Proactive Release Policy for Academic Results

Purpose

To confirm the University’s commitment to the proactive release of academic results, and outline its requirements and procedures.

This policy is intended to:

• Provide staff with guidance on when it is appropriate to make academic results publicly available
• Ensure the University is abiding by its obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 and Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) when releasing such information.

Organisational scope

This policy applies university wide.

Definitions

Academic Results

Aggregated and anonymised results in relation to a particular paper within an academic department. For the purposes of this Policy, this refers to the final mark and grade distributions of individual papers offered by the University of Otago.

Official Information

Any information held by the University or its employees, as defined by section 2 of the OIA, and includes:

• Minutes and records of meetings of the University Council and Committees
• Documents, reports, memoranda, letters, texts, and emails
• Non-written information, such as digital, video or tape recordings

Paper

Smallest unit of study (or work) in which students enrol. Each Paper is identified by a seven-character code (four letters denoting the subject area followed by three numbers).

Personal Information

Any official information held about an identifiable person.

Proactive Release

Where the University publishes official information without being asked for it.

Programme

The entire requirements for the qualification towards which a student is studying (e.g., a certificate programme or degree programme).

Publicly Available

Accessible to anyone in the general public without the need for special qualifications, permissions or privileges.

Special Consideration

Process by which the University seeks to ensure just and equitable treatment of students who suffer unexpected and significant impairment in relation to assessment.

Content

1. Official Information Act 1982
   1. The University of Otago is subject to the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), which provides that Official Information shall be made available unless there is a good reason for withholding it (the principle of availability). Academic Results are Official Information under the OIA.
   2. Through Proactive Release, the University can release information before it is requested. Directing requesters to information that has already been published reduces the administrative burden on the University of responding to individual requests and eliminates the need for some requests altogether. Proactive Release helps information reach a wider audience and enables more consistent messaging.
   3. The University has identified benefits to proactively making Academic Results Publicly Available:
   1. The University has released this information under the OIA in response to individual requests, and the number of individuals making such requests has been increasing prior to the introduction of this Policy, indicating a broader public interest in making Academic Results Publicly Available.
   2. Publication will lead to greater transparency and accountability in relation to university admission processes and decisions, particularly in relation to competitive entry courses. Information will be made available in as timely a manner as possible and additional context can be provided.
   3. Effective Proactive Release is strongly encouraged by the Office of the Ombudsman.
   4. Publication of such results will assist in reducing the workload of staff in responding to a high volume of official information requests for academic results.
2. Principles for making Academic Results Publicly Available
   1. The University is able to publish Academic Results under the Privacy Act 2020 where it is believed, on reasonable grounds, that:
   1. The information is to be used in a form in which the individual concerned will not identified; or
   2. The information is to be used for statistical or research purposes and will not be published in a form that could reasonably be expected to identify the individual concerned
   2. This means that Academic Results can only be made Publicly Available where no student can be personally identified. Any such publication should follow the data confidentiality principles and methods outlined on the Statistics New Zealand website
      Statistics New Zealand; Data Confidentiality Principles and Methods Report; October 2018
   3. There will be some circumstances in which it is still not appropriate to publish Academic Results, even when students’ information is aggregated and/or anonymised. Namely, where there is a realistic prospect that a student’s identity could be reasonably ascertained as a result of publishing the information, or the Academic Results for specific Papers have not been finalised yet. This could include, but is not limited to:
   1. Where there are less than ten individuals in any particular dataset;
   2. Where there are fewer than five individuals in any particular category of aggregated data;
   3. Where academic results for all students enrolled in a particular Paper are not confirmed, e.g., due to special consideration or special examination processes.
   4. Where appropriate, the University will explain any decision to not publish Academic Results using the relevant withholding grounds of the OIA, including but not limited to:
   1. Section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural persons;
   2. Section 18(d) – that the information requested is or will soon be publicly available;
   3. Section 18(g) – that the information requested is not held by the University.
   5. Information should be released in a way intended to make it easy for the public to find and access it. Wherever possible, information will be released in a format that meets publishing web-standards, e.g., machine-readable, non-proprietary, complete, and clear.
3. Publishing Academic Results
1. A report containing the Academic Results that have been approved for Proactive Release by the Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council will be made Publicly Available on the following webpage on the University’s website: Quick statistics
2. The report will be generated by the Strategy, Analytics and Reporting Office using confirmed Academic Result data contained in eVision, the University’s primary student management system.
3. The report will be published in a format deemed appropriate by the Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council (e.g., csv, XLS, PDF).
4. The University will update the report three times a year, each within three months of the confirmed release of results for the Summer School, Semester 1, and Semester 2 teaching periods: View results on the Examination scripts and results webpage
5. The report will include all papers offered by the University, provided they are not withheld for any of the reasons outlined in clauses 2(c) and 2(d) of this Policy. If Academic Results were previously withheld but are confirmed for release between scheduled updates, they will be included in the next published report to reflect the most up-to-date information.
6. Pro-Vice-Chancellors will be provided with a copy of the report before it is published for their information.

Related Policies, Procedures and Forms

• Privacy Act 2020
• Official Information Act 1982
• Privacy Policy
• Privacy at Otago information

Contact information

If you have any queries regarding the content of this guideline or need further clarification, please contact

Email policycompliance@otago.ac.nz and/or
Email registrar@otago.ac.nz