Summary

This report analyses the field of study of domestic graduates in the New Zealand tertiary education system between 2011 and 2016 for below bachelors level and between 2008 and 2016 for bachelors level or higher.

Our analysis shows that:

• in Level 1 and 2 certificates, there was an increase in the proportion of graduates in the Mixed programme field. Changes in the focus of this level of qualification (to give greater emphasis to foundation-level skills) is likely to have driven a change in content
• in Level 3 to 7 certificates/diplomas, fields such as Society and culture, and Health showed increases in the share of graduates
• at the bachelors or higher level, there was an increase in the proportion of graduates in fields such as Health, Information technology, and Engineering and related technologies
• at the bachelors or higher level, universities had the highest number of graduates in every field of study
• women continued to be more likely to graduate in fields such as Health and Education, while men continued to make up a higher proportion of graduates in areas such as Engineering and related technologies
• Māori and Pasifika continued to have relatively lower proportions of graduate in fields such as Natural and physical sciences and Engineering and related technologies at the bachelors or higher level
• the largest proportion of younger graduates were in fields such as Natural and physical sciences and Tourism