University Defends "Buggy" New System Amid Major Enrolment Cock-Up

Words by Niamh Vaughan (she/her) 

The end of 2022 saw the implementation of the Tītoko Student Success programme, a new enrolment system for students at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. 

The intention of the new system was to increase student admission and retention by separating admission from enrollment, allowing students to apply to VUW year-round. 

Despite the system's ambitions, changes have proved challenging for many students. Confusion has arisen in regards to the new distinction between admission (aceptance into the university) and enrollment (selecting courses and confirmation of returning study). Salient understands that enrolments of new students were reported down 11% from last year, and re-enrollers reduced a further 20% as of January 2023. 

VUWSA President Jessica Ye says VUWSA had been “consistently raising concerns” since the initial implementation of Tītoko at the beginning of 2022, upon “noticing that the system was buggy”. 

“The message that we were hearing from the senior leadership team was that there [wasn’t] really a problem,” Ye said. 

Due to the confusion between admittance and enrollment, students may not know if they’re enrolled or not. This is anticipated to impact access to StudyLink. “Though you get back paid, it’ll be difficult for students living week to week,” Ye said. 

At this point in time, neither the potential financial deficit to the university, nor the actual enrolment numbers, have been made available to VUWSA. However, they anticipate enrolments to be “really low”.

Wendy Larner, currently the Provost at VUW, led the implementation of the new Tītoko enrollment system. In a statement to Salient, Larner said that the current unavailability of accurate data is because “at this time of year, enrolment figures continue to fluctuate daily.” 

Though Larner is “aware that [the university] is facing enrolment challenges this year”, she suggests that New Zealand’s current low unemployment rates and the rising cost of living are to blame for “the bigger enrolment challenges the university face” and a “down-turn in enrolments across the tertiary education sector” in general.

Following the enrollment debacle, Larner is departing VUW to take on a new role as Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University. She claims that her “departure from the university is completely unrelated to the new systems issues”, and is, on the contrary, “very proud of the work that has been delivered under the Student Success programme.”