New Zealand Qualifications Authority
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Quality Assurance Framework

New online self-service for tertiary organisations

27 January 2010

NZQA has launched an expanded online service for tertiary organisations. The service will enable TEOs to submit applications online, upload documents and maintain organisation details. Click here for information on how to register for these services.


The Evaluative Approach to Quality Assurance

NZQA has moved to an evaluative approach to quality assuring the performance of tertiary education providers. The focus is on the benefits for the students. The evaluative approach replaces quality audit, which will be phased out over time.

The evaluative approach is based on policies and criteria gazetted under the Education Act 1989, and has four parts.

Entry processes   Self-Assessment
The initial entry processes include registration of private training establishments (PTEs), course approval, and accreditation to deliver a course, and accreditation to assess standards on the National Qualifications Framework.   Self-assessment is carried out by PTEs to find out the answers to key questions:
  • are students getting what they want/need? i.e. qualifications that lead to jobs and/or further education opportunities. And how do you know?
  • is the community getting what it wants/needs? i.e. people with skills/training that is required. And how do you know?
External Evaluation and Review (EER)   Responses for non-compliance
EER is carried out by NZQA to find out:
  • how effective a PTE's self-assessment process was in generating evidence to answer self-assessment questions
  • how accurate that evidence is, and how the PTE knows it is accurate
  • what the PTE is doing to act on the evidence to improve its performance.

Detailed outlines of self-assessment and external evaluation and review are available.

  NZQA will take appropriate actions if a PTE gets a poor result from EER or is not complying with other relevant NZQA policies and criteria.

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Page updated: 27 January 2010