Register of quality assured qualifications

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority was established in 1990 with a key function of having an overview of qualifications in the senior secondary school and tertiary education sectors.  This function was initially exercised through the development of the National Qualifications Framework where national certificates and diplomas and their component unit standards are registered. This framework has now been expanded through the development of the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications, Te Āhurutanga (the KiwiQuals website).  The register includes the National Qualifications Framework as a sub-set, but also incorporates qualifications developed by universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics and wānanga.  The register provides a way of:

• identifying clearly all quality-assured qualifications and accredited providers in New Zealand
• defining common naming conventions and requirements across the various systems of qualification approvals
• ensuring that all qualifications have a purpose and relation to each other that students and the public can understand
• maintaining and enhancing learners’ ability to transfer credit by the establishment of a common system of credit, and
• enhancing and building the international recognition of New Zealand qualifications.
  

The register establishes 10 levels of qualifications and qualification titles that can be used at each level where level 1 is the lowest level of complexity and level 10 is the highest.

For each qualification, there is a statement of learning outcomes that sets out what the whole qualification represents in terms of the application of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes, as well as the components of the qualification.

Each qualification has a specific credit value that represents the amount of learning and assessment that is typically required to achieve the qualification.

Table 2:  Levels and qualification titles for the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications, Te Āhurutanga.

The general qualification definitions are as follows:

Certificates may be used in a wide range of contexts across all levels up to and including level 7, and are often used to prepare candidates for both employment and further education and training.

Diplomas often prepare learners for self-directed application of skills and knowledge.  These qualifications often build on prior qualifications or experience and recognise capacity for initiative and judgement in technical, professional and/or managerial roles.

Graduate certificates and graduate diplomas are designed primarily as vehicles for graduates to pursue further study at an undergraduate level, either as a bridge to further study in a new area or to broaden and deepen existing knowledge areas.

Bachelors degrees provide a systematic and coherent introduction to the knowledge, ideas, principles, concepts, chief research methods and problem-solving techniques of a recognised major subject or subjects.  These qualifications involve at least one sequential study programme that prepares learners for postgraduate study and supervised research.  Bachelors degree programmes are taught mainly by people engaged in research and emphasise general principles and basic knowledge as the basis for self-directed work and learning.

A bachelors degree with honours may be awarded to recognise advanced or distinguished study in advance of a level 7 bachelors degree.  It typically involves an additional year of study and/or research at level 8.

Postgraduate certificates and postgraduate diplomas are designed to extend and deepen a candidate’s knowledge and skills by building on attainment in the principal subject(s) of the qualifying degree.  These qualifications provide a systematic and coherent survey of current thinking and research in a particular body of knowledge and may include instruction in relevant research methodologies.

Masters degrees are normally designed to build on the principal subject(s) of the qualifying degree.  However, the degree may build on relevant knowledge and skills derived from occupational experience, as in the Master of Business Administration (MBA).  Different discipline areas have different traditions.  Typically, they require students to demonstrate mastery of theoretically sophisticated subject matter; evaluate critically the findings and discussions of literature; research, analyse and argue from evidence; apply knowledge to new situations; and engage in rigorous intellectual analysis, criticism and problem-solving.  A masters degree programme contains a significant element of supervised research, usually resulting in a thesis, dissertation or substantive research paper.

Doctoral degrees are research degrees at a significantly higher level than masters, undertaken under the guidance of recognised experts in the field of study.  A doctorate is awarded on the basis of an original and substantial contribution to knowledge as judged by independent experts, applying contemporary international standards.

A higher doctorate is awarded for independent work of special excellence, as judged by leading international experts.  A higher doctorate does not require a person to have enrolled for the degree; the research on which the awarding of the degree is based will have been completed and may have been published over many years.

Honorary doctorates are awarded in recognition of exceptional contributions made over time to the creation of knowledge in a discipline, to the institution awarding the degree, to a profession or to society at large.