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March 2020
- 20 Mar 2020

International students

Changes to rules and responsibilities when a person undertakes short work-related training

The New Zealand government has changed the rules for learners who would usually be considered international students, allowing them to be considered domestic students for some short work-related training. The Domestic Students (Tertiary Education) Notice 2019 has this new category:

‘2(h) A person who is enrolled at a tertiary education provider in a short-term work-related training course that:

receives no funding from the Tertiary Education Commission under section 159L of the Education Act; and
is for a period of 10 days or less; and
is required by their employer for the particular work being undertaken’

This means that a learner enrolling in a training course that meets clause 2(h) will not be considered an international student.

If your organisation enrols learners in this situation, your records need to show how you know the criteria of 2(h) are met. Evidence could include:

evidence that the employer is paying for the training
a letter stating the employer needs the student to do the training.

Keep up to date with Covid-19 information

We acknowledge that Covid-19 precautions may have generated exceptional circumstances. We ask that providers take a common sense approach towards this issue and follow the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education websites for up-to-date advice and guidance. We have contacted all tertiary education organisations with information about Covid-19 and you can find more information on the Tertiary Education Commission website.

If you are concerned about your own or someone else’s health, you can call a dedicated Healthline for COVID-19: 0800 358 5453.

If you have specific questions about the pastoral care of your international students, student insurance, protecting student fees, or enabling the delivery of programme online to support students affected by travel restrictions, please contact NZQA on 0800 697 296.

QAD on the web

Publishing all EERs for a tertiary education organisation

Soon you will be able to track the external evaluation and review (EER) history of tertiary education organisations (TEOs) on the NZQA website.

Currently, you can only see the most recent EER report on the provider’s profile page, but this is about to change.

In future, all of a TEO’s EER reports will be displayed on the profile page, by year of publication, allowing readers to trace the organisation’s evaluation history.

TEO peak bodies have agreed to this initiative.

Assuring consistency reviews

Evidence only for assuring consistency reviews

From April 2020, we will no longer consider an action plan as evidence of sufficiency in assuring consistency reviews. We will now only consider existing evidence that the graduates have met the graduate profile outcome.

In every assuring consistency review, participating tertiary education organisations (TEOs) must produce convincing evidence that their graduates meet the graduate profile outcome. TEOs that can do so are deemed sufficient. Where there are gaps, the TEO has an opportunity to submit additional evidence.

In the first ‘cycle’ of assuring consistency reviews, we have accepted action plans in some cases as a substitute for missing evidence at this stage in the process. This recognised that assuring consistency was a new process and it would take time to implement it effectively.

This will now change. Action plans will no longer be accepted. For example, new evidence of external moderation results will be considered relevant; an action plan to engage more with graduates or employers will not.

Where a TEO is deemed not sufficient, it will need to address the gaps as soon as possible.

This shift in NZQA practice takes effect for assuring consistency reviews held on or after 6 April 2020. If you have any queries, contact Kate Wallace, Team Leader Assuring Consistency, at kate.wallace@nzqa.govt.nz.

Register for assuring consistency review workshops

If you or your staff want to know more about how to prepare for an assuring consistency review, register for a workshop at 2020 Assuring Consistency workshops.

Mātauranga Māori

Workshops for information sharing about Mātauranga Māori qualifications

Māori Qualifications Services is organising Tīkarohia te marama/information sharing workshops for providers and wharekura.

These will focus on mātauranga Māori qualifications pathways and programme development, demonstrating how ākonga can work towards achieving a mātauranga Māori qualification.

The next two workshops for providers are:

Wellington: 27 March 2020
Gisborne and Hastings/Napier: 7 and 8 May 2020.

For further information, please contact Māori Qualifications Services at mqs@nzqa.govt.nz.

The workshops for Auckland and Hamilton were held on 12 and 13 February with Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi and Ngā Taiātea Wharekura kaiako, with Literacy Aotearoa attending.

NZQA processes

Submitting degree applications to NZQA for delivery in 2021

To help your planning and processes for internal quality assurance, we are letting you know the cut-off date for submitting applications for degrees you want to deliver in 2021.

You can submit degree applications at any time. However, if you want any of the following ready for Semester One of 2021, please submit the application before 31 July 2020:

Degree approval and/or accreditation
Type 2 changes to degree programmes.

We would appreciate three months’ notice before you send the application in.

Permanent delivery sites – what to apply for

If you are a category 1 or 2 TEO intending to deliver a programme at level 1-6 or a level 7 diploma, please complete the Permanent Delivery Site Approval Form (DOCX, 180KB).

If you are a category 1 or 2 TEO intending to deliver a degree (Levels 7 to 10) at a new delivery site, please submit a Type 2 change application to NZQA for that degree programme.

Our website has information about approving delivery sites: see Approval of delivery sites.

If you have any questions about programme applications, contact Approvals and Accreditation.

Keeping your registration status current

Private training establishments (PTEs) must deliver at least one approved programme or training scheme within a 12-month period to avoid their registration lapsing.

If you anticipate not providing a programme or training scheme for 12 months or more, you can apply for an extension of time to stop your registration lapsing.

Apply for this extension before the 12 months of non-usage ends by emailing qaadmin@nzqa.govt.nz.

For more information about PTE registration see:

Coming up this quarter

Send NZQA your…	Who?	By when?
Annual statutory declaration Different forms for PTEs and TEIs	TEOs with a financial year-end of 31 December 2019	31 May 2020
Independent Assurance Practitioner's Review Report or Auditor's Report	PTEs with a financial year-end of 31 December 2019	31 May 2020
Audit of Student Fee Protection arrangements	PTEs with a financial year-end of 31 December 2019 TEOs not exempt	31 May 2020
Quarterly student fee protection attestation – quarter ending 31 May 2020	TEOs not exempt: - static trusts - bank bond trusts Not required for standard trusts	To trustee by 8 June 2020 To NZQA by 15 June 2020
Applications for degree programme approval or accreditation, or Type 2 changes to existing degree programmes (levels 7-10)	All TEOs	31 July 2020
Fit and Proper Person and Conflict of Interest declarations Submit a new or amended declaration: - before any new governing member starts - if an existing governing member has a new or changed conflict of interest - if an existing governing member has a change in their fit and proper person status See Section 232 of the Education Act 1989 for the definition of governing member	PTEs only: - applying for registration - registered PTEs	As needed

Forwarding information and queries

Forward the above documents and any queries to: qaadmin@nzqa.govt.nz.

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