New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) Data Services
A list of codes used to classify courses and qualifications at tertiary level by field of study. Copies of the NZSCED codes are available as downloads on this page.
Last Updated: December 2014
Description
The New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) is a subject-based classification system for courses and qualifications at universities, polytechnics, 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 released Version 2 of NZSCED in October 2009 after a minor review initiated by the Ministry of Education and with advice from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Please note that NZSCED codes used by tertiary institutions are at the detailed field level. "Not further defined" codes and non-response codes such as Don't Know, Refused to Answer and Not Stated which are used by Statistics New Zealand are not included in the documents on this website as providers are expected to allocate a valid code.
All Fields of StudyUpdated: Dec-2014
- All Fields of Study [MS Excel 23kB]
Broad Fields of StudyUpdated: Dec-2014
- Broad Fields of Study Version 2 [MS Word 24kB]
- Broad Fields of Study Version 1 [MS Word 37kB]
- Broad Fields of Study: Summary of Changes between Versions 1 and 2 [MS Word 38kB]
Narrow Fields of StudyUpdated: Dec-2014
- Narrow Fields of Study Version 2 [MS Word 147kB]
- Narrow Fields of Study Version 1 [MS Word 90kB]
Detailed Fields of StudyUpdated: Dec-2014
- Detailed Fields of Study Version 2 [MS Word 516kB]
- Detailed Fields of Study Version 1 [MS Word 236kB]