New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED)

A brief description of what the New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) is and links to additional reference sites as they are developed.

The New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) is a subject-based classification system for courses and qualifications at universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, 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 is releasing Version 2 of NZSCED in late 2009 after a minor review initiated by the Ministry of Education and with advice from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The original version of NZSCED is still in use by the Ministry of education, TEC and NZQA. A link to Version 2 will be available soon.