A University of Otago student is taking his fight to get into second-year law all the way to the ombudsman. And the student is calling for a ‘‘complete overhaul’’ of how the Faculty of Law is run. The student, who declined to be named, said he was delighted the Office of the Ombudsman was taking his case seriously, after several months of back-and-forth with the university. ‘‘I want to see the whole picture as to what procedures they have to come to their decisions,’’ he said. ‘‘I believe a more robust and holistic system needs to be in place: at the moment, the assessment and exams process is ultra-conservative.’’ The Office of the Ombudsman will investigate whether the university has conducted its reconsideration/appeal process with procedural fairness; and whether the university was entitled to withhold information under section 9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act. The student said he requested information about himself and the appeals process, including any minutes, but the university only released an extract of the minutes. ‘‘That doesn’t seem right. ‘‘Their policies and procedures are not up to standard.’’ The student said there was too much focus on the Laws 101 exam and a ‘‘more holistic’’ approach needed to be taken so neurodiverse and mature students such as himself had more of an opportunity. He suggested more internal assessment and a greater emphasis on lecture attendance. ‘‘There needs to be a complete overhaul and I’d be willing to help in an advisory role.’’ In the past two years, the faculty has suffered from a series of blunders and controversies involving its exams. The most recent was in the first semester this year, when students were handed the wrong papers in a company law exam. In the first semester of 2025, a student had to sit the company law exam earlier due to a timetable clash. The student was given an identical exam to the rest of the class and went on to reveal to others what was in the exam. In the second semester of last year, the faculty printed hundreds of torts exams which students attempted, only to discover errors in a question. ‘‘Broken is an understatement,’’ the student said. ‘‘To make this many mistakes reflects badly on everyone.’’ The ODT approached the university, which deferred comment to a spokesperson who said it was not policy to comment on individual students. ‘‘We have a robust assessment programme. ‘‘While regular attendance is important to support learning, it is not taken into consideration when grades are determined. ‘‘Admittance to the second-year programme is competitive and every year we have significantly more people apply then we have spaces available.’’ The faculty also chose not to comment on the recent issues with exams, other than noting there were no issues with the Laws 101 exam.
