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Progression to Tertiary: Qualification Level

The tertiary education sector is a diverse sector. Its scope ranges from informal non-assessed community courses in schools through to formal undergraduate degrees and advanced research-based postgraduate degrees.

Progression to tertiary education is a measure of the level of tertiary education a student is enrolled in one, two or three years after leaving school.

School leavers are identified from the Ministry of Education’s ENROL system, while tertiary enrolment information is sourced from the tertiary databases SDR and ITR.

Identical information is available for the region's territorial authorities using the drop down menu above. For other territorial authorities first choose the appropriate region from the drop down menu above.

Table 1: School leavers enrolled in tertiary education one year after leaving school (2016-2018 leaver cohorts)
Group Highest tertiary qualification study level Year left school
2016 2017 2018
Female Enrolled Degree L7 or above 268 276 269
Female Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 240 285 236
Female Enrolled L1-L2 93 101 97
Female Not Enrolled in Tertiary 451 470 452
Female Total 1,052 1,132 1,054
Male Enrolled Degree L7 or above 168 131 121
Male Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 338 323 345
Male Enrolled L1-L2 112 118 90
Male Not Enrolled in Tertiary 536 569 545
Male Total 1,154 1,141 1,101
Māori Enrolled Degree L7 or above 83 100 96
Māori Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 271 286 298
Māori Enrolled L1-L2 138 169 140
Māori Not Enrolled in Tertiary 565 642 592
Māori Total 1,057 1,197 1,126
Pacific Enrolled Degree L7 or above 13 6 13
Pacific Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 19 31 30
Pacific Enrolled L1-L2 7 13 10
Pacific Not Enrolled in Tertiary 42 50 59
Pacific Total 81 100 112
Asian Enrolled Degree L7 or above 38 25 29
Asian Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 14 16 9
Asian Enrolled L1-L2 1 0 2
Asian Not Enrolled in Tertiary 17 21 19
Asian Total 70 62 59
MELAA Enrolled Degree L7 or above 4 7 10
MELAA Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 3 8 5
MELAA Enrolled L1-L2 1 0 1
MELAA Not Enrolled in Tertiary 5 5 10
MELAA Total 13 20 26
Other Enrolled Degree L7 or above 1 4 4
Other Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 7 5 3
Other Enrolled L1-L2 2 0 0
Other Not Enrolled in Tertiary 7 8 1
Other Total 17 17 8
NZ European/Pākehā Enrolled Degree L7 or above 332 309 280
NZ European/Pākehā Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 338 361 339
NZ European/Pākehā Enrolled L1-L2 75 70 70
NZ European/Pākehā Not Enrolled in Tertiary 473 472 480
NZ European/Pākehā Total 1,218 1,212 1,169
Total Enrolled Degree L7 or above 436 407 390
Total Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 578 608 581
Total Enrolled L1-L2 205 219 187
Total Not Enrolled in Tertiary 987 1,039 997
Total Total 2,206 2,273 2,155

Notes:

  1. ‘x’ = data has been suppressed where there are between 0 and 5 students in the denominator for a specific group, for example Asian students. Where one gender has been suppressed the corresponding gender has also been suppressed.
  2. Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
  3. International fee-paying students and adult students (age 19+) are excluded.
Table 2: School leavers enrolled in tertiary education two years after leaving school (2015-2017 leaver cohorts)
Group Highest tertiary qualification study level Year left school
2015 2016 2017
Female Enrolled Degree L7 or above 277 294 290
Female Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 199 227 206
Female Enrolled L1-L2 49 45 49
Female Not Enrolled in Tertiary 464 486 587
Female Total 989 1,052 1,132
Male Enrolled Degree L7 or above 151 187 144
Male Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 290 345 316
Male Enrolled L1-L2 65 58 52
Male Not Enrolled in Tertiary 543 564 629
Male Total 1,049 1,154 1,141
Māori Enrolled Degree L7 or above 96 89 111
Māori Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 222 267 254
Māori Enrolled L1-L2 94 84 80
Māori Not Enrolled in Tertiary 536 617 752
Māori Total 948 1,057 1,197
Pacific Enrolled Degree L7 or above 10 17 11
Pacific Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 15 15 24
Pacific Enrolled L1-L2 4 6 5
Pacific Not Enrolled in Tertiary 47 43 60
Pacific Total 76 81 100
Asian Enrolled Degree L7 or above 22 36 30
Asian Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 8 14 9
Asian Enrolled L1-L2 0 0 0
Asian Not Enrolled in Tertiary 10 20 23
Asian Total 40 70 62
MELAA Enrolled Degree L7 or above 6 4 7
MELAA Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 4 3 7
MELAA Enrolled L1-L2 0 0 0
MELAA Not Enrolled in Tertiary 3 6 6
MELAA Total 13 13 20
Other Enrolled Degree L7 or above 7 3 5
Other Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 1 7 4
Other Enrolled L1-L2 1 0 0
Other Not Enrolled in Tertiary 9 7 8
Other Total 18 17 17
NZ European/Pākehā Enrolled Degree L7 or above 323 371 322
NZ European/Pākehā Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 282 329 314
NZ European/Pākehā Enrolled L1-L2 29 30 29
NZ European/Pākehā Not Enrolled in Tertiary 498 488 547
NZ European/Pākehā Total 1,132 1,218 1,212
Total Enrolled Degree L7 or above 428 481 434
Total Enrolled Non-Degree L3-L7 489 572 522
Total Enrolled L1-L2 114 103 101
Total Not Enrolled in Tertiary 1,007 1,050 1,216
Total Total 2,038 2,206 2,273

Notes:

  1. ‘x’ = data has been suppressed where there are between 0 and 5 students in the denominator for a specific group, for example Asian students. Where one gender has been suppressed the corresponding gender has also been suppressed.
  2. Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
  3. International fee-paying students and adult students (age 19+) are excluded.

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