About the Register

The KiwiQuals website is the public face of the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications (the Register), a database list of all quality assured qualifications in New Zealand.

KiwiQuals (launched July 2003) allows you to search for information on quality assured qualifications (that are 40 credits or above) in New Zealand. It is the public implementation of the Register.

Te Āhurutanga

Te Āhurutanga is displayed alongside the words: New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications. This was agreed as a Maori concept name and is translated as the bringing together of a number of strands, components, people and ideas to form a unifying voice.

Background

In March 2001, the Board of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) agreed the policy framework and qualifications definitions for the Register. You can view the full policy document here.

The Register has the support of the New Zealand quality assurance bodies (QABs): the New Zealand Vice Chancellors' Committee, the Association of Polytechnics in New Zealand and the Association of Colleges of Education in New Zealand.

The key purposes of the Register are to:

• clearly identify all quality assured qualifications in New Zealand
• ensure that all qualifications have a purpose and relation to each other that students and the public can understand
• maintain and enhance learners' ability to transfer credit by the establishment of a common system of credit
• enhance and build on the international recognition of New Zealand qualifications.

The National Qualifications Framework (NQF), comprising unit and achievement standards, continues to be a key subset of the Register with benefits for learners associated with the setting of national standards and credit accumulation.

Registration criteria are intended to ensure that:

• quality assurance of qualifications is consistently applied
• people can compare qualifications
• people can make informed choices about which qualification pathway they will pursue.

The agreed definitions of the names of qualifications support:

• the comparability of qualifications
• the easy understanding of qualifications
• international recognition of qualifications.

Credit transfer

Credit transfer is a process whereby credit already achieved for one qualification is recognised towards a new qualification. This may occur on a case-by-case basis between providers/qualifications developers and individuals or as a structured agreement between providers.

The Register enables you to view and compare all qualifications that have been quality assured in New Zealand - it does not provide a tool for credit transfer. For more information on an education provider's specific credit transfer policy, please contact the provider directly. Providers have agreed to have consistent credit recognition and credit transfer process in place from January 2004.

For more on credit recognition and transfer see the NZQA website.

Transition

All existing approved qualifications are on the Register. All qualifications are currently being updated to include all of the Register criteria and this will be completed by August 2006. QABs and qualification developers are doing this by working together to ensure that new qualifications, and any modifications to existing qualifications, are quality assured against the Register criteria.