Dear S. Martin,

 

I refer to your email of 16 February 2019. Some of your requests are not
requests for official information under the Official Information Act 1982
(OIA). The University’s response follows:

 

1. The Urban Design programme accepts students based on two different
enrolment standards.  Students of the Master of Urban Planning
(Professional) are admitted based on a minimum GPA.  However, students
seeking entry into the Master of Urban Design and Master of Urban
Design/Architecture must apply with a portfolio, statement and CV. 

 

a. rationale for the two different enrolment standards
The OIA is not a mechanism that can be used to require agencies to engage
in debate or generate justifications or explanations in relation to a
matter of interest to the requester.

 

b. international precedence
Information about other institutions’ entrance requirements for their
academic programmes is publically available on the internet. To the
extent that this information is held by the University your request is
refused under section 18(d) of the OIA.

c. confirmation of approval from Universities New Zealand.
Universities New Zealand does not consider entrance requirements for
individual academic programmes.

 

2. SET evaluation results for UrbDes 710 and UrbDes 720 since the
inception of the Master of Urban Planning (Professional)/Urban Design,
including from 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The information requested is withheld under sections 9(2)(ba)(i) and
9(2)(a) to protect confidential information and the privacy of natural
persons.

 

3. In relation to UrbDes 710 and UrbDes 720: emails of concerns sent by
the cohorts of 2016, 2017, and 2018 to the following departments (as
applicable): the Dean of Creative Arts and Industries; Head of the School
of Architecture and Planning; and Office of the Vice Chancellor.

 

Under section 12(2) of the OIA, requests must specify the official
information requested with due particularity. The term “concerns” is too
vague to meet this requirement. If you wish to amend the request so that
it is more specific about the content of the emails you are requesting we
will consider it under the OIA.

 

It is likely however that providing this kind of information would require
substantial collation or research and if this is the case we may refuse
the request under section 18(f) of the OIA. Emails from students to staff
members also tend to be private in nature and it is likely that any such
emails would be withheld on privacy grounds under section 9(2)(a) of the
OIA.

 

4. Specifically regarding the internal review headed by Nuala Gregory and
conducted by Deidre Brown in 2018: student and staff submissions, and
meeting minutes.

 

Student and staff submissions are private and confidential; these
documents are withheld under sections 9(2)(a) and 9(2)(ba)(i) of the OIA.
No minutes were taken for meetings; this constitutes a refusal of your
request under section 18(e) of the OIA.

 

You have the right to make a complaint about this response to an
Ombudsman.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Rebecca Ewert

General Counsel

University of Auckland

 

 

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