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NCEA and admission to tertiary courses overseas
Internationally, universities require foreign students applying for admission to have achieved the university entrance standard set by their own countries. The same principle generally applies to other tertiary providers overseas.
Australia
New Zealand has traditionally had a formal agreement for mutual recognition of university entrance only with Australia. NCEA is accepted (as Bursaries was) by the Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admission Centres (ACTAC), which ensures that all states/territories in Australia use a common approach for tertiary entrance ranking.
Each year in early January NCEA level 3 results for students seeking entry to Australian universities are aggregated and converted to a percentile scale called the Interstate Transfer Index. This information is then provided to the Tertiary Admissions Centres and allows New Zealand students to be treated equitably with Australian students for tertiary entry and selection purposes.
Britain
In Britain, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes an annual publication called International Qualifications for Entry to Higher Education (in addition to a publication on domestic qualifications).
The UCAS publication is a reference guide used by UK tertiary providers when they are evaluating school leaving qualifications of students applying for admission to UK tertiary institutions. The UCAS publication is also used more widely internationally as an authoritative guide. NCEA is listed in the annual UCAS publication.
In addition, the National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC), also consulted by tertiary providers, recognises that students with University Entrance and the NCEA level 3 certificate, including some merits/excellences in subjects to be studied at higher education institutions, are considered comparable to those with the overall GCE Advanced standard.
Last updated: 07 November 2005