QA News September 2010

• Chief Executive's Foreword
• The Compatibility of Qualifications in Ireland and New Zealand launched
• NZQF established
• Mātauranga Māori Quality Assurance Model
• New QA for Unit Standards
• Online service enhancements
• Mātauranga Māori Symposium
• NCEA workshops
• EER: one year on
• MNA review
• Working with ERO
• QAAM trademark
• NZQA's new-look website

NZQF established

The New Zealand Qualifications Framework, NZQF, has been established as a new unified online directory of all approved quality assured qualifications.

NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Quality Assurance Tim Fowler says the NZQF, which has been operational since the beginning of July, is already achieving some of its objectives.

"We have seen a reduction of 18% in the number of currently available qualifications in New Zealand as a result of tertiary education providers being required to identify the status of their qualifications as current, expiring or discontinued,” he says.

"And that's great because we need to reduce the number of qualifications in New Zealand. We have some 6200 qualifications and that’s too many for a country the size of ours. We have as many qualifications as the UK, a country with a population of over 60 million. Finland, on the other hand, with five million people has about 500 qualifications."

When the Minister for Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce, announced the NZQF in early July, he said a clearer simplified system would make life easier for employers and New Zealanders looking to enrol in tertiary study.

He said there was concern that a proliferation of qualifications at the level below degrees made it difficult for learners to select courses and for employers to assess the quality of qualifications and tell if potential employees had the skills and knowledge they need.

The NZ University Students' Association immediately welcomed the NZQF, which has replaced both the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications and the National Qualifications Framework. Co-president David Do said it would mean that students can look forward to using a clearer system to understand what they can study and where that study can lead them.

The Industry Training Federation also welcomed the NZQF with Executive Director Jeremy Baker saying that New Zealand has far too many qualifications and that employers want a qualifications system that is simple to understand and that guarantees that qualifications carry the industry seal of approval.

Strengthening industry involvement in qualification development and an increased focus on outcomes with qualifications being described in terms of what they deliver are amongst other goals of the qualifications review.

Tim Fowler says the key to reducing the number and proliferation of qualifications involves tertiary education providers and industry working together to decide what graduates at various levels really need in terms of skills, knowledge and attributes. These will be described in a graduate profile.

NZQA has tested how this might work in workshops in four sectors including hospitality, digital media, tourism and carpentry.

Ray Meldrum, Unitec’s Executive Dean Academic Development led the tourism workshop which involved all six metropolitan polytechnics, the Industry Training Federation and the Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation. Mr Meldrum said it was terrific that so many took part as the tourism sector is one of the worst examples of proliferation with 96 certificates and 27 diplomas.

Tim Fowler says NZQA was pleased with the response to the workshops and the willingness of participants to work together in a solutions-focused kind of way.

"We found that once participants looked at qualifications from the point of view of industry and what employers would want to know, they were easily able to develop a common outcome statement about what a graduate should be and know and be able to do. Notwithstanding the challenge in finding the best qualification design rules to meet New Zealand’s future needs, this augers very well for our future work," he said.

NZQA has consulted about the detail of these changes and others to be progressively implemented over the year ahead to strengthen and streamline the qualifications system. As part of the consultation, it held four regional meetings which were attended by over 200 people from Industry Training Organisations, Private Training Establishments and Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics. Findings from the meetings and from written submissions on the consultation will be available in a month or so.