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Call us on 0800 222 733What qualifications are available?
Find out what qualifications are available, and how these fit in the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. You can also learn more about the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, or NCEA, New Zealand's main national qualification for secondary school students.
What qualification can I get?
You can get a range of qualifications by doing tertiary study, including:
- certificates
- national certificates
- diplomas
- national diplomas
- Bachelor's degrees
- Bachelor's degrees with Honours
- Master's degrees
- Doctorates.
The level you start at depends on the study you have completed at school.
Entry criteria into different courses vary from qualification to qualification, and may determine which one you choose.
Look at the job or field of work you are interested in to work out which qualification you will need.
How do qualifications relate to NCEA and the New Zealand Qualifications Framework?
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is part of New Zealand Qualifications Framework.
The NZQF is made up of 10 levels, and NCEA makes up the first three levels of the NZQF.
Each NZQA-approved qualification slots into a level on the framework, depending on how difficult the study is. So qualifications range from Level 1 or Level 2 national certificates, up to doctorates (Level 10).
Earning national certificates while at school
- Gateway gives you a taste of what it's like to work in an industry
You may be able to work on national certificates as well as NCEA while at school.
For example, if you are studying materials technology at school, your class might also work on the National Certificate in Elementary Construction Skills. This means you get credits towards NCEA and earn a national certificate at the same time.
Some advantages of doing this are:
- when you leave school you have an industry qualification as well as a school qualification
- even if you don’t complete a full NCEA at school, the credits you earn for the national certificate (and NCEA) are transportable. So you can take these credits with you into other workplace training.
You can also work on national certificates while you’re at school if you enrol in Gateway or STAR programmes.