Level 1, Wintec House
Cnr Angelsea & Nisbet Streets
PO Box 19400
Hamilton 3204
5 October 2020
Elliot M Tucker
[FYI request #13681 email]
Tēnā koe Elliot
Official Information Act request – average grades of students by course and campus by year from
2018 to date, and document stating impact of New Zealand’s Covid-19 response on grades Thank you for your email sent on Sunday 6 September 2020 requesting the following information
under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
1) the average grade(s) of students by course and campus of study during 2018 2) the average grade(s) of students by course and campus of study during 2019 3) the average grade(s) of students by course and campus of study during 2020 (to date) 4) a document stating the impact to the average grade(s) of students by course of study and campus
of New Zealand’s Covid-19 response Defining an ‘average grade’ for vocational education is a very complex concept as the wide range of
programmes on offer do not operate on the same grade system or scale.
Te Pūkenga’s subsidiaries do not collect or hold data in the format you have requested and it would
require considerable resource for our subsidiaries to create this information for you. Therefore, I am
refusing this part of your request under section 18(g) as the information requested isn’t held by Te
Pūkenga or its subsidiaries.
The Tertiary Education Commission does, however, publish Educational Performance Indicator (EPI)
reports on its website for Tertiary Education Organisations, including those now subsidiaries of Te
Pūkenga. While not a complete picture, this data may show you trends over the time period you are
interested in. You can find these reports at
https://www.tec.govt.nz/funding/funding-and-
performance/performance/teo/epi-reports/educational-performance-at-individual-tertiary-
providers-new-methodology/. Please note that complete 2020 EPI data is not available until 2021.
We do not hold any documents stating the impact of COVID-19 on the ‘average grades’ of our
subsidiaries’ learners, given average grade information is not held by either Te Pūkenga or its
subsidiaries, so this part of your response is refused under section 18(e) of the OIA. We are aware,
however, that our subsidiaries are working closely with their learners to provide extra pastoral care
to support them during what we know is a very challenging time.
P a g e | 2
Under section 28(3) of the OIA, you have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman if you are
not happy with this response. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by calling 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Stephen Town
Chief Executive
