NCEA exam blunder puts 1000 in limbo

The Qualifications Authority has apologised for a botch-up affecting up to 1000 school-leavers who got the wrong exam results.

Some seventh-formers who earned university entrance were shown as having failed because some of their NCEA credits were missing from their result slips and records used by universities to confirm their enrolment.

University staff fielding calls in the past two days have been unable to reassure school-leavers that they have been accepted for their courses.

It affects about 1500 prospective students at Victoria University and up to 4000 hoping to enrol at Auckland.

Both universities hope to make up lost time but have warned school-leavers there could be delays.

Other tertiary institutions were also affected.

University staff raised the issue after spotting errors in test files repeated in National Certificate of Educational Achievement records sent by the authority this week.

The institutions got corrected records yesterday but Victoria University's acting vice-chancellor, David Mackay, estimated the muddle had set enrolment staff back by a week.

Students also need confirmation to apply for student loans and allowances.

"It's disappointing. It puts additional pressure on our staff," he said.

The authority apologised to students and universities but said the "minor errors" were fixed within 48 hours, and affected only about 1000 of 30,000 school-leavers.

Those students would get an amended results slip showing the missing credits.

- NZPA