Summary

Key Findings

In 2005, over 504,000 students enrolled in formal tertiary courses in New Zealand. Collectively these students enrolled in over 3,800,000 courses, involving nearly 62,000 different courses and 4,400 different qualifications, in over 300 tertiary education providers.

Students passed 72 percent of all courses taken in 2005. Pass rates increased the higher the level of course taken. Students passed 65 percent of all courses taken at certificate level, 71 percent of courses at diploma level, 82 percent of courses at bachelors level, and 86 percent of courses at postgraduate level.

The report provides evidence that a significant number of students are studying with course-related goals rather than qualification-related goals. Nearly 30 percent of students who began in 2001 were estimated to have passed all courses they enrolled in between 2001 and 2005, but not gained a qualification at the level they started by the end of 2005. This ranged from 21 percent for students starting courses at bachelors level, to 28 and 31 percent for students starting courses at certificate and diploma levels respectively.

If measures of tertiary sector performance are extended beyond qualification completion to include students who pass all courses without gaining a qualification, then the percentage of students who are 'successful' increases from 39 percent to 68 percent. The use of qualification completion rates alone therefore, is likely to significantly underestimate the performance of the sector, in terms of successful skills and knowledge acquisition.

Course pass rates have not changed much since 2001.

While earlier reports have shown that students who are studying full-time are more likely to complete a qualification, studying full-time does not appear to be a factor for success at course level. In fact, part-time students pass courses at the same or even higher rates than students with more full-time study loads.

Students enrolled at bachelors level with an ITP, pass their courses at the same rate as, or higher than, students enrolled for a bachelors degree with a university. However, university students complete their bachelors degree – ie the whole qualification – at a much higher rate than polytechnic students.

Asian and European students have higher pass rates than Māori at both the course and qualification level. Pasifika students have the lowest rates of completion at both course and qualification level.

Older students have higher course pass rates at certificate and diploma level, while younger students have higher pass rates at degree level and above. However, older students are less likely to take out a qualification, and more likely to have passed all courses without gaining a qualification than younger students.