Professor Vernon Squire, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic of Otago University, says his immediate concern was for the students after 98 unmarked exam scripts were stolen following a break-in.

A 23-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with burglary after 98 exams scripts were stolen during a break-in at the University of Otago.

Dunedin Police confirmed the arrest Wednesday but were unable to make any further comment because the case was before the courts.

It is not known when the woman will appear in court.

The University of Otago issued a statement confirming the exam scripts had been recovered, "Unfortunately, they are in an unusable state".

"This means we will continue working with the students who had their exam scripts taken."

The university could not comment further as matters surrounding the arrest could compromise judicial process.

"Our priority remains with these students, and we are very grateful for their understanding."

The university confimed Monday 98 students were affected by the "reprehensible" break-in at the historic Registry Building, home to the Examinations Office, on Saturday night.

The last end-of-year exam was held on the afternoon of November 7, with the break-in discovered by Campus Watch staff later that night, about 9pm.

Ten different exams were stolen including for politics, English, microbiology and dentistry.

A politics student said 42 of the 98 exam scripts were for the International Relations paper, with the class receiving a phone call or an email informing them "unfortunately your examination script was amongst them".

Are you affected by the burglary? Email hamish.mcneilly@fairfaxmedia.co.nz

Notified students had been advised of their options, which included using an internal assessment grade, retaking the same exam, sitting a "take-home exam", or choosing an aegrotat pass, which averages results from the full year.

They had until Friday to decide. Final year dentistry students have said they had no option but to resit the exam because it provided an all-important grade.

If police recovered the stolen exam papers before Friday, they would be marked.

"Our paper was particularly demanding and intensive, students who didn't go to lectures and tutorials wouldn't have had sufficient knowledge to pass and now because of this they get the grade without having to actually do the work," the student said.

"I understand that it isn't their fault, but the university is failing to acknowledge that those who actually did the work are the victims here and are just blowing us over."

The student, who declined to be named, questioned why there were no cameras or security at the building.

"We had a lot of questions about it that they refused to answer and I don't see how that is fair on us."

A dentistry student had to resit the same exam with the same questions — just days after sitting their final university paper.

The final-year dentistry student said her classmates were called into a meeting on Monday night and told they had to resit the three-hour exam.

"No-one could really believe it.

"The whole situation is quite bizarre."

She was aware of the break-in, and "we explicitly asked them 'had our exam scripts been stolen?' and we didn't really get an answer".

Her class, who were celebrating at a function at Larnach Castle at the time of the burglary, were fine about resitting the exam on Tuesday afternoon.

"We had copies of the exam papers anyway that we were allowed to take on Saturday."

However, she had already got rid of her notes before the three-hour exam, but "I wouldn't say it was stressful at all".

"I think I definitely did better."

Dentistry students had to resit the exam as "we had to have a grade for the dentistry profession".

If the stolen exams were recovered, the university said the students' second exam result would be counted.

Two students who had left Dunedin were resitting the exam in Auckland and Christchurch on Wednesday.

The dentistry students were expected to graduate on December 5.

AXE POSSIBLE WEAPON

Staff found smashed windows and doors at the scene.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, Professor Vernon Squire, said his immediate concern was for the students.

"We understand how upsetting and disappointing this is for the students.

"The considerable effort they have put into their study and exams has essentially been ruined by this reprehensible criminal act. We will do all that we can to support the students."

He hoped the scripts would be returned and said the university was working closely with police.

"We remain hopeful that this crime can be resolved. Planning and effort has gone into this act and there may well be people in the North Dunedin area who have information that could help the police in their investigation," Squire said.

"I strongly urge anyone with information to contact the police as soon as possible."

There were a range of different subjects involved and the students were at different stages of their courses.

It was understood only exam scripts were targeted. They included papers sat in the last few days of the end-of-year exam period – dentistry, English and politics.

A large number of valuable electronics were left behind.

Otago University Students' Association president Paul Hunt said the incident was a "huge blow" for those affected.

"This is a very frustrating incident for students, who have worked extremely hard in preparation for exams," he said.

Police initially declined to say what had been stolen, with a spokesman saying on Monday, "There is no suggestion that exam answers were targeted."

It is understood that investigation includes how entry was gained into room, which may have been through the use of an axe.