School leavers with a university entrance standard

Indicator Description

Percentage of school leavers with sufficient attainment to attend university.

What We Have Found

In 2007, 39% of school leavers were able to undertake tertiary study at a degree level, a 45% increase from 2002.

Why This Is Important

A formal school qualification is a measure of the extent to which young adults have completed a basic prerequisite for higher education and training and many entry-level jobs.  An entrance qualification enables students to go directly into further tertiary study at degree level.

Educational qualifications are also linked to labour force status and incomes.  For example, in New Zealand, wage and salary earners with a Bachelor degree or higher, on average, possess 2.4 times and 2.6 times the relative earning power of those with a school qualification and no qualification respectively (OECD 2007).

How We Are Going

During 2004, NCEA Level 3 was offered for the first time and New Zealand Scholarship was introduced.  Students leaving with university entrance requirements, NCEA Level 3, NZ Scholarship or a Level 4 NQF qualification can be compared with students who would have left previously with University Entrance or Bursary.

 

Percentage of school leavers eligible to attend university, by ethnic group (1993 to 2007)

In 2007, 39.0% of school leavers achieved at least a university entrance standard that would allow them to go directly into tertiary study at degree level, a 45% increase from 2002.  Girls performed better than boys, with 45.0% attaining an entrance standard compared to 33.0% of boys.

The percentage of school leavers attaining an entrance standard for both Māori (18.3%) and Pasifika (20.2%) have more than doubled since 2002, with both being 2.4 times higher.  Asian students had the highest proportion of school leavers attaining an entrance standard (65.7%), almost 50% higher than the percentage of European/Pākehā (44.0%).  The European/Pākehā percentage has increased 41% since 2002.  When compared to the increase for Māori and Pasifika this implies that the disparities between ethnic groups are reducing.

 

Percentage of school leavers eligible to attend university, by ethnic group and school quintile (2007)

There is a clear positive correlation between the socio-economic mix of the school the student attended and the percentage of school leavers achieving a university entrance standard.  Schools in the lowest quintile (deciles 1 and 2) draw their students from communities with the highest degree of socio-economic disadvantage.  Students from schools in the highest quintile (deciles 9 and 10) are 3.2 times more likely to leave school with a university entrance standard, than students from schools in the lowest quintile.

 

Where To Find Out More

To obtain other information about school leavers consider indicators:

• School leavers with little or no attainment
• School leavers with NCEA Level 1 or above
• School leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above

The Ministry of Education has established an Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme to systematically identify, evaluate, analyse, synthesise and make accessible, relevant evidence linked to a range of learner outcomes.  Evidence about what works for this indicator can be found in:

• Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis
• Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration

References

Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis. Wellington, Ministry of Education.

Anthony, G., and Walshaw, M. (2007). Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

OECD (2005), Education at a Glance: OECD indicators 2005. Paris, OECD.

 

Related Pages on Education Counts

The NCEA theme page provides links to data, publications and indicators based on NCEA and other qualifications on the national qualification framework.