SMS Project Glossary

This document consists of three glossaries:

Glossary #1 Terminology specific to SITS or e:Vision and terms

commonly used within the University as they relate

to SITS and e:Vision

Glossary #2 SITS Functionality and Programme names

Glossary #3 Common University terms

Glossary #1 – SITS and e:Vision

Terminology specific to SITS or e:Vision and terms commonly used within the University as they

relate to SITS and e:Vision.

Term Description

Agent Agents are typically based off-shore and may act on a prospective international student’s behalf during the application process. An Agent Portal is provided to Agents which allows them to create and maintain student applications.

Applicant Any person who applies, or attempts to apply, for admission to and/or enrolment in the University.

ATR Applicant Transfer This process creates the Course Join, Pathway/Route and Course Enrolment records. Where major/minor selection and ultimately paper selection is required at the point of application, students will be automatically ATR’d after the TRAN process has run.

Biographical Details Personal information of the student including but not limited too: Title, Name, Gender, Residency/Citizenship, IRD Number, NSN, Contact Details, Emergency Contact Details, Study Location, Ethnicity, Disabilities, Accommodation type.

CAP Course Application record. One CAP per programme application. Staff use this record to record the decision on the application and any conditional offers made.

Client The ‘backend’ application used by very few staff. The Client is only used where functionality does not exist in SITS e:Vision.

Course enrolment Within eVision, course enrolment relates to the review and updating of annual enrolment details which includes:

The selected programme/s

Address details

Contact details

Selection of papers

Approval of the programme of study for the year

Annual declaration

Diet The group of papers available for a particular programme.

e:Vision University Glossary

Endorsement University Glossary

Functional area e:Vision will automatically assign the application to the ‘functional area(s)’ responsible for processing all, or part of, the application Functional area is linked to role groups that are defined by e:Vision looking up criteria (MAT code) in MPA records. eg for domestic students submitting an application, this is A & E for international students (ditto), this is the International Office.

International student University Glossary

IPP Institutional Published Programmes (IPP) is the area of SITS used to publish programme information to the web, permit people unknown to the system to apply for a programme and to create

Term Description

user records for those people. An IPP record contains the main course information. It will typically contain information such as course description, course content, career information, alternative courses etc.

Major University Glossary

MAT Master Person Appointee Type record. MAT codes commonly define the groups of Programmes a specific staff member can manage.

Minor University Glossary

MSD Master details provide the ability for staff to record previous names etc. of students and for those names to be validated against the National Student Index (NSI)

MST The MST (Master) record links together all associations a person might have with the University allowing more accurate duplicate matching to occur as well as more enhanced security capability. For example The master record may contain the persons ID’s as a Student, Staff User, Personnel, applicant ID.

Portal E:Vision contains two Portals; one for Students and the other for Staff. Portals are organised gateways that help to structure the access to information and services available via the Internet. A portal provides online access to the same functionality across the University, but in a way that meets the needs of the particular user.

Programme University Glossary

Progression rules The rules regarding the students ability to progress to the next stage of their Programme.

Re-Enrolling Student Returning student who has been here within the last 2 years re-enrolling on their existing programme. A Re-enrol task is provided in the Student Portal.

Recommencing Student University Glossary

SITS Strategic Information Technology Services. This is not a term that will be widely used. SITS is the technical system (or client server system) behind e:Vision. Changes made in SITS are reflected in e:Vision. SITS may also be called the “e:Vision client”. See SITS Client and Client

SITS Client The ‘backend’ application used by very few staff. The SITS Client is only used where functionality does not exist in e:Vision.

Sortname Calculated on the basis of a student’s full names, but including logic to handle appropriately names commencing with “Mac” or “Mc”, names which include hyphens or apostrophes, etc.

Specialisation A subject or area of specialisation for certain qualifications (e.g. PGCertHealSc endorsed in Resuscitation). Also referred to as Majors, Minors and Endorsements.

Status (STUREC) Registration Statuses on STUREC 22, 23 – Wait Verification and Wait Verification Pre-1990. Awaiting verification of Name, DOB and Residency/Citizenship. 24 – Pending. Pending Admission to a Programme, University and Other. 19 – Fees Unprocessed. Student is complete but has not paid any

Term Description

of their fees. 11 – Enrolled. Student is complete and has paid some portion of their fees. 30 – SS Waitlist. Student is waitlisted for Summer School.

STUREC The legacy Student Records database and downstream applications such as Enrol that are being replaced by e:Vision.

Vista A tool within SITS to create online versions of client screens.

Admissions Co-ordinators Staff in Admissions (for domestic students) and the International Office (for international students) who will be responsible for checking personal details (names, date of birth residency) and University admission details (including English language).

Application University Glossary

Programme Admission (PA) Eligibility for enrolment for a particular qualification either under Managed Enrolment (mainly general bachelors’ degrees) or the specific entry regulations for a programme (mainly professional degrees, honours degrees, and postgraduate qualifications).

Programme Co-ordinators Staff who process the applications for determining whether or not students may proceed to specific programmes; in the case of programmes with their own specific entry requirements, programme co-ordinators will be within the Divisions or departments (formal admissions committees will be involved for certain programmes); for general degree programmes dealt with under Managed Enrolment, Admissions staff will act as the programme co-ordinators.

Student Anyone who is enrolled at the University or who has commenced any part of the application or enrolment process. A prospective student in the process of applying for enrolment will often be called an applicant, but can also be called a student if the context so requires or if it is sensible to do so.

Student Maintenance (VCon) A function of e:Vision that allows staff to view students’ personal and programme information and, if permitted, gives the ability to update students’ application and personal information.

Student Management System (SMS)

A central place for storing and updating data relating to the ‘life-cycle’ of a student; e:Vision is the University’s SMS.

Telephone Application An application for admission to and/or enrolment in the University received by telephone (as distinct form online; University staff are involved in transcribing and entering information on behalf of the applicant).

University Admission (UA) Eligibility for consideration for enrolment in a generic sense, by achieving NCEA Level 3 or University Entrance or by being granted Special Admission or Discretionary Entrance or one of the varieties of ad eundem statum admission. In addition, to be permitted to enrol, every student must have programme admission under Managed Enrolment or the specific entry regulations for a programme (e.g. for Law or Medicine or a postgraduate qualification).

Glossary #2 - SITS Programme names etc

Code Title Description

ATR Applicant Transfer This process moves applicants from MAS into SRS creating SCJ, SPR and SCE records for the programme to which the applicant has applied. Where major/minor selection and ultimately paper selection is required at the point of application, students will be automatically ATR’d after the TRAN process has run.

AYM Academic Year Maintenance

Function to create the weeks for each academic year for use by the system.

AYR Academic Year Function to create each Academic year with relevant global controls.

AYW Academic Year Week Used for resource scheduling and the weeks defined for a particular period within an academic year are used for student scheduling.

CAMS SITS Programmes This is the Programmes and Credit accumulation side of the SITS product. This area incorporates papers, examinations, awards, academic progress. CAMS will mostly be utilised in Stage 3 of the SMS project.

CAP Course Application record One CAP per programme application. Staff use this record to record the decision on the application and any conditional offers made via e:Vision.

CBK Course Block record Used to translate the course into the equivalent fulltime years of study.

CBO Course Block Occurrence record

The specific instances of the course blocks for a year/period.

CBO Course Block Occurrences Courses (CRS) are divided into blocks, which are usually taken consecutively. A block is a period of study on a course and will usually but not necessarily correspond to a year of a course. There can be occurrences for different academic years, period slots etc.

CCL Clearance Check A way of recording tasks that need to be completed when assessing applications as well as being able to record who completed the task/passed the clearance check and when.

CMY Awards Ceremony Record Shows venue information, including the number of seats available for students, guests and VIP guests.

COP Container Option A link within e:Vision.

CQU CAP Questions + Answers Used to record the questions and answers from the programme specific questions over time.

CRS Course record This is the primary record for a qualification and includes data such as the length of the programme and the “owner” of the programme. Associated with this record are the: Course Blocks (CBK), which are used to translate the course into the equivalent fulltime years of study, and Course Block Occurrences (CBO), which are the specific instances of the course blocks for a year/period.

GBO Generate Course Block Occurrences

Function to auto create the block periods for each course.

IAC Institutional Academic Clearance

This is a flag on STU which will be used to reflect whether a student has University admission. This flag is set via the setting of a series of clearance checks.

IPO Institution Published Programme Occurrence (IPP Occurrence)

An IPO record contains a single occurrence of the course, therefore there can be many IPO records for a single IPP record.

IPP Institutional Published Programmes

IPP is the area of SITS used to publish programme information to the web, permit people unknown to the system to apply for a programme and to create user records for those people. An IPP record contains the main course information. It will typically contain information such as course description, course content, career information, alternative courses etc.

MADM Internal acronym for Method of Admission.

MAS SITS Admissions This is the Admissions side of the SITS product. In Otago, MAS and SRS processing are interlinked.

MAT Master Person Appointee Type record

Configuration of the appointee types.

MAV Module Availability records

Configuration of course modules and their configuration.

MCR Marketing Course Record This is the record which is used as a basis for creating published content on the courses via the Institution Published Programme (IPP ) component of the system, from which students will apply to the University. Often MCRs will have a one to one relationship with ROU records (because IPP records include the Route), although it is also possible to have a generic MCR and have the route selection for the student as a later stage in the process).

MPA Master Person Appointment

The Link table between the persons MST code, each entity code and the MAT codes applicable.

MRG Master Role Group Membership of role groups defines the users security and access level within both SITS and e:Vision

MSD Master Details Master details provide the ability for staff to record previous names etc. of students and for those names to be validated against the National Student Index (NSI)

MST Master The MST record links together all associations a person might have with the University allowing more accurate duplicate matching to occur as well as more enhanced security capability.

MUA Master User Access A Client users access record.

PLM Ceremony Planning Mode Provides a list of all ceremonies in use as recorded from the CMY screen. Ceremony records can be amended or created from this screen.

PRD Period Definition and Academic Period

The Period Definition and Academic Period tables define how the academic year is divided for teaching purposes e.g. terms, semester. It is possible to have a period which lasts the duration of a year.

PRG Programme record This creates the link to the available awards.

PRS Personnel record The staff members record of access to e:Vision.

PRU Programme route The route (progression) attached to the Programme and pathways.

PSL Period Slot A period slot is a defined period, e.g., Semester 1. The Period Slot record defines the number of periods which make up an academic year plus the start and end weeks e.g. start week 1, end week 15.

PWY Pathway The Pathway record provides another option for capturing variants of a programme or specialisations. Pathways are linked to Routes via the PWY record. This can be configured so that a student is automatically assigned all pathways associated with a route, or has the option to pick one or more of the available pathways associated with the route.

QMP Quick Master Person Setup

Quick setup programme that creates the data on the main records required to provide a user with access to e:Vision and/or SITS Client.

RGD Role Group Definition Configuration of the Role Groups used to define access by attachment to a PRS record.

ROU Route This enables variants of a programme or specialisations to be defined.

SAW Student Awards Records of each award the student has been granted.

SCE Student course Enrolment

The SCE record reflects the current enrolment status of the student. One SCE is created for each year the student studies a programme.

SCJ Student Course Join A SITS record detailing the programme the student is studying

SCY Student Ceremony Record

The Student Ceremony Record (SCY) screen displays information regarding: personal details of the student, the address is populated from the STU record information regarding the ceremony, attending status, course, award status and type the seating allocation and ticket information with payment details free-format notes field user-defined button giving access to 9 user-defined fields Special Needs Seating Sort key information

SPR Student Programme Route

The SPR record holds more detail on how the student is studying the course detailing the major minors, specialisations and endorsements. The SPR also holds the papers a student is studying, the results of examinations and qualifications awarded (stage 3)

SQE Student Qualifications and Experience

Used at Otago to hold previous qualifications and the method of admission.

SRE Student Re-enrolment Process by which SCE records are created for future years in anticipation for re-enrolment. This will be used for stage 1 but in Stage 3, more intelligent progression calculations will be used to control this based on academic achievement.

SRS SITS Student Records This is the Student side of the SITS product traditionally utilised once the MAS processing has completed. This part of the system incorporates processes associated with programme registration and student financials.

SRS Student Registration System

A module of SITS containing all the programmes for Student Registration.

STU Full Student Details One Student record for the life of the student. This record forms the anchor for all programme, paper, application, financial and biographical information records for the student.

TRAN Transfer This is a SITS programme, automated at Otago that moves applicants from IPP into the MAS and SRS areas of SITS. This process runs a duplicate check on the applicants to see whether the person already exists in the system. Where the applicant is not known to the system, STU and CAP records are created. If an applicant is flagged as a possible duplicate during TRAN, staff will need to resolve these records manually using the TRAN screen within the SITS client. The DUL process screen displays the list of possible matches for everyone flagged as a possible duplicate, ranked by % confidence. After TRAN has occurred, ATR will run for the majority of applicants.

UDF User Defined Fields User defined fields attached to each SITS programme screen. Many are utilised to hold Otago specific information.

UDV User Defined Validation A way within SITS of validating data against user-defined table.

VDR Valid Decision Response The VDR table is used to validate decisions and subsequent responses in the CAP table.

Other Useful Terms

Term Description

100, 200, 300 Level etc. Each paper offered by the University has a level associated with it. For example, ANTH101 would be an Anthropology paper primarily designed for students new to Anthropology; ANTH201 would be a paper which would assume some prior 100 Level achievement in Anthropology. The highest paper level used is 900, and this currently indicates study at PhD level.

Academic points Each paper has an academic points value which indicates the amount of credit which will be gained towards completing a programme if the paper is passed. For example, a three year Bachelors degree typically requires a total of at least 360 academic points. See also Workload points.

Academic procession Each Graduation Ceremony commences with a formal procession into the venue by participating members of the University and specially invited guests. This procession is ordered in a hierarchical manner and is referred to as the Academic Procession. Those in this procession are then seated in the stage area during the ceremony.

Academic progress Academic progress is a generic term relating to a student’s overall progress with their course of study. The way in which this is assessed will vary considerably depending on the context. For example:

Passing 50% or more of the points for which the student is enrolled (Academic progress policy)

Achieving a specific grade average (e.g. B+) or higher

Receiving a satisfactory written progress report from their supervisor (e.g. a PhD candidate)

Academic progress policy University Glossary

Academic record Similar to Academic Transcript but used for internal University purposes. It is a year-based chronological record of a student’s enrolment and results. Includes any qualifications completed and/or awarded, comments (visible, invisible and restricted), and concludes with a Summary of Papers and Points passed or credited.

Academic regalia Each Otago qualification has its own academic regalia (also known as academic dress) associated with it. All have an academic gown, and degrees also include a trencher and a hood (whose colour(s)) identifies the degree concerned).

Academic transcript Official version of a student’s Academic Record – printed on special stationery and includes the digitised signature of the Manager, Student Administration. Includes same data as the Academic Record except it does not include the Paper and Points Summary nor “invisible” or “restricted” comments.

Accreditation A number of the University’s programmes are formally accredited by external agencies. Accreditations may result from:

formal recognition and assurance that a professional programme is of a high enough standard to enable graduates to apply for professional registration

an initiative by the University itself in order to increase international recognition of a programme, and to ensure ongoing external quality assurance and moderation (e.g. the School of Business is accredited with EQUIS, European Quality Improvement System).

Ad eundem credit Credit may be granted towards Otago qualifications based on study completed at another tertiary institution or as “recognition of prior learning”. Credit for study completed at another New Zealand university is granted as “transfer credit” and all other credit as “ad eundem credit”. Credit given may either be “specified”, meaning the student is given credit for a particular Otago paper, or “unspecified” meaning the student is given a more general credit in a subject area (e.g. 25 points at 100-level in Economics).

Adviser of Studies University Glossary

Alchemy Since 1999 the University has undertaken an Electronic Archives & Records Programme that digitally stores both academic and business documents as images with accompanying metadata in a software product called Alchemy. The primary function of Alchemy is to act as a document archive and retrieval tool.

Alternative Course Student can request an alternative if is not accepted into restricted course.

ALUI – Aqualogic User Interaction

The portal framework tool Aqualogic User Interaction (ALUI), which has been rebranded as Oracle® WebCenter Interaction.

Alumni In the context of the activities of Alumni Relations, alumni are defined as graduates of the University (those who have a formal qualification of the University), plus Study Abroad or inbound Exchange Students who have completed one or more semesters of successful study at Otago.

Base calendar A defined period within the calendar year (e.g. Semester one).

BoGS – Board of Graduate Studies

A “sub-Committee” of the University Senate which has oversight of graduate and postgraduate programmes, papers, and policies.

BUGS – Board of Undergraduate Studies

A “sub-Committee” of the University Senate which has oversight of undergraduate programmes, papers, and policies.

Business Objects Reporting The University currently uses Business Objects Reporting for most of its reporting from the current SMS, and also from the finance and HR systems.

Calendar University Glossary

Clash A clash occurs when two or more events share the same resources, have the same participants and/or are not allowed to occur at the same time are timetabled to occur at the same time.

College of Residence There are a total of 14 Colleges of Residence which offer accommodation to students, and the primary focus is on first year undergraduate students. Nine are owned by the University, and five are independent colleges which are affiliated to the University.

Completion Term used to indicate that all requirements of a programme have been met and that the student is eligible to graduate.

Corequisite University Glossary

Course advising University Glossary

Course approval University Glossary

Court of Convocation The Court of Convocation is essentially a register of the living graduates of the University (i.e. it is a sub-set of alumni). Three members of the University Council are elected by the Court of Convocation. All members of the Court (except those who are resident overseas or who are also members of the University staff) are eligible to stand for election to one of those positions. See also Court of Convocation Regulations (2010 Calendar, p. 238).

CUAP – Committee on University Academic Programmes

A sub-Committee of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellor’s Committee which has responsibility for oversight of major changes to papers and programmes proposed by individual New Zealand Universities.

Data mart A subset of an organisational data warehouse, usually oriented to a specific purpose or major data subject.

Data warehouse A repository of an organisation’s electronically stored data, which is designed to facilitate reporting and analysis, and includes tools to extract, transform and load data into the repository. A data warehouse may consist of more than one datamart.

Deferment (graduation) The University regulations require that qualifications are conferred or awarded normally within twelve months following completion of the requirements. In certain circumstances a student can apply for permission to defer graduating. Such requests are not normally approved for periods longer than one additional year.

Degree register The details of all qualifications awarded by the University, whether in person or In absentia, are stored electronically as a “degree register”. The register includes the diploma number which is printed on the certificate issued to the student.

Deletion (of paper or programme)

Deletion of a paper or programme (as opposed to withdrawal) indicates the student has removed the paper and/or programme from their enrolment before the prescribed cut-off dates and will be eligible for a fees refund. The paper or programme will also cease to appear on the student’s academic transcript or academic record.

Departmental space Space that is restricted to the department that “owns” it for timetabling and scheduling purposes.

Development The term commonly used in a university context to describe fund-raising activities and the active encouragement of donations or bequests.

Dimension A data category within a data warehouse (e.g. Paper Subject Area, Home Area, Admission Type). Dimensions will normally have sub-categories within them called Hierarchies.

Diploma key A mechanism for managing the allocation of diploma numbers (refer below). Each qualification is linked to a diploma key. Generally each diploma key has only one qualification linked to it. However, variants of the same qualification (e.g. Master of Health Sciences and Master of Health Sciences (Endorsed)) will share the same diploma key. In addition, if a qualification is renamed, but retains the same academic structure, the new version will be linked to the diploma key of its predecessor (e.g. when the Diploma in Tourism (DipTour) was renamed the Graduate Diploma in Tourism (GDipTour)).

Diploma number Each qualification certificate issued to a graduate includes a diploma number - these are sequential serial numbers and each diploma key (refer above) has its own number sequence starting at one. These diploma numbers are a useful check against fraudulent certificates, but also provide a reference point as to the number of specific qualifications which have been awarded over time.

Discretionary entrance University Glossary

Division University Glossary

Division space Common teaching space (e.g. lecture theatres, laboratories, tutorial rooms, clinical rooms) that is available for the departments or schools within a division to timetable for teaching.

Domestic student University Glossary

Endorsement University Glossary

Enrol First year student enrolling for their papers.

Enrolment University Glossary

Equivalencies One or more papers are deemed to be equivalent to each other if the academic content is (virtually) identical.

Equivalent fulltime student (EFTS)

University Glossary

Examination mode e.g. open book, closed book, performance, oral.

Faculty University Glossary

Final examination only (FEO) University Glossary

Finalist University Glossary

Finalist checking Qualification completion checking (i.e. the process by which the course of a student who is flagged as Finalist is checked to ensure that the student in “on track” to complete the programme(s) concerned). This is currently a largely manual process.

First Year Student University Glossary

Friends Friends of the University is the term used for those people who may not have been students of this University, but with whom the University has an interest in maintaining contact. These may include former University staff, parents of former students who wish to maintain contact with the University, alumni employers, government departments, High Commissions and Embassies etc.

GPA – Grade Point Average University Glossary

Graduand University Glossary

Graduate University Glossary

Graduation period The University currently holds ten Graduation Ceremonies each year – three in May, one in August, and six in December (although the earliest of these may fall in late November). The ceremonies are grouped into one of these three Graduation Periods (May, August or December).

GST New Zealand Goods and Services Tax

Guide to Enrolment The Guide to Enrolment is produced annually and is the primary source of information and guidance for students concerning the enrolment process. The Guide contains full details of all the papers offered by the University and student-friendly information on basic programme structure, including the requirements for majors, minors and endorsements.

Hierarchy Sub-categories of data within a data warehouse Dimension. For example:

Paper Subject Area [Dimension] might have the following Hierarchies: o Subject Area (e.g. STAT = Statistics) o Subject Area Level (e.g. STAT100 = Statistics papers at

100 level) o Paper Code (e.g. STAT110) o Paper Name (e.g. Statistical Methods)

Historic academic records Academic records for study from 1977 to 1992 are held within the system and print on transcripts but in most cases have not been converted to the current academic structure and therefore cannot be used by system processes. Records for study completed prior to 1977 are held in hard copy and entered into the system only as and when this is required (e.g. if the student enrols for further study).

Home Area For statistical purposes the University calculates and stores the “home area” of students based on their home address in their first year of enrolment. In the case of overseas students, this is the country of their home address. In the case of New Zealand home addresses, the “home area” is mapped on the basis of the geographical location of the address’s postcode.

Honorary graduand The recipient of an honorary degree (i.e. a ceremonial award with no examination required), who may or may not have been previously enrolled at the University.

IAM – Identity and access management

The University is currently implementing the Oracle® Identity Management suite of products to replace its bespoke Identity and Access Management (IAM) system.

In absentia Qualification(s) is conferred or awarded without the graduand being present.

In person Qualification(s) is conferred or awarded in the graduand’s presence.

Information Technology Services (ITS)

The department within the University which provides technology services.

Interest only (IO) University Glossary

Interlinking The synchronised use of two or more teaching spaces, where a common lecture is delivered, facilitated via audio visual technology.

International application Prospective international students are initially required to submit details of their intended study at the University of Otago, and of their academic background. This is so that their suitability may be assessed. This process includes seeking formal admission to the University, but in other respects is additional to enrolment and is a prerequisite for proceeding to enrol.

International student University Glossary

Invisible comment A comment stored against a student’s record which is visible on screen and appears on the student’s Academic Record, but is not printed on the Academic Transcript.

IRD number A unique 9 digit identifier issued by the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department for income and taxation purposes.

Iwi If a student selects Māori as one of their ethnicities they are asked to select one or more iwis with which they identify. In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest social units for Māori people. The iwi(s) with which a Māori student identifies reflects their ancestral and family heritage.

Lender A United States citizen applying for the US Financial Aid Scheme is required to nominate a Lender – this is normally a Bank and it is the Lender who will send payments under the terms of the scheme to the University.

Length of course visa International students who require a visa normally need to renew it annually. However, some students may be issued with a Length of Course visa which is normally valid for three years.

Major University Glossary

Managed Enrolment Process by which First Year, Transferring or Recommencing students who are applying/registering for a programme subject to this process, gain admission to the University.

Māori Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and the Māori language, which makes use of macrons, is an official language of New Zealand.

Ministry of Education (MOE) The Ministry of Education is the New Zealand Government’s lead adviser on the New Zealand education system, shaping direction for sector agencies and providers.

Ministry of Social Development (MSD)

The New Zealand Government department which administers, through its StudyLink section, the government funded loans and allowances available to students.

Minor University Glossary

Modifiable spaces Single rooms that can be split into two teaching spaces.

Must (User Requirements) Used within a Requirement to indicate a mandatory requirement - something which would require either a level of manual workaround or a degree of process change which would be unacceptable, if the system were not able to provide this functionality

National Student Index (NSI) The National Student Index is a national register of all students in the New Zealand education system. Each student on the register has a unique National Student Number (NSN). All students enrolled in formal tertiary education are required to have an “active” NSN, meaning the name, date of birth and citizenship details of the record have been verified.

National Student Number (NSN)

University Glossary

NCEA – National Certificate of Educational Achievement

NCEA is the current national system for evaluating educational achievement and is administered by NZQA. The majority of new students gaining admission to the University do so by virtue of their NCEA results from secondary school.

New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women (NZFGW)

The Otago Branch of the NZFGW owns academic regalia which is hired by graduands (and some staff) for Graduation Ceremonies.

New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)

A government agency which maintains an overview of secondary and tertiary qualifications offered within New Zealand and, in particular, is responsible for the NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement).

NZIS New Zealand Immigration Service.

NZSCED - New Zealand Standard Classification of Education

Ministry of Education classification of papers and programmes into a “field of study”.

NZVCC New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee.

Online “Online” is the term used throughout the User Requirements to refer to authenticated, secure, real-time access to the SMS via the web, whether by a portal or some other means, by both staff and students.

Overflow ceremony (Graduation)

Graduation staff can tag one or more ceremonies in a graduation period as an “overflow ceremony”. If a student’s default ceremony is already full, they have the opportunity to select any overflow ceremony.

Paper The term used to refer to the units of study in which students enrol (sometimes referred to as a “course” at other institutions).

Paper code University Glossary

Paper families Groups of related papers (e.g. papers within a programme or papers that are complementary to each other).

Papers University Glossary

Pastoral care (international students)

The University is subject to the “Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students” (Ministry of Education). The purpose of the Code of Practice is to provide a framework for education providers for the pastoral care of international students. The Education Act requires that a provider must be a signatory to the Code to enrol international students.

Picklist The term picklist is used to describe list of user definable values that can be selected when entering data into a field.

Points See Academic points and Workload points.

Pool space Common teaching space (e.g. lecture theatres, non specific laboratories, tutorial rooms) that is available for any part of the University to timetable for teaching.

Prerequisite University Glossary

Prerequisite or corequisite If Paper A is a prerequisite or corequisite for Paper B then a student wishing to enrol in Paper B must have either previously passed Paper A, or enrol in Paper A in the same Teaching Period as they are enrolled in Paper B.

Prescription University Glossary

Professional placements A number of the University’s professional programmes include a requirement for students to complete professional placements to develop the practical application of their skills. Depending on the context, these may also be referred to as a practicum, clinical placement, section or field work.

Programme University Glossary

Programme admission category

A programme may have more than one pathway by which applicants might be admitted. For example:

after successful completion of the Health Sciences First Year course

graduate entry

Progression student passes and progresses through their course.

Public Orator The person responsible for preparing, and delivering at a Graduation Ceremony, a presentation speech relating to each honorary graduand. The Public Orator is typically a very senior member of the University staff.

Qualification Qualification awarded to a student after successful completion of the requirements of a programme (e.g. BA, Bachelor of Arts). Qualification and programme are sometimes used interchangeably within the User Requirements.

Qualification certificate Also commonly referred to as degree or diploma certificate. Each graduating student, whether in person or in absentia, receives an official University of Otago certificate for each qualification awarded or conferred. Each certificate is manually stamped with the University seal.

Re-enrol Returning student enrolling for their papers for a subsequent year without a programme change.

Recommencing Student University Glossary

Recommended preparation If Paper A is recommended preparation for Paper B it is recommended that a student wishing to enrol in Paper B has previously taken Paper A. This is advisory only; it is not enforced.

Recommended preparation or concurrent study

If Paper A is recommended preparation or concurrent study for Paper B then it is recommended that a student wishing to enrol in Paper B has either previously taken Paper A, or is enrolling in it in the same teaching Period as Paper B. This is advisory only; it is not enforced.

Registration (professional) There are a number of professions which require formal registration (i.e. being accepted for inclusion on an official register) before a person is entitled to practise in that profession. Successful completion of a relevant university qualification is typically a prerequisite for registration.

Residential College University Glossary

Restricted comment A comment stored against a student’s record which is visible only on screen and only to “super users”. It does not appear on the student’s Academic Record or Academic Transcript.

Restricted Course Course that requires divisional programme admission.

Restriction University Glossary

Returning Student University Glossary

Schedule Some programme regulations and paper prerequisites include reference to Schedules. These can include major and minor subject requirements, honours and postgraduate diploma subject requirements and schedules of papers. The schedules of papers are referred to using a variety of names (e.g. “Arts and Music Schedule C”, and “Schedule of Law Papers”).

School University Glossary

Should (User Requirements) Used within a Requirement to indicate a highly desirable or desirable requirement - something for which an acceptable alternative exists or could be developed if the functionality is not provided.

Single Data Return (SDR) The SDR is a set of files that are required to be provided to the MOE three times a year, which are used for monitoring purposes by both the MOE and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

Speaker Each Graduation Ceremony ends with a Graduation Address delivered by a specially invited guest (who might be also the honorary graduand at the same ceremony; or could be a senior member of the University staff who is retiring). The address is normally directed at the new graduates.

Special arrangements (examinations)

Students who are unable to sit examinations under normal examination conditions are entitled to apply for special arrangements. The examination office determines what, if any, special arrangements are appropriate based on the information in the application and the relevant regulations (e.g. students with disabilities, requests to sit the examination at a different time and/or place (which must fall within the criteria specified in the regulations)).

Special consideration (examinations)

A student who, due to exceptional circumstances beyond their control, is absent from a final examination or whose performance in the examination is impaired may apply for special consideration. Applications must meet the University’s criteria, and decisions on eligible applications are made by the academic department which teaches the paper. Decisions may include no action, adjustment of marks, an aegrotat pass, an offer to sit a Special Examination, etc.

Special Examination This term is used to describe either of the following –

a student who has applied for Special Consideration (due to absence from the original examination, or impaired performance, caused by exceptional circumstances) may be offered the chance to sit a Special Examination;

Students in some professional programmes may be allowed to sit a Special Examination as a “second chance” when their performance throughout the year has been sufficient but they have failed the end of year examination in a paper.

Special Topic papers Where the same shell paper may be used with different content in different years and a student therefore may be able to complete the paper multiple times and count the credit from each instance.

Sponsor Some international students have formal sponsors which may be governments of overseas countries, organisations which provide scholarships, or other organisations. Typically the sponsor will be responsible for payment of the student’s fees. In some cases the student’s course of study needs to align with the conditions of their sponsorship. In some cases a sponsor have specific reporting requirements.

Streaming University Glossary

Study period The academic year runs from 1 January to 31 December. Study periods are the defined blocks of time in which academic teaching occurs. An academic year contains multiple study periods, some of which may have overlapping dates and some of which may start or end outside the associated academic year.

StudyLink The section within the Ministry of Social Development which administers the government funded loans and allowances available to students.

Subject Subjects are the specific topics of study which the University offers. Each subject has a name (e.g. History) and a four letter code (e.g. HIST). Each paper has a subject code as part of its paper code (e.g. HIST113).

Summer School University Glossary

Sundry Fees In addition to Tuition Fees students are charged a number of sundry fees in relation to their enrolment. These include Otago University Students Association Levies and University Levies. Some students are exempt from some or all of these Sundry Fees.

Terms University Glossary

Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)

The government agency responsible for funding tertiary education in New Zealand.

Text message A short message in text sent to a mobiles device such as a cellphone. Also commonly referred to as an sms or txt.

Timeslot The time and day that a teaching event occurs.

Timetabling The allocation of event timeslots followed by the distribution of resources to those timetabled events.

Transfer credit Credit may be granted towards Otago qualifications based on study completed at another tertiary institution or as “recognition of prior learning”. Credit for study completed at another New Zealand university is granted as “transfer credit” and all other credit as “ad eundem credit”. Credit given may either be “specified”, meaning the student is given credit for a particular Otago paper, or “unspecified” meaning the student is given a more general credit in a subject area (e.g. 25 points at 100-level in Economics).

Transferring Student University Glossary

Tuition fees Tuition fees are charged based on the EFTS value and fee band of each paper for which a student is enrolled.

UMAT - Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admissions Test

One of the criteria for admission to the 2nd Year of many Health Sciences Professional Courses is a satisfactory score in UMAT. UMAT was developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The UMAT for Otago Health Science 1st Year students is administered by the Examinations Office, Academic Services.

University Information Centre (UIC)

The primary call centre for the University. The UIC receives inbound enquires from current and past students and other people interested in the University. It also initiates contact with prospective and current students via outbound calling campaigns.

Verification of Study (VOS) The VOS process is the process by which StudyLink requests and receives confirmation of a student’s enrolment status in order to confirm their eligibility for student loans and allowances.

Visa type A visa held by a prospective student may be one of several different types (e.g. student visa, work visa, visitor’s visa).

Visible comment A comment stored against a student’s record which is visible on screen and also appears on the student’s Academic Record and Academic Transcript.

Withdrawal Withdrawal from a paper (as opposed to deletion) indicates the student has formally withdrawn from studying in the paper before the prescribed cut-off dates but will not normally be eligible for a fees refund. The paper will continue to appear on the student’s academic transcript and academic record, but will be annotated accordingly (e.g. Wdn April).

Withdrawn Exceptional Withdrawn Exceptional (as opposed to deletion or withdrawal) indicates the student has been permitted to withdraw formally from the paper after the prescribed cut-off dates due to exceptional circumstances. The student will not normally be eligible for a fees refund. The paper will continue to appear on the student’s academic transcript and academic record, but will be annotated accordingly (e.g. Wdn Exceptional June).

Workload points University Glossary

See also the University terminology which is updated as required at

http://www.otago.ac.nz/study/terms.html