Auckland University criteria limiting entry to its Medical School was upheld in the High Court.
Kelly Roe sued claiming she was entitled to automatic enrolment into Medical School on the basis she was a domestic student aged twenty or above and as such entitled as of right to enrol at university in a course of her choice. This after she was denied Medical School entry for 2019 and 2020. The High Court was told Auckland University admits 257 medical students each year. For 2019, 864 applied; 2020 saw 903 applications.
Ms Roe was told by Auckland University that competitive entry for Medical School required her to either: complete the first year of an undergraduate health science or biomedical science degree; or have completed a fulltime degree at any New Zealand university in the last five years with a grade point average of at least six. She did not satisfy this ‘recency’ requirement, having graduated from Waikato University back in 2006 with an MA degree. In 2015, she enrolled in a health science degree, but withdrew after failing a paper. She subsequently enrolled in the MPhil programme at Waikato University. She completed this programme, but received a fail grade.
Justice Fitzgerald ruled there is nothing in the Education Act which prohibits universities from setting minimum academic criteria for determining which students will be enrolled in an oversubscribed limited entry programme. This is consistent with the Act’s object of giving institutions as much independence as possible and is consistent with the efficient use of national resources, she said. Imposing a ‘recency’ requirement has a clear academic purpose, she said. It ensures applicants have current expertise.
While Ms Roe was ‘eligible’ to enrol at Auckland University being a domestic student aged over twenty, she was not ‘entitled’ to consideration for entry to medical school because she did not satisfy criteria for the limited entry course.
Roe v. University of Auckland – High Court (3.03.21)
21.043