Understanding NZ qualifications
New Zealand qualifications are part of the New Zealand Qualification Framework (NZQF). The framework has 10 levels, which are based on complexity – level 10 is the most complex.
Secondary school qualifications are at levels 1 to 3, and part of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). Vocational qualifications generally begin at level 3, while degrees and postgraduate qualifications are at levels 7 to 10.
Students complete a number of credits in a qualification. The credit value relates to the amount of learning in the qualification: 1 credit represents 10 notional hours of learning. A typical learner, studying full-time, can complete 120 credits of learning in a year.
Understanding the NZQF (external link)
NCEA was phased in from 2002. Secondary school qualifications completed before then are still valid, though no longer offered.
Secondary school qualifications prior to 2002 (external link)
Check the qualification on the NZQF
Use our qualification search to find qualifications that have been listed on the NZQF since 1994, including qualifications that are no longer offered.
Get more information from the International team
Find New Zealand qualifications in our search (external link)
Information in our qualification search
Current qualifications
For currently offered qualifications, you will be able to see:
- qualification title, type and level
- the number of credits in a qualification
- the purpose statement
- a description of what graduates will be able to do
- career and further study pathways for graduates.
Expiring and discontinued qualifications
All qualifications listed on the NZQF are valid, regardless of their status. Qualifications that are being phased out of delivery are marked on the NZQF as 'expiring'. Qualifications that are no longer being offered are marked as 'discontinued'.
You can see current, expiring and discontinued qualifications by changing the status in the advanced search options to "All". For some of these, you can see the years in which they were offered.
If you cannot find a qualification:
Historic qualifications
If you need information about a qualification from before 1994, you could try:
- contacting the education provider
- checking the lists of university qualifications approved, deleted and renamed since 1990 on the Universities New Zealand website (external link) (see the CUAP decisions on academic programmes section)
- checking an internet archive service, such as Wayback machine (external link)
- contacting NZQA (we may be able to provide general information).
Search qualifications by education provider
You can search all current and past qualifications awarded by a current New Zealand education provider on our website.
To see a current provider's past and present qualifications, use the:
Education Organisations search (external link)
- Enter the provider’s name in the ‘search word’ field.
- Click ‘view details’ next to the relevant location/s.
- Scroll down to the ‘Qualifications’ section.
- Click ‘This organisation can assist in gaining these qualifications’ text.
- Click ‘List all qualifications for this provider’ at the bottom of the page.
The results include information about current providers only.
If you can't find the information you need, or if you need information on a provider that is no longer recognised by NZQA:
Check official documents
People may have a range of documents depending on where and what they have studied.
Documents might include:
- documents from education providers, including certificates or transcripts
- New Zealand Record of Achievement – an official transcript of a person's New Zealand qualifications and standards, as reported to NZQA by education providers
- Overseas Result Notice – a list of qualifications, summary of credits by subject and country-specific elements in PDF format, issued to people who need to use their NCEA results overseas.
Getting NZ qualification documents
Ways to authenticate New Zealand qualification documents
You can verify the electronic copy of a New Zealand Record of Achievement (NZROA) using our NZROA Verification service:
New Zealand Record of Achievement document verification (external link)
To check New Zealand university qualifications, you can also use My EQuals (external link).
Otherwise, you can contact the education provider directly.
Recognition arrangements we have with other countries
We have formal arrangements with other countries that can help with recognising New Zealand qualifications overseas.