4 - Changing Providers

• 19% of students transferred to a different provider before they completed a qualification.
• 18% to 25% of certificate, diploma and degree students transferred to a different provider. About 6% to 8% of postgraduate students changed providers before completion.
• Diploma students were the most likely to transfer before completing (25%), with 6% transferring to degree level or higher.
• Students who transferred were significantly less likely to complete a qualification, and more likely to be still studying. Degree completion rates, after 10 years, were less than 30% for those who changed providers, compared with 62% for those who didn’t transfer.
• University and PTE students were least likely to transfer before completing (around 13%), while ITP and wananga students were most likely to transfer before completing (around 20%).
• The most common type of transfer was a student doing a certificate at an ITP changing to another certificate at another ITP.
  
• Changing providers is more common after completion. 52% of students who progress to higher-level study after completing a qualification, changed providers. This ranged from 80%, for students completing a degree at an ITP, to 20%, for students completing a degree at a university.
  

Changing providers is common.  Between 18 and 25 percent of certificate, diploma or bachelors students, and 6 and 8 percent of postgraduate students, transferred to a different provider before completing their qualification. Across all levels, 19% changed providers before they completed a qualification.

Figure 5 - How many students change providers before completing? – by qualification level

Diploma students were the most likely to transfer. 25% changed provider before completing a qualification, with 6% transferring to a higher-level qualification. This included 4% to a university bachelors degree.

9% of degree students changed to degree study with another provider. This was in addition to the 14% of degree students who didn't transfer, but changed degrees within the same provider. Even at postgraduate level where transfer was less common, between 5% and 7% of students transferred to another provider.

The transfer of ITP diploma and university degree students is explored further later in this report. The following graph looks at completion rates for those students who changed providers.

Figure 6 - Does changing providers affect qualification completion?

Apart from level 1 to 3 certificates, those students who changed providers had significantly lower rates of qualification completion than those who stayed with the same provider. The above graph shows that students who transferred were less likely to have completed a qualification at the same level or higher, and more likely to have completed a lower-level qualification, and more likely to be still studying. The difference was significant across all levels. At bachelors level, for example, the completion rate (after 10 years) was 35% for those who changed providers, compared with 66% for those who didn’t transfer.

The graph suggests that many transferring students are transferring with a view to completing lower level qualifications. Possible reasons for this are discussed in section 7. If our view of success is broadened to include both lower- and higher-level qualifications, then transferring may, in fact, aid in achieving a successful outcome for certificate and diploma students.

The table on the following page shows how many students in each provider type changed providers before completing their original qualification. ITP and wananga students were the most likely to change provider before completing a qualification, while PTE and university students were less likely.

6% of ITP students changed to a university, including 4% to degree level or higher. 9% transferred to another ITP, including 8% at diploma level or lower. 1% of ITP students transferred to another ITP to undertake degree study. Conversely, 7% of university students transferred to an ITP. This was mostly to certificate or diploma qualifications. However, over 600, or 1.2% of university degree students transferred to an ITP degree.

Table 1 - How many students change providers before completing? – by provider type

40% of transferring university students transferred to another university, 38% to an ITP. 25% of all transferring students transferred to a certificate qualification at an ITP, and 17% transferred to a university degree qualification.

During the period 1997 to 2006 there were significant changes in tertiary participation in New Zealand. The patterns of transfer reported in this report will have been affected by these changes, and so caution is needed when inferring current or future patterns of transfer based on results from this period. One of the major changes occurred as the country’s three public wananga expanded, in particular, Te Wananga o Aotearoa. Participation grew very significantly between 2000 and 2005, before falling back to 2003 levels by 2007. While much of this growth came from first-time students, the wananga was also successful in attracting some transferring students, mainly from ITPs and PTEs, and from other wananga.

However, wananga also had the highest level of students transferring out of wananga. This, in part, is due to the nature of wananga provision which in many cases is aimed at providing entry skills to undertake further vocational or academic study. The number of students transferring out of wananga was highest for non-degree level study, which makes up 94% of wananga provision. It may also be in part due to unfavourable attention attracted by Te Wananga o Aotearoa during the height of its growth, and recent changes in government funding and monitoring aimed at managing how much and what type of provision is funded.

Figure 7 - The 10 most common types of transfer

While 19% of students changed providers before completing a qualification, many more students changed providers after completing a qualification. In fact, 50% of those re-enrolling after completing a qualification, did so at a different provider. Transfer rates ranged from 34% for postgraduate certificate,  postgraduate diploma or honours students, to 55% for level 1 to 3 certificate students.

About half of all re-enrolment was in higher-level qualifications. About 53% of progressing students changed provider. 15% of masters graduates changed provider to do their doctorate. About a third of bachelors graduates changed provider to do postgraduate study. The graph below shows patterns of transfer for just those who progressed directly to higher-level study.

Figure 8 - How many students change providers when progressing to higher-level study?