Ungraded Victoria University exam papers 'lost'

The School of Architecture at Victoria University of Wellington has lost 68 ungraded exam papers. Photo / File

A tutor at one of the country's leading universities has reportedly lost 68 ungraded exam papers.

The loss affects some first-year students who sat the School of Architecture 121 Introduction to Built Environment Technology exam, Fairfax reported.

An apologetic email from Head of School Morten Gjerde said the papers had been "misplaced" before the exams had been marked, and were now considered lost.

The school had decided to reweight the students' internal assessments to be worth twice as much to account for the lost exam marks, Gjerde said in the email, which has been forwarded to Fairfax.

Gjerde wrote that students' chances of being accepted into second-year architecture would not be affected.

The scripts had gone missing four days after the exam, pro Vice-Chancellor of Science, Engineering and Architecture and Design Mike Wilson told Fairfax.

A tutor who was marking them left the papers unattended when they disappeared. A major search had been carried out to find the papers.

"The protection of exam papers is something the university takes very seriously, and occurrences such as this are extremely rare," Wilson said.