18 August 2022
By email:
[FYI request #19834 email]
Dear Faye
I refer to your information request dated 5 July 2022 made under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act). You requested:
1.
The total number of applicants from 2018 – 2021 under the following categories: Māori,
Indigenous Pacific, Refugee, Socioeconomic and General to the Health programmes at the
University of Otago including the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Bachelor of Medicine and
Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB), Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH), Bachelor of Pharmacy
(BPharm), Bachelor of Dental Technology (BDentTech)
2.
The total number of enrolled students per year from 2018 – 2021 under the following
categories: Māori, Indigenous Pacific, Refugee, Socioeconomic and General to the Health
programmes at the University of Otago including the BDS, MB ChB, BOH, BPharm, BDentTech
3.
Lowest and highest successful enrolled student GPA for the year 2018 – 2021 in each
programme (HSFY General category only)
We note we contacted you 14 July 2022 to see whether you would be willing to clarify the scope of
your request. Your response of 14 July 2022 confirmed:
• you were interested in receiving the information for the Health Sciences First Year (HSFY)
category, Graduate category and Alternative category for questions 1 and 2;
• you were interested in knowing both the number of applicants to receive an offer to enter
the programmes, and the number of applicants to enter the programmes for question 2;
• you were interested in receiving the minimum and highest average academic scores to
receive offers to enter the programmes via the HSFY General category for question 3 (noting
that average academic scores are used for HSFY, rather than GPA scores); and
• for all questions, you were interested in receiving the information for individuals applying in
2018 – 2021 for entry to the programmes in 2019 - 2022.
Please find below our responses to each of your questions.
1 & 2. The total number of applicants and the total number of enrolled students to the
2019 – 2022 BDS, MB ChB, BOH, BPharm and BDentTech programmes via the Māori,
Indigenous Pacific, Refugee, Socioeconomic and General sub-categories for the HSFY,
Graduate and Alternative categories
Subject to the below comments, please see the attached spreadsheet which shows the number of
applicants, the number of offers made, and the number of enrolled students to the 2019 – 2022
BDS, MB ChB, BOH, BPharm and BDentTech programmes via the Māori, Indigenous Pacific, Refugee,
Socioeconomic and General sub-categories for the HSFY, Graduate and Alternative categories.
• The HSFY, Graduate and Alternative categories of admission are not the only categories of
admission used for some of the programmes you have requested. The categories of
admission used for each of the programmes you have requested are as follows:
o MB ChB: considers applications from candidates in the HSFY, Graduate or
Alternative categories of admission
o BDS: considers applications from candidates in the HSFY, Graduate or Alternative
categories of admission
o BPharm: considers applications from candidates in the HSFY, Graduate, Alternative
or Two or More Years of University Study categories of admission
o BOH: considers applications from candidates in the Secondary School, One Year of
University Study, Two or More Years of University Study, Graduate or Alternative
categories of admission
o BDentTech: considers applications from candidates in the Secondary School, One
Year of University Study, Two or More Years of University Study, Graduate or
Alternative categories of admission.
For the purposes of this response, we have included information regarding applications
received under the Two or More Years of University Study, Secondary School, and One Year
of University Study admission categories where applicable.
Further details on the categories of admission can be found at the Guidelines for Admission
for each programme:
o
MB ChB
o
BDS
o
BPharm
o
BOH
o
BDentTech
• While HSFY can be used as an entry point, it is not a specific category of admission to the
BOH or BDentTech programmes. However, in case it is helpful, the attached spreadsheet
contains information about the number of applicants who applied for and entered these
programmes after completing HSFY.
• The Socio-economic Equity and Refugee sub-categories were introduced for entry to the
Health Sciences Professional Programmes from 2020 entry onwards. Therefore, there is no
data for either of these sub-categories in 2019 across all programmes (indicated as “N/A” in
the attached spreadsheet).
• There is no Socio-economic Equity sub-category for the Alternative category. Therefore,
there is no data for this sub-category across all years for all programmes (indicated as “N/A”
in the attached spreadsheet).
3. Lowest and highest successful enrolled student GPA for the year 2018 – 2021 in each
programme (HSFY General category only)
Subject to the following comments, please see the below table which shows the minimum and
highest average academic scores to enter the BDS, BPharm and MB ChB programmes via the HSFY
General category.
• As noted to you in our email of 14 July 2022, average academic scores are used rather than
GPA scores for HSFY.
• As noted above in our response to questions 1 and 2, while HSFY can be used as an entry
point, it is not a specific category for entry to the BOH or BDentTech programmes.
Therefore, the University does not hold minimum or highest average academic scores to
enter these programmes via the HSFY General category for the BOH or BDentTech
programmes.
• We note that prior to 2020 admissions, an applicant’s average academic score across their
best seven papers was combined with the applicant’s UMAT score, and selection was based
upon this combined score.
• To account for disruptions created by COVID-19, the University applied a 5 mark increase to
all final grades for papers completed in Semester 1 2020. As a result of this, there were
students who achieved average academic scores above 100% for entry to some Health
Sciences Professional programmes in 2021 via the HSFY General category.
Average academic score to enter
2019
2020
2021
2022
programme (accept offer)
BDS
Highest score
96.00
98.71
100.71
98.71
Minimum score
87.71
88.29
85.57
88.71
BPharm Highest score
96.00
91.71
97.29
93.14
Minimum score
67.14
67.29
66.00
68.71
MB ChB Highest score
88.93
98.43
101.57
99.14
Minimum score
80.96
92.71
95.14
93.00
I trust that this information will be helpful.
Yours sincerely
Kelsey Kennard
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator
Office of the Registrar