.
 
The government were branded “cheapskates” by Labour tertiary education spokeswoman Maryan Street for relying on overseas money to prop up the tertiary sector. “I have no problem with universities having international students, but there will be a problem if the arrival of international students squeezes out New Zealand students,” Street says. “We have got New Zealanders knocking on universities' doors and having them closed in their faces.”