You may have heard of Review of Academic Progress, or RAP in short. Or you may have seen Academic Progress Review during your procrastinating stroll through either the UC website or our UCSA Support website here. They are basically the same thing.

But what is it?

Well, it is the process that happens when and if you, the reader, whoever you are, fail to make what the university considers satisfactory academic progress. You may be an academic high achiever, and if you are, then you can skip this article and move on to the next one.

However, if you have not been doing well academically, especially if you have struggled for the past couple of semesters, then you must read on.

Your academic life at UC depends on it!

So, how does the university decide which students have made satisfactory academic process and which ones haven’t? It is based on 5 main criteria:

• If the student failed ½ or more of their courses in one semester;
• If the student has a GPA of under 1.00;
• If the student is not meeting the professional requirements of their programme (professional degrees like teaching, social work, and engineering);
• If the student has withdrawn from more than ½ of the enrolled courses in the past 2 years; and/or
• If the student has failed to demonstrate any likelihood of success, such as having gone through multiple RAP processes and is going through it again.

After your end of semester exam papers are marked, each Faculty will decide which of their students have not made satisfactory academic progress. The UC Vice-Chancellor’s Office will then send those students letters by email based on these 6 categories of RAP, in increasing order of seriousness:

• Academic Warning – Meeting with Associate Dean Required;
• Academic Warning – with Restrictions;
• Impending Qualification Exclusion;
• Qualification Exclusion;
• Impending University Exclusion;
• University Exclusion.

So, your next question may be: what does each of these categories mean?

The meaning of “exclusion” is pretty clear. It means “being excluded from”, which, in this case means that you will no longer be able to study either in the qualification you are enrolled in (e.g., BA or BSc), or at UC at all.

As for the word “impending”, it means “about to happen soon”. This means if you do receive an email with the word “impending” before the word “exclusion”, and you don’t open the email, read it and follow the instructions in it, then you will be excluded from your qualification or UC.

But on the other hand, if you read the email carefully and follow the instructions provided fully, then there is a chance for you to continue with your studies in the qualification of your choice, or at UC, whichever the case may be.

So, what happens if you receive the “Qualification Exclusion” or “University Exclusion” emails. Does it mean all hope is lost for you?

The answer is – no. There is still an opportunity for you to continue with your studies because you can appeal the exclusion.

Why?

Because UC is not an ogre, that’s why!

If there are legitimate reasons why you have struggled with your studies so far, the university will take them into consideration when they make their decision. My team and I have assisted many students through RAP, who then make great process with their studies and graduate with the qualifications they chose.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we will say this again - you will need to read the email carefully and follow the instructions in it.

As for the two types of Academic Warnings, they are the warnings the University is giving you to let you know that you aren’t doing well academically. You will need to meet with the Associate Dean for one; for the other, you will be restricted to a limited number of courses you can enrol in the following semester. You can appeal the restriction by submitting a request for review.

The main thing is that you need to complete and submit the Request for Review Form attached with the email to the university by noon Monday 17 July. You will also need to write an explanation of the circumstances that interfered with your studies.

It really helps if this explanation is written clearly, and is accompanied by compelling evidence. Having a clearly written explanation of your circumstances with supporting evidence is a very important factor for you to succeed in your appeal.

And this is where the UCSA Advocacy & Welfare team can help. We have 5 staff members in the team to help you put together your Request for Review Form, and we can also be at the meeting as your support person. That is, if you choose to attend the meeting. And we strongly advise students to do so. To get help from us, just email us at help@ucsa.org.nz. In fact, if you have any questions resulting from reading this article, you can email us now and ask us. We will do our best to answer your questions.

Considering that the emails will be sent out on Wednesday 12 July and the Matariki public holiday falls on Friday 14 July this year, that means we only have 1.5 working days to help you put together your request for a review of your exclusion. So, contact us as soon as you can if you would like us to help.

Who are we?

We are the UCSA Advocacy & Welfare Team, and we are here to help. Contact us at help@ucsa.org.nz.

- UCSA Advocacy & Welfare team