Learner Results, Transcripts and Award Certificates for Qualifications

To ensure accurate academic results are entered in the Student Management System (SMS) in a timely manner.  Accurate results are available to learners via the learner portal and enable the production of Academic Transcripts, and Award Certificates on completion of a programme of study/qualification.

Academic Registry is the department with centralised responsibility for overseeing the results process and for forwarding unit standard results to and liaising with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). 

1. All assessment events with the weighting as approved in the programme of study document, are loaded into the Student Management System (SMS) centrally.
2. Learner results for each assessment event in a course must be entered, by the responsible academic staff member or delegate, confirmed and released in the SMS, by the delegated authority in the College, within two (2) working days of the date the marked assessment is due to be returned to the learners.
3. Final course results must be entered and calculated (by the SMS) and checked by the Progamme academic staff member or delegate, confirmed, and released by the College Student Administrator as soon as practically possible after the course occurrence end date.  First semester course occurrence results must be completed prior to staff going on leave and be available to learners and other stakeholders prior to the second semester start date; in the case of second semester course occurrence results these must be completed prior to staff going on leave and before the commencement of the Christmas Break.
4. Final results for a programme of study/qualification must be finalised as soon as possible and be available no later than five (5) working days after the finishing date of occurrences for the programme of study /qualification and must meet graduation timelines.
5. Learners who do not pass a course within the required time frame (includes resubmissions and resits) are required to re-enrol.  Any exceptions including extensions are to be referred to the Director: Academic Excellence.
6. Academic Excellence is responsible for ensuring the correct grade table as approved in the programme of study is in the SMS.
7. Programme Heads are responsible for ensuring that the approved grade tables are used in all programme of study documentation including learner programme handbooks (hardcopy and online) and course outlines.
8. Withdrawals made before eighty (80%) (or equal to) of a course will receive a grade of Withdrawn (WD).  Formal withdrawals made after eighty (80%) of the course has elapsed will receive a failing grade according to the approved grade table for that programme of study.
9. Programme Heads are responsible for ensuring effective and accurate systems are followed for:

• checking the accuracy of results data entered into the SMS
• correcting errors in results
• timely marking, feedback and results entry in SMS and notification to learners.

10. Student Administrators are responsible for finalising results according to the approved programme of study.
11. Where a course contains any National Qualifications Framework (NQF) unit standard(s), results are to be entered for each assessment event, the NQF unit standard as well as for the course itself.
12. Where an error is found in a finalised result, this error must be corrected in the SMS following authorisation from the Programme Head.  Learners must be informed of the correction of the error.  Correction of the error including Programme Head authorisation must be notified to Student Administrator, on Student Result Amendment Form, available from the Programme Administrator or downloaded from Academic Registry  How Can We Help? Otago Polytechnic Ltd Intranet (Tūhono). 
13. When the final course results are in the SMS, checked and released, learners can access their results via the learner portal and on completion of their programme of study at Otago Polytechnic Limited an Academic Transcript can be printed by Academic Registry.

13.1      There is to be no public display of results.

Note that published work, such as theses are in the public domain.

14. Academic Transcripts can only be issued according to Academic Transcripts Sections 1 and 2.
15. The forwarding of all NQF to NZQA is centralised and can only be carried out by delegation from the Deputy Chief Executive: Academic Delivery.
16. All results must conform to Ministry of Education (MoE)/Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) course completion requirements.

 
Award Certificates for Qualifications
17.          Learners studying at Otago Polytechnic Limited may achieve one of the following awards/certificates by completing the necessary academic requirements:

• New Zealand Certificate
• New Zealand Diploma
• Graduate Certificate
• Bachelors Degree
• Bachelors Degree with Honours
• Graduate Diploma
• Postgraduate Certificate
• Postgraduate Diploma
• Masters Degree
• Doctorate
• Training Schemes

18. A Certificate of Proficiency (COP) will be awarded on completion of the academic requirements of a course(s) and approved as a COP programme of study.
19. A Head of College, or equivalent, may authorise the issuance of a Record of Attendance or a Record of Achievement to learners who meet the attendance or assessment requirements of any course or group of courses.  The approved template must be used which is generated from the SMS, and a copy of the Record of Attendance or Achievement scanned to the learner’s record in the SMS.
20. Formats of all awards are as per the physical samples held by the Director: Academic Excellence.
21. All National awards issued by NZQA for learners completing their qualifications at Otago Polytechnic Limited are to carry the Otago Polytechnic Limited logo.
22. Where a learner has completed most of the qualification requirements through another provider, the learner may request the Certificate to be issued from the other provider.
23. Use of Otago Polytechnic Limited logo on another provider's qualifications.

23.1      The use of the Otago Polytechnic Limited logo on certification of other provider qualifications requires approval from the Deputy Chief Executive: Academic Delivery on a case-by-case basis.

23.2      A mock-up Certificate that includes any wording should accompany any application for use showing the placement of the logo.

23.3      A Register of Approvals of use of the Otago Polytechnic Limited logo will be maintained by the Director: Academic Excellence.

23.4      The Otago Polytechnic Limited logo must not be altered in any way.

24. Replacement Certificates

24.1     Otago Polytechnic Limited will replace original Certificates with no charge that have:

• not been received by the learner
• been damaged in transit
• that have been issued with incorrect information or damaged or issued with incorrect details.

24.2 Otago Polytechnic Ltd will also replace Certificates on request to Academic Registry and a fee payable will apply.

Academic Transcripts

25           Academic Transcripts

25.1          An Academic Transcript is a record of a learner’s results for courses according to the approved grade table and qualifications gained.  The Academic Transcript will include all course level results - passes, fails and other grades.

25.2          The Academic Transcript will indicate the qualification or qualifications completed.

25.3          The Academic Transcript is provided at the completion of a programme of study or at other times on receipt of a request.

25.4          A fee is payable by the learner for every additional Academic Transcript requested and when Academic Transcript requests are received before the completion of a programme of study.

25.5          Academic Transcripts are to be produced on the official Academic Transcript Paper (blue) approved by the Academic Committee.

25.6          Academic Transcripts must be produced from the SMS using the approved SMS report(s).  Exceptions can be approved by the Chair of Academic Committee only.

26           Results Notices

26.1          A Result Notice is a record of the learner’s results for those courses undertaken for that programme of study, semester, or year and are available via the learner portal.

26.2          The result will be reported at course level and will also show all unit standard results where applicable.

26.3          Result Notices can be produced via the learner portal by the learner or on request from the learner to Academic Registry at any time.

26.4          Requests from a learner to Academic Registry to produce a Result Notice will incur a fee for each Result Notice.

26.5          Result Notices must be produced from the SMS using the approved SMS report(s).  Exceptions must be approved by the Deputy Chief Executive: Academic Delivery only.

27           Authority to Produce

27.1          Academic Transcripts can only be produced following the loading of results to the SMS.

27.2          Initial Academic Transcripts are signed by the Head of College.

27.3          Requests for additional Academic Transcripts must be in writing to the Academic Registry and will be signed by the Director: Academic Excellence.

28               Register of Transcripts

28.1          A Register of Academic Transcripts must be held and produced by the SMS and will include details of any Academic Transcripts produced including date and signatory.

28.2          A separate Register for any Transcripts not produced by the SMS must be developed and managed by the appropriate College e.g., Bachelor of Nursing record of theoretical and clinical hours as required by regulatory bodies.

KEY TO ALL GRADES AND ABBREVIATIONS – from 2004 onwards  

∗NRE includes Level 8 courses 

*X is for Level 9 courses only 

The following programmes have variations to the generic grade tables 

Note: These grade tables apply from 2004 onwards. Should information be required regarding a grade which does not match one of the above, please contact the Academic Registry. 

POLICIES

• Assessment and Moderation Policy 
• Disclosing Personal Information about Students and Staff Policy
• Grade Tables, Honours, Distinction, and Merit Policy
• Graduation Policy
• Recognition of Prior Learning Policy
• Withdrawal, Transfer, Cancellation, and Refund Policy
• Learner Fees Policy

Approved by:

Dr. Megan Gibbons

Chief Executive

Dated:  30 October 2022

Policy Version:  V11: Previously Coded: AP1008.