A Quick Introduction to New Zealand’s Tertiary Education System
Unlike many other countries, since the 1990s there has been no formal distinction between ‘higher’
and ‘further/vocational’ education in New Zealand. Instead, we have a unified tertiary education
system that theoretically treats all forms of education equally. For example, any type of provider
can offer a bachelors degree provided that they can meet/ guarantee minimum quality expectations.
Nevertheless, there are formal and informal divisions between different parts of the system – for
example, training programmes for health professionals are offered across provider types, but
Medicine and Dentistry programmes are only offered by universities.
The heart of this unified system is the 10-level New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF,
previously known as the National Qualifications Framework or NQF). All publicly-funded tertiary
qualifications in New Zealand are listed on this framework. Levels 1-3 are primarily ‘foundation’level programmes equivalent to the last three years of secondary education, and are designed to
provide fundamental life skills (including literacy and numeracy programmes), preparation for entry
into academic or apprenticeship education, and the like. Broadly, level 4 programmes provide basic
trade/apprenticeship-level training while levels 5-7 are equivalent to advanced trade training, with
Bachelors qualifications also sitting at level 7. Levels 8-10 consist of postgraduate education, with
Doctorates/PhDs sitting at level 10. Although technically all qualifications sit on this framework, it is
rarely publicly referenced in relation to bachelors and postgraduate programmes.
There are four basic types of tertiary education providers in New Zealand:
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1
Universities are, as in other jurisdictions, research-led institutions that specialise in
bachelors-level and postgraduate qualifications (although most do offer a very small number
of sub-degree programmes which they are now largely exiting). New Zealand currently has
seven universities, and in 2009 46% of all tertiary ‘EFTS’ were at universities.1
Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs, or often just ‘Polytechs’) have a stronger
‘vocational’ emphasis than universities (including traditional trades education), and offer
programmes at sub-degree through bachelors level. Some also offer a limited number of
specialist postgraduate programmes, but they do not offer Doctoral programmes. ITPs are
also expected to undertake research, but of a much more applied nature and to a much
lesser extent than universities. There are currently approximately 18 ITPs across New
Zealand, and in 2009 29% of EFTS were in this sector (though 42% of all student enrolments,
as ITPs have a high proportion of part-time learners).
Wānanga are specialist providers of education that is informed by Indigenous Māori
perspectives and approaches to knowledge and learning. While most learners at wānanga
are Māori (55% in 2009), they also draw on other ethnic groups. There are three Wānanga:
Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa, and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa,
and in 2009 10% of EFTS were in this sector.
An EFTS is an ‘Equivalent Full-Time Student’, and is a standardised student measure used for many purposes
(including funding calculations). One EFTS is equivalent to an average full-time course load, so, for example, a
part-time student enrolled in half of an average courseload in a year would count as 0.5 of an EFT.
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Private Training Establishments (PTEs) are privately owned and operated providers.
Although many are for-profit concerns, others are trusts or charitable organisations. For
example, the ‘PTE’ category includes many providers of religious education, communitybased providers, and some specialist government training organisations.2 An additional
‘Community Education Provider’ (CEP) category exists, but these organisations are
essentially treated like PTEs. In 2009, 15% of tertiary enrolments were in this sector.
Universities, ITPs, and Wānanga are collectively known as Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) or
public providers, as the government considers itself to have a level of ownership interest in these
providers. The extent of this interest is the subject of some debate with these institutions.
In addition to these four provider types, Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) look after the skill
needs of particular industries. ITOs are similar to Canadian Sector Councils, Australian Industry Skills
Councils or the UK’s Sector Skills Councils. Uniquely among these types of organisations, however, as
well as developing qualifications, they are responsible for actually organising training at the level of
individual trainees and businesses. This can include contracting providers to deliver courses, or
arranging for training and assessment to happen ‘on the job’ within a workplace. Although their
qualifications sit on the same unified framework as other tertiary education organisations, ITOs are
funded through a different stream and are subject to different government expectations.
There are three government agencies that oversee the government’s interests in tertiary education:
the Ministry of Education, the NZ Qualifications Authority (NZQA), and the Tertiary Education
Commission (TEC). The Ministry and NZQA both also play roles in the compulsory education sector
(primary and secondary), while the TEC is solely concerned with the tertiary sector.
With regard to tertiary education, the Ministry of Education is responsible for providing strategic
policy advice to the Minister of Education, and monitoring the overall performance of the system
and its achievement of strategic goals and priorities. The Tertiary Education Commission manages
the funding of the tertiary system, and monitors the performance of individual providers. NZQA is
responsible for ensuring educational quality, and manages quality assurance and formal approval of
publicly-funded qualifications for all parts of the system other than universities (including industry
training).3 NZQA has recently established a new quality assurance regime known as EER (‘External
Evaluation and Review’), which involves an in-depth quality evaluation of each tertiary organisation
at least once every four years.
Tertiary policy settings in New Zealand have undergone significant change over the past twenty
years. Throughout the 1990s, the system emphasised increasing participation, and caps on the total
number of students who could receive publicly-subsidised places were removed. In the 2000s, more
attention was paid to aligning tertiary education with specific economic and social priorities, and
organisation-level caps on funded places were reinstated. In recent years, attention has moved to
ensuring good quality outcomes from the system, in terms of programme completion and successful
progression to higher study and/or improved employment outcomes.
2
Previously two additional categories existed: GTEs (Government Training Establishments) and OTEPs (Other
Tertiary Education Providers). These have now been subsumed into the PTE/CEP category.
3
Universities are statutorily independent of NZQA, with the Authority’s role being filled by the NZ Academic
Audit Unit (AAU), and the Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP). CUAP is operated by the
collective body for universities (the NZ Vice-Chancellors Committee, also known as the NZVCC or Universities
NZ), while the AAU was originally established by the NZVCC but is operationally independent.