How does New Zealand’s tertiary education staffing compare internationally?
There were around 16 students per academic staff member teaching at diploma level or above, on average across OECD countries in 2022. New Zealand has the same level. Over the past decade, this ratio has remained relatively stable. This trend is similar in most other OECD countries.
New Zealand is one of the few OECD countries where women make up more than half of the academic staff teaching at diploma level and above, 54 percent compared to the OECD average of 46 percent. Over the last decade, the share of women in the tertiary academic workforce has increased from 43 percent to 46 percent, on average, across OECD countries. In New Zealand it has increased from 49 percent in 2013 to 54 percent in 2022.
The age profile of New Zealand’s tertiary academic staff is also similar to the OECD average; 44 percent are aged 50 or over (OECD average is 40 percent), and 11 percent is under the age of 30, compared to the OECD average of nine percent. Over the last decade the workforce has slowly been ageing, as it has in most other OECD countries. In 2014, 47 percent of tertiary staff were aged 50 or over in New Zealand, compared to a 40 percent average across the OECD.
Technical info
Source
The international comparisons used here come from the OECD, as part of their annual Indicators of Education Systems (or INES) programme. The latest comparisons can be found in Chapter D (D8 in 2022) of the annual Education at a Glance report or in the OECD's Data Explorer database.
These comparisons relate to OECD countries. Information on staffing more globally can be found here: Educational Attainment | UNESCO UIS.
Comparing education in an internationally standard way
The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) provides internationally agreed concepts, definitions, and classifications for comparing education. But it is a little different to the way New Zealand talks about education. In international terms, tertiary education includes short-cycle tertiary (ISCED 5) or above qualifications. In New Zealand terms, tertiary qualification translates to having a tertiary diploma (New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework Levels 5 to 6) or above qualifications. The full ISCED classification can be found here.
About the New Zealand data
New Zealand data comes from the Single Data Return (SDR), Workforce Questionnaire. The workforce questionnaire gathers information on staff employed by government-funded tertiary education providers. The data on staff numbers is collected for the full calendar year and is submitted as part of the December SDR. Further details on the Workforce Questionnaire and on its guidelines can be found here.
What is the student-teacher ratio?
The ratio of students to teaching staff is obtained by dividing the number of full-time equivalent students. The OECD use full-time equivalent numbers as these provide more nuanced comparisons of the allocation of staffing resource inputs than headcounts. At tertiary level, the student-teacher ratio is based on academic staff.
Note: Employed doctoral candidates are excluded from this classification. | ||
Category | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
Senior | The highest grades/posts for academic staff pursuing an academic career in either instruction or research. Staff allocated to this category must hold similar qualifications, pay range and level of responsibilities, although the nature of their responsibilities may differ. It is possible to have one grade/post per career track if relevant (i.e. If the tracks are clearly separate). | New Zealand: Professors, Deans/Heads of School. Other: Full professor (USA), Professeur titulaire et corps Assimilés (FRA), Director of research. |
Intermediate | Academic staff pursuing an academic career working in positions not as senior as the top position but more senior than entry level position. | New Zealand: Associate Professors, Heads of Department/ Faculty, Readers, Senior Lecturers, Principal Lecturers, Senior Tutors. Other: Associate professor (USA), Maître de conférences (FRA), senior lecturer, senior researcher. |
Junior | Entry grades/posts into which an individual would normally be recruited to begin their academic career. Staff allocated to this category must hold similar qualifications, pay range and level of responsibilities, although the nature of their responsibilities may differ. This excludes doctoral candidates. | New Zealand: Lecturers, Tutors. Other: Assistant professor (USA), lecturer (UK), Professeurs agrégés (FRA), junior researcher, post-doctoral researcher. |
Other | Instructional and research personnel who are not considered to be on the academic career track. This excludes doctoral candidates, teaching and research assistants. | Adjunct professors, fellows. |