Last updated:  December 2014

Description

The New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) is a subject-based classification system for courses and qualifications at universities, polytechnics, wananga and private training establishments in receipt of Government funding.

The classification system consists of three levels of detail (broad, narrow and detailed fields) defining each subject or field of study. NZSCED has been designed to improve the quality and consistency of statistics collected by the Ministry of Education and other collection agencies in relation to tertiary study, and to improve New Zealand's international statistical reporting compliance.

The New Zealand Standard Classification of Education - Field of Study (NZSCED-Field) is the result of a combined development effort between the Ministry of Education, Statistics NZ and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This classification is matched with the Australian Standard Classification of Education - Field of Study (ASCED-Field).

NZSCED-Field and ASCED-Field are harmonised (i.e. are the same) at Broad and Narrow Field levels and differ at the Detailed Field level only to take account of two countries' differing educational and statistical needs. However, even at Detailed Field they are closely aligned. Statistics NZ released Version 2 of NZSCED in October 2009 after a minor review initiated by the Ministry of Education and with advice from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Please note that NZSCED codes used by tertiary institutions are at the detailed field level. "Not further defined" codes and non-response codes such as Don't Know, Refused to Answer and Not Stated which are used by Statistics New Zealand are not included in the documents on this website as providers are expected to allocate a valid code.