Academic progress monitoring , Aroturuki i te kauneke mātauranga

Academic progress monitoring helps us to see how you are progressing in your studies.

What is academic progress monitoring?

We check your results at the end of each semester to see if you have made satisfactory progress towards your qualification. This process is called ‘academic progress monitoring’ and is managed by the University Academic Progress Committee.

Academic Progress Regulations

Academic Progression Policy

Academic Progression Procedures

Why we review your academic progress

Massey is committed to supporting you throughout your study, to give you the best chance of success. We recognise that our students may be struggling for a variety of reasons. By identifying those reasons, we can direct our student achievement support services towards students who need them most.

Academic progress is also monitored because of Massey’s obligations. For domestic students, Massey receives funding and subsidies from the New Zealand Government. We have a responsibility to use that funding carefully. If you are an international student, you must maintain an adequate level of study success as part of your visa requirements.

There are two main parts to academic progress monitoring:

  • Evaluating student academic progress (ESAP)
  • Performance on professional and accredited qualifications (P-PAQ) evaluation

Evaluating student academic progress (ESAP)

The ESAP process is the main method of monitoring academic progress. It is managed by the Academic Progress Committee and looks at the results of every student enrolled in a Massey course after the census date.

Your performance is evaluated and placed into one of three categories:

1. Excelling Performance [status]

Some students are performing very well, and we will identify those students and write to them ensure that they know their performance is above average and to offer our congratulations. This status will also show in the student portal.

The threshold for excelling performance is: “Students will have passed 100% of their credits in the most recent enrolment period, with a Grade Point Average (GPA) for the period of 7 or above."

2. Satisfactory Performance [status]

The vast majority of students will be progressing as we expect. The threshold for satisfactory performance is passing some or all of the courses in a given semester.

Massey will not correspond with students to advise them of this ‘Satisfactory Status’ but it will show in the student portal so students can judge their own progress relative to expectations.

3. Below expectations [status of concern]

A small number of students will have enrolled in one or more courses in a semester, and they will not have gained any academic credit in that semester. Grades of D, E, F, DC and WD all count as gaining no academic credit.

Massey will correspond with students to advise them of this status, a ‘Status of Concern’ will show in the student portal and students will be able to judge their own progress relative to expectations.

Unsatisfactory Academic Progress

If you have 'Status of Concern / Below Expectations' for three recent semesters, including the one you’ve most recently completed, the university will consider temporary exclusion or placing restrictions on you.

In these situations the University will correspond with you and offer you the opportunity to provide an explanation before any decision is made.

Information about submissions

How we calculate Excelling GPA

The Excelling GPA is calculated at the end of each semester.

  1. Only courses you have passed count towards your GPA calculation.
    These are: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C and C-.
  2. P, AG and zero-credit courses are not included in your GPA calculation.
  3. Each grade has a value:
    C- = 1
    C = 2
    C+ = 3
    B- = 4
    B = 5
    B+ = 6
    A- = 7
    A = 8
    A+ = 9
  4. Multiply each grade by the number of credits for that course. For example, if you achieve a A- in a 15-credit course, calculate 7 x 15.
  5. Repeat step 4 for each course you passed this semester.
  6. Add the totals for step 5 together. For example, if you achieved A- in four courses, and each was a 15-credit course, your total would be 420.
  7. To calculate your Excelling GPA, divide your total from step 6 by the total number of credits you completed this semester. In this example, you would calculate 420 divided by 60.

These calculations do not use rounding so Excelling is only awarded for 7.00 or above. A GPA of 6.99 will not result in an Excelling outcome.

Recalculation of ESAP outcomes

On some very rare occasions a grade correction or late grade will be added after the ESAP calculations have been run. As far as possible, we will look for these changes and update your status if appropriate.

However, these types of changes are difficult to identify across the whole student cohort, so if you see a grade change or addition that you think may have changed your ESAP status, we encourage you to email academicprogress@massey.ac.nz to ask if we can review your outcome.

Performance on professional and accredited qualifications (P-PAQ) evaluation

In addition to the ordinary ESAP process, a few programmes (associated with professional bodies and/or accreditations) have specific qualification regulations about academic progress that go beyond ESAP.

These programmes each have a P-PAQ subcommittee who will manage their specific academic progress requirements.

The programmes covered by P-PAQs are:

  • Te Aho Tātairangi: Bachelor of Education Teaching Māori Medium/ Diploma in Māori Education/ Te Aho Tātairangi: Bachelor of Teaching and Learning Kura Kaupapa Māori / Te Aho Paerewa: Postgraduate Diploma Teaching and Learning in Māori Medium
  • Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Early Childhood Education), Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary)/ Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Secondary)/Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching/ Postgraduate Certificate in Specialist Teaching / Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Teaching
  • Bachelor of Speech and Language Therapy /Bachelor of Speech and Language Therapy with Honours
  • Master of Clinical Psychology
  • Bachelor of Veterinary Science
  • Bachelor of Nursing/ Bachelor of Social Work/ Master of Applied Social Work / Master of Clinical Practice (Nursing)
  • Bachelor of Aviation – Air Transport Pilot major
  • Degree of Doctor of Business and Administration/ Degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology / Degree of Doctor of Education / Degree of Doctor of Philosophy / Degree of Doctor of Social Work

Academic restrictions

ESAP academic progress monitoring will evaluate your performance as ‘Excelling’, ‘Satisfactory’ or 'Status of Concern / Below Expectations'. If you have 'Status of Concern / Below Expectations' for three semesters in a row, including the one you’ve most recently completed, the university will consider placing restrictions on you.

Before any restrictions are applied, Massey will ask you to explain what has happened. You will receive an invitation to make a submission before we make a decision. If your explanation does not adequately explain your unsatisfactory academic progress, we may consider placing restrictions on your study – usually excluding you from study for a set period of time.

Most academic progress issues result in a temporary academic exclusion.

  • An exclusion prevents you from enrolling for approximately three semesters.
  • The exclusion restriction is designed to give you an opportunity to take a break and get into a better position before re-starting your studies.

If you are enrolled in one of the professional and accredited qualifications and you are unable to meet their specific academic progress requirements, you may be placed under different restrictions by a P-PAQ subcommittee. These may include permanent programme exclusions and other restrictions at year and course level.

You may also be temporarily restricted from re-enrolling in a particular course if you have repeatedly failed that course.

Academic progress submissions

Before we make any decisions about your ESAP or P-PAQ academic progress, you will be asked to make a submission to explain the situation.

If you want to make a submission, you must:

  • Address the whole situation over the period of time that you made no academic progress. This will usually be your last three semesters of study.
  • Be concise and clear. Use bullet points and headings if it helps.
  • Be polite and professional even if the you are disappointed to get the letter. The process is not personal.
  • Provide document evidence to support the reasons you have provided. Evidence will strengthen a your submission significantly.
  • Mention everything relevant. Due to privacy constraints, any personal matters you have explained to the university in the past may not be available for the decision makers. Even if you have already told someone at the university about an issue, don’t assume that your circumstances are already known.
  • Explain what has changed since the issues arose.

Factors for inclusion in submissions

There are many different issues that the panel would consider as significant and relevant. The situations are evaluated as follows:

  • must be out of your control – you probably could not have prevented them
  • must have had a probable negative impact on you – your ability to study or to undertake assessments was highly likely to have been impacted
  • the timing of the circumstances must be relevant to the claimed impact and have contributed to your inability to pass any courses during the semester.

Types of situations/explanations which may contribute to a successful submission

  • A significant illness, serious injury or mental health issue experienced by you.
  • A significant illness, injury or mental health issue of a dependent person you care for.
  • A disability situation where there is no support, or which flared up unexpectedly.
  • A bereavement (for example of a close family member or very close friend).
  • Supporting a close member of your family through a serious illness.
  • Being the victim of a serious crime.
  • Dramatic and unexpected change in personal circumstances.
  • Long jury service.

Types of situations that are unlikely to be acceptable explanations

  • A criminal conviction and/or imprisonment.
  • Disruptions caused by non-payment of fees.
  • COVID-19 in its own right. There would need to be an associated issue like ill health, bereavement or other significant disruption.
  • Not knowing that withdrawal (WD) would be considered as a failure to progress.
  • Long term pre-existing situations that have not changed, particularly where you have re-enrolled when the same situation existed and was not mitigated.
  • Minor and short-term illnesses.
  • Avoidable timing problems for assessment such as conflicting planning with weddings or holidays.
  • Issues with the delivery of a course that were not reported at the time.
  • Motivation issues.
  • Not knowing that Massey was tracking performance in this way.
  • Things that could be evidenced but no evidence is offered.

Supporting documentation

Documents can be included as supporting evidence. Evidence should:

  • come from an appropriately qualified professionals who is independent of yourself
  • be on letterhead paper or have a relevant email address
  • be dated.

If evidence is not in English or te reo Māori, it may still be submitted but should be accompanied by a certified translation if possible or a fair translation if a certified translation is not possible.

If the provision of evidence to support your submission deadline is delayed this may be mentioned and it may be possible for the evidence to be considered later.

Documents can include:

  • Medical evidence: hospital notes, discharge notes, doctor’s letters, counsellor or psychologist's letters, test results, midwives' notes, (for example letters from registered medical practitioners that are for yourself or a dependent).
  • Bereavement: death certificates, letters from doctors, letters from undertakers or coroners. Orders of service if verifiable online or through funeral notices which show your relationship. Verifiable news media reports.
  • Information from registration of birth, deaths and marriages.
  • Letters from solicitors, court officers, victim support letters, affidavits and insurance providers.
  • Military service instructions.
  • Letters from university staff who have directly supported you during the situation.
  • Letters or statements from classmates, family members and religious practitioners may help add context but would not normally be considered evidence in their own right.

Example letter

Date

Dear Academic Progression Panel,

I received your letter early this week about my academic progress. I was disappointed to be in this situation, but I have considered what you have written and looked back at my record. I can see that the three semesters in which I have not passed any courses are:
1. Summer school 2021/2022
2. Second Semester 2021
3. First Semester 2021

I would like to explain the situations which caused me to have difficulties in these three semesters.

  1. Summer school 2021/2022
    During this semester I was only taking one course: 100.205 Issues in xxx. I failed to complete this course because it had a compulsory group presentation which had to be completed on xxx date. I missed the group presentation because my five-year old child was ill that day and we were at the urgent care clinic for six hours waiting. I applied for an Aegrotat consideration and provided evidence of my situation, but I did not receive an AG Pass grade because the assessment missed was compulsory. Please find attached evidence from the xxx Medical Centre of our visit on the day of the presentation [labelled doc 1] plus a copy of the decision on the portal showing my aegrotat application declined [labelled doc 2].

I believe that this situation was simply one of bad luck – I had fully participated in the course until the presentation date, and the situation was simply outside of my control i.e., ill-health of a dependent. The situation was a one off-timing problem, and I would argue does not reflect any issues with my motivation of commitment to study.

  1. Second Semester 2021
    During this semester I was taking two courses: 100.203 Data modelling for xxx and 100.202 Ethical considerations for xxx. I participated in the courses, but not to the fullest of my abilities and received grades of E and F. I received these grades because I did not complete all of the course assessments. I believe that my difficulties in this semester were because I was having both self-confidence issues and difficulty managing as a single parent following my separation and divorce from my spouse. Please find attached evidence that I was receiving counselling [labelled doc 3], plus court information related to my divorce [labelled doc 4].

I believe that this semester’s situation was caused by my failure to realise the toll this was taking on my well-being until after the first withdrawal date had passed. I tried my hardest to carry on by getting support, but even with the support, I experienced self-confidence damage that held me back from submitting the work I had written i.e. the cause was my own mental health. I have addressed these issues now.

  1. First Semester 2021
    During this semester I took three two courses: 100.201 Developments in xxx and 100.200 Introduction to xxx. I did not participate fully in the courses and withdrew but I only withdrew officially after the deadline for the fee refund, so I received two WD outcomes. I decided to withdraw and accept the loss of my fees because I encountered serious personal issues. The issues arose from discovering my spouse was involved in an ex-marital relationship and when I found out my spouse became aggressive and abusive. My spouse’s behaviour forced me to remove myself and my child from our home. We were in temporary sheltered accommodation, and I did not have time to uplift all of my paperwork and university files before we left the family home initially. I was too embarrassed to discuss things with the university at the time. I have since received help and support from many people and am able to explain the situation only now. Please find attached evidence including victim support letters [labelled doc 5], a court order returning occupancy of the home to me [labelled doc 6], a restraining order against my now ex-spouse [labelled doc 7], and a letter from my solicitor outlining the divorce proceedings [labelled doc 8].

This situation was caused by a dramatic unexpected change in personal circumstances. I believe it is reasonable that my university studies were not my priority at this time.

In conclusion
I would ask the panel give weight to the fact that while I have had an extremely difficult time since 2021, I have not caused the difficulties and I have tried to control the situation and get support as needed. My performance in my courses in 2020 is a better indicator of my capability. The situation with my ex-spouse set my first two difficulties in motion and these will not be ongoing. The most recent situation was a one-off issue of bad luck in timing.

I feel I have no problems with motivation or commitment related to my university study.

I respect that you may still tell me to take a break in my study, but I would like to make very clear that I would prefer not to have a break, as I would like to move forward in my life by pursuing my degree. If it will be helpful to my case, let me offer to remain in counselling and in close support with the university.

Ngā mihi nui

Appeals

You have the right to appeal a determination we've made about your academic progress. Appeals are designed to protect your right to be heard, but they are tightly defined rights. You need to show that:

  • the determination was incorrect
  • new information that was not known or available at the time of the original decision is now available.

The student can demonstrate that the determination was incorrect

This normally means that either your published course results used in the determination were incorrect, or that the committee has incorrectly interpreted your course results or your student record, or incorrectly interpreted the programme regulations. You would need to provide a tightly argued explanation to demonstrate the errors.

New information that was not known or available at the time of the original decision is now available

This is only applicable if:

  • the committee would have probably made a different decision if they had the additional information available to them
  • the information was unknown or could not be provided at the time the submission was invited.

The committee will not accept information that could have been provided at the time of the submission, unless there were extraordinary circumstances to explain why the information wasn’t provided at the correct time. For example, may not have made a submission at the correct time because you had a close personal bereavement, were hospitalized, or there had been a civil emergency resulting in loss of access to the internet.

Reasons which are unacceptable for appeal

You cannot lodge an appeal because you:

  • didn’t like the decision the committee reached
  • are now highly motivated and want a chance to carry on
  • think the restrictions are unnecessary
  • didn’t see the email or portal messages sent to you
  • didn’t realize that WD withdrawals would be a problem
  • will suffer hardship because of any restrictions
  • are only a few courses short of completing
  • feel the academic programme team would support you.

Readmission after an exclusion

If you have been excluded from study at Massey, you need to apply for readmission before you can re-enrol in courses.

When we consider your readmission application, Massey will look at factors such as:

  • Changed circumstances – what will you do differently to prioritise study?
  • Motivation – what are your goals and what is your plan to achieve these?

You need to submit your application for readmission:

  • no earlier than 6 months before your planned return to study and
  • no later than 2 months before your planned return to study.

If you are seeking readmission after an exclusion, you must first meet with an Achievement Coach to demonstrate your new commitment to study.

In preparation for your appointment with an Achievement Coach, we recommend you think about:

  • your reasons for wanting to return to study
  • the measures you have taken and/or strategies you have put in place to make sure the issues impacting your study before have been resolved
  • details about how you think these measures will make your return to study successful
  • any academic or job-related performance since your exclusion.

You can't apply for readmission for Summer School. This is because of the shortened timeframe for study during Summer School and the impact this may have for successfully resuming study.

Find key dates for admission and enrolment

Apply for readmission after an academic exclusion

Apply for readmission after an academic exclusion

You can expect to hear back from an Achievement Coach within 10 working days. After you have met with your coach, the Academic Progress Committee will consider your application which may involve referral to another support service. The entire readmission process can take up to six weeks.

Academic Standing

The previous process for monitoring academic progress was known as ‘academic standing’. This has not been calculated since 2020. Your previous academic standing records for study you completed before 2020 will remain visible in the portal.