Increase in Scholarship enrolments

Increase in Scholarship enrolments

More students are expected to sit Scholarship this year than last year. When Scholarship enrolments officially closed last Friday (Sept 16), more than 6,500 students had entered across the 27 Scholarship subjects.

The figure is expected to change as some late entries are expected, and some students may withdraw their entries before the exams. Last year 4,500 students sat Scholarship.

Qualifications Authority Acting Chief Executive Karen Sewell gave an assurance earlier this year that the exams will take place efficiently and properly, and the results will be fair and reasonable.

"I remain of that view. Implementation of Scholarship is well advanced. The mechanism for awarding Scholarship is different this year. Our target is for 2-3 percent of year 13 students (seventh formers) studying each subject to get Scholarship in that subject," said Karen Sewell.

Scholarship results will be released in February next year. Exam papers will be returned to students so they can see how the markers assessed their work, and how they performed relative to the other Scholarship candidates. A schedule of the awards is available on www.nzqa.govt.nz as well as the conditions of entry. To be eligible for the top three monetary awards, passes in three subjects are required, and all three must be attained in the current year.

The Qualifications Authority has been working closely with an independent advisory group (Scholarship Technical Advisory Group) to implement the changes to Scholarship this year. The group, chaired by Professor Gary Hawke, will continue to meet over the next few months.

"I am delighted with the progress we have made with the independent advisors to implement the Scholarship changes," said Karen Sewell.

ENDS

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