Summary

There has been a significant shift towards part-time study in tertiary education in New Zealand in recent years. The range of flexible learning options available has also been growing to better meet the needs of prospective students who want or need, for example, to combine their study with work or family or other commitments.

This trend has raised interest in how this part-time study affects patterns of duration, attrition, completion and efficiency in New Zealand's tertiary education system. This is the focus of this report, which looks at how long people would study for if their study was adjusted for part-time, or part-year, study and if all breaks were removed.

The study provides new information on interesting questions such as:

• How long do students spend in tertiary education, and what is the difference between actual and equivalent-full-time duration?
• What is the average time to qualification completion or withdrawal?
• What percentage of students leaves in the first-year?
• How does persistence in study vary by level studied?
• Do full-time students do better than part-time students?
• What percentage of equivalent full-time study does not lead to a qualification?
• How much longer do students typically take beyond the prescribed qualification time?