Beyond the Students' Control

Does something external to the student govern the pass rate fluctuations? One possibility is that the demands of employers for graduates affects pass rates. At VUW this could be done through the Business Studies Advisory Committee and the Careers Advisory Committee where company directors are heavily represented. The other possibility is that students pass or fail according to the needs of the department. If a department wants few graduates to enhance a reputation for producing quality, pass rates may be low. Or, if a department wants lots of students in order to boost staff numbers or research capability, pass rates may be high.

If these are some of the reasons which govern success or failure in the university, why bother to have exams at all? The answer is that they claim to be objective measures of a persons ability. And it is important that a person who passes must believe he passed because he is superior, and that the failure recognise his inadequacy.