Academic Glossary
ITP Academic Harmonisation
Supporting ITPs through collaboration
COLLABORATIVE ACADEMIC GLOSSARY
Academic Appeal: The process by which a student can appeal a final grade for a review of an assessment, or decision, carried out by a person/s independent of the original decision.
Academic Board: A committee established by the Council of a tertiary education institution under section 193 (2) (i) of the Education Act 1989.
Academic Credit: Credit given through successful completion of assessment and/or recognition of prior learning.
Academic Record or Transcript: A transcript recording the course titles, unit standards, credits and results that were awarded during the period of the student’s enrolment.
Academic Misconduct: Any act or omission by a student which breaches academic guidelines, rules or regulations or the specific requirements of a programme, course or paper.
Accreditation: The process by which an institution is recognised as being capable of delivering an approved course and/or assessing against standards on the National Qualifications Framework.
Accreditation and Moderation Action Plans (AMAPs): Documents developed by standard-setting bodies, covering all areas of the National Qualifications Framework. AMAPs identify the specific criteria for accreditation and outline external moderation requirements. Each unit standard and achievement standard is assigned an AMAP which can be accessed on the NZQA website. (NZQA)
Aegrotat Pass: A pass result following consideration of impaired performance or aegrotat application, where specified as a pass result in Programme Regulations. Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations section 135.
Articulation: A formal agreement between two or more institutions that may allow specific programmes, courses or components of programmes at one institution to be delivered by one or more of the parties.
Assessment: Collecting and evaluating evidence to establish the level of a student’s performance.
Assessment of Prior Learning (APL): Refer to Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
Award (n): A document issued in recognition of attainment of a qualification by the institute or external body authorised to award qualifications. (ref Collaborative Academic Regulations for specific award definitions).
Chief Executive: The person appointed by Council to manage the academic and administrative affairs of the institution.
Conceded Pass: A pass result where there is ample evidence that marginal failure is compensated by good overall performance in a course and specified in Programme Regulations. Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations section 135.
Conjoint Programme: An institutional or an inter-institutional arrangement which provides for two qualifications to be completed simultaneously, in a shorter timeframe than would normally be the case.
Consortium Arrangement: An arrangement with one or more other education institutions that provides a way of delivering and/or developing courses.
Co-Delivery: A situation where more than one institute delivers courses and/or programmes.
Co-requisite: A specified course or paper that must be undertaken in conjunction with another course or paper.
Council: The governing body of a tertiary education institution as defined by the Education Act 1989 (165).
Course: A course may be known as a paper, module or unit. A defined course or collection of courses forms a programme of study, which, if completed successfully, results in the award of a qualification.
Credit: A numerical value assigned to unit standards, papers, courses and entire programmes that reflects the estimated student time/effort required to satisfactorily meet the assessment requirements. In most cases, one credit equals approximately ten hours of student learning time (scheduled class contact, assessment time, work experience or internships, other directed time and independent/self-directed study).
Credit Transfer: The granting of credit towards a qualification on the basis of credit for the same papers or courses already earned in another qualification and/or in another institution.
Cross Credit: Credit awarded for having successfully completed a similar course to the required standard (at an ITP or another equivalent institution).
Distinction: Recognition of a student’s high achievement/exemplary performance in a course, or programme. Details are outlined in the course regulations.
Double Degree: Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations.
Embedded Award: An award that a student will automatically receive after successful completion of a prescribed set of papers within a qualification for which that student has enrolled.
Excluded student: a student who has been removed from a course or programme and cannot re-enrol without the prior permission of the institute.
Exit Award: An award that a student may apply for after successful completion of a prescribed set of papers within a qualification when that student elects not to complete the qualification for which he or she has enrolled.
External Moderator: A person external to an ITP who provides verification that an ITP’s assessment activities are fair, valid and consistently applied.
External Monitor: A person external to the tertiary institution but not limited to ITP sector, who may be appointed by ITPQuality, to assist in the continuous improvement of academic standards through regular review of an identified programme of study.
Formative Assessment: Assessments which facilitate learning and allow students to obtain feedback on progress, levels of skills and/or knowledge acquired without contributing to a final grade. It is a vital part of the learning process.
Impaired Performance: Where a student considers that their performance in an assessment has been seriously impaired through critical circumstances beyond their control which may include illness, injury, bereavement, family crisis, or other unpredictable events, an impaired performance application may be made for reconsideration of result
Institute – The educational institute constituted under the Education Act. This refers to ********************* (insert specific institute name here).
International English Language Testing System (IELTS): A system of testing English language proficiency for higher education, immigration and employment.
KiwiQuals: A searchable database of qualifications on the NZQA Register of Quality Assured Qualifications.
Level: The ten levels of the National Qualifications Framework and the Register of Quality Assured Qualifications, level one being entry level. The level of each standard is set nationally according to general guidelines. (NZQA Glossary)
Merit: Recognition of above average performance in a course or programme where a student exceeds the requirements for a pass. Details are written in the programme regulations.
Moderation: The process of confirming that assessment activities are fair, valid and consistently applied both internally and externally across a number of assessors or assessing institutions.
Mode of Delivery: The way in which learning experiences, including content and context, resources, staff, teaching and learning strategies and assessment activities, are delivered. (NZQA).
Module: Refer to Course
Paper: Refer to Course
Plagiarism: Presenting someone else’s work or ideas as if they were one’s own original work or thought, without clear acknowledgement of the actual source. Plagiarism includes: a) Copying the work of another student; b) Directly copying any part of another’s work (including web pages or texts); c) Summarising of another’s work; d) Using experimental results obtained by another.
Policy: Documented principles that provide direction, set parameters and define the expected practices/outcomes for significant activities.
Pre-requisite: A specified course that shall be completed before a student is permitted to proceed to another course.
Programme: A self contained block of study or a combination of courses that normally leads to an award.
Programme Approval: A process, defined by an ITP, whereby the proposed or changed programme is approved either internally or by ITPQuality.
Programme Regulations: The academic requirements for enrolment in programmes, and completion of a qualification.
Qualification: An award recognising the successful completion of a prescribed programme of study.
Quality Management System: A system of clearly defined institutional structures, processes, responsibilities and resources used to manage quality improvement.
Re-assessment (Re-sit): The opportunity for a student to retake an assessment at a different time (within the timing of the course or programme).
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Assessment that makes use of indirect evidence of achievement and/or evidence from activities that are undertaken. RPL can be called recognition or assessment of current competencies. The term 'recognition' is meant to imply that skills and knowledge will be recognised by some form of assessment against established criteria.
Re-count: A careful numerical check of marks recorded by assessors.
Re-mark: The marking of an item of assessment by a subject specialist other than the academic staff member who initially marked the item.
Research: Refer to NZQA definition.
Restricted Pass: Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations.
Re-submission: The opportunity for a student to resubmit an assessment following a rework of part/s of the original assessment. Usually within a short time frame and within the timing of the course or programme.
Special Passes: Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations.
Restricted Pass: Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations.
Student: A person enrolled in one or more course(s) at an institute.
Summative Assessment: Assessment activities that contribute to the final result of the course. Summative assessment provides students with a specific measure of their learning in relation to course learning outcomes. Its purpose is to determine the student’s level of achievement in attaining course outcomes and to ensure that students have met the requirements for progression and completion within the programme.
TANZ: Tertiary Accord of New Zealand. A network of polytechnics and institutes of technology that works collaboratively.
Collaborative Academic Committee: Refer to Collaborative Academic Regulations.
Unit Standard: A nationally-registered, coherent set of learning outcomes and associated performance criteria together with technical and management information that supports delivery and assessment. All unit standards are registered on the National Qualifications Framework, assigned a level and a credit level, and may contribute to the award of a National Certificate or Diploma. (NZQA)
