2 - Summary

There are many different ways students in New Zealand gain tertiary qualifications. New Zealand has a long history of part-time and vocationally-based study often undertaken by adult workers, running alongside the more traditional full-time academic pathways followed by school leavers. While a number of other countries have a dual vocational and higher education system, New Zealand's tertiary education system encompasses all post-compulsory learning undertaken beyond school. Polytechnic providers offer degrees, just as universities offer some vocationally-oriented certificates and diplomas.

The existence of a single national register of qualifications, and a funding and policy framework that operates nationally over this one system, have helped to create an environment where flexibility exists to change track and use parts of one's previous learning towards different course and qualification goals.

So students can and do change track – both in terms of providers, as well as in terms of what courses and qualifications they want to study. Students also often choose how much or how fast they want to learn, and many choose to study part-time in a few courses only.

The aim of this report is to measure this change and to evaluate the impact of this change on a key indicator of system performance, namely qualification completion rates. New Zealand currently has a relatively low qualification completion rate. It also has the highest level of part-time study in the OECD.¹ This report, along with a forthcoming report,² hope to show that by isolating the effects of transfers, breaks, changing study goals, part-time, and course-based study, one can get a different view of our performance, when compared with other countries, where more students study full-time towards a qualification.

This study followed a group of 170,000 students, who either began a degree or postgraduate qualification for the first time in 1997, or a certificate or diploma for the first time in 2000. It followed them through to the end of 2006, looking at what and where they studied, and what qualifications they achieved. The main findings were:

1. A significant minority of students completed a higher-level qualification instead of the one they started.

• 5% of students completed a higher-level qualification instead of the one they started.
• Between 5% and 10% completed a lower-level qualification instead of the one they started.
  

This is important as current Ministry of Education qualification completion rate statistics tend to understate performance as they only include students completing a qualification at the same level as the one they started.

2. Changing qualifications was common.

• 40% of bachelors students changed qualifications before they completed, including 23% to another degree.
• 34% of diploma students changed qualifications before they completed, including 10% who changed to degree-level or higher.
• 25% of certificate students changed qualifications, 8% to diploma level or higher.
  

3. Changing providers was common.

• 19% of students transferred to a different provider before they completed a qualification.
• 15% to 25% of certificate, diploma and degree students transferred to a different provider. About 7% to 8% of postgraduate students changed providers before completion. Diploma students were the most likely to transfer before completing (25%).
• Changing providers was more common after completion. 52% of students who progressed to higher-level study after completing a qualification, changed providers. This ranged from 80%, for students completing a degree at an ITP³, to 20%, for students completing a degree at a university.
• The most common type of transfer was a student doing a certificate at an ITP changing to another certificate at another ITP.
  

4. Students who transferred before finishing a qualification were significantly less likely to complete a qualification at the same level or higher as their original qualification, but were more likely to complete a lower level qualification.

• The completion rate after 10 years for degree students who transferred (at 35%) was just over half of that for those who didn't transfer (67%).
• The completion rate for transferring diploma students (at 22%) was half the rate for those who didn't transfer (45%).
• Transferring students were more likely to have completed a lower-level qualification or still be studying.
• In fact, at certificate and diploma level, transferring students were more likely than non-transferring students to leave with a qualification (either higher or lower). At bachelors level, when both higher- and lower-level qualification completion is considered, transferring students and non-transferring students left without gaining any qualification at a similar rate (30%). At postgraduate-level, students were a little less likely to complete a qualification at any level after transferring.
  

5. University bachelors degrees – based on what happened to 27,000 students between 1997 and 2006.

• 62% of students had gained their degree, or a higher-level qualification after 10 years. This compares with the current 5-year published university degree completion rate (which excludes higher-level completion) of 50%.
• 22% had gone on to postgraduate-level study. By the end of 2006, 4% of the starting cohort was still enrolled in postgraduate study, 14% had gained a postgraduate qualification, and 5% had gained a masters degree.
• 1.4% had progressed to doctorate level. 29% of these had completed their doctorate, 59% were still studying towards a doctorate, and 10% had not completed a doctorate and were not enrolled in 2006.
• In total, 68% had gained some qualification, including 6% who gained a certificate or diploma instead of a degree.
• 28% had left without gaining any qualification. 3% were still studying having not yet gained a qualification. 13% of the starting cohort were still enrolled 10 years later.
  

6. ITP diplomas – based on what happened to 15,000 students between 2000 and 2006.

• Just 34% of ITP diploma students had gained their diploma, or a higher-level qualification after 7 years.
• A further 11% had gained a certificate instead.
• 20% were still enrolled 7 years later, while just 3% were still studying having not yet gained any qualification.
• 29% changed providers before completing, 7% to study towards a degree, 8% to another diploma, and 13% to a certificate. 10% went to another ITP, 9% to a university, and 7% to a PTE.⁴
  
• The most common transfer was to a university to study towards a degree (6% of the starting cohort). 2% completed a degree at a university instead of their original ITP diploma.
• In total, 21% of ITP diploma students progressed to degree-level or higher study, either before or after completing their diploma, and 8% had gained a degree or postgraduate qualification by the end of 2006.
• 48% had left without gaining any qualification. However, 40% of these students had passed every course they had enrolled in. Nearly half (47%) of all diploma students enrolled in 2006 already held a tertiary qualification gained in the previous 12 years. Nearly one in four (23%) already held a diploma.
• It is likely that many such diploma students studied (and were quite successful) with the intention of passing specific courses, rather than a qualification. So, if wanting to pass specific courses, rather than a gain a(nother) diploma is valid, then New Zealand's overall low diploma completion rate portrays a misleading picture of performance.
  

7. On average, students transferring add 14% (or between 6 and 8 percentage points) to individual provider completion rates.

• On average, 8% of university degree students transferred and completed at a different provider. The average university degree completion rate (which excludes those who transferred) was 56% compared with the system rate (which includes those who transferred) of 62%.
• On average, 6% of ITP diploma students transferred and completed at a different provider. On average, transferring students added 14% to provider completion rates, increasing rates by 6 percentage points from 36% to 42%.
  

8. Learners' views

• Focus group interviews with students highlight a range of factors impacting on decisions to change providers or qualifications. These include: changing goals and preferences, labour market considerations, and quality of course advice, including information on what is needed to credit existing learning to a different qualification, especially when transferring to a different provider.

This study aimed to present a brief descriptive picture of students who change qualifications or providers during their tertiary study. It raises a number of potentially interesting areas for more detailed research. These include a more detailed analysis of progression within institutions, or of changes between provider-based and workplace-based learning. Only two pathways, namely university degrees, and ITP diplomas, are touched on in this study. Other pathways, such as ITP degrees, and wānanga or PTE study, remain important areas for further research, as do demographic and study-related differences. For example, which fields of study are associated with the least or most change?

Finally, further qualitative research, of the type summarised in section 7, will provide valuable additional insights into the factors influencing decisions to change, and more context to the quantitative analysis presented in this report.

Footnotes

1. OECD 2007, Education at a glance 2007, page 72 and page 296.
2. Part-time students and tertiary achievement – Ministry of Education, 2008 – forthcoming.
3. Institute of Technology or Polytechnic.
   
4. Private Training Establishment.