Providers and partners

International Education planning

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) is looking to promote good practice for the delivery of education to international students outside of New Zealand. We aim to improve education quality, student experience and achieve best outcomes for New Zealand.

The information and documents on this page are designed to inform the delivery of the International Education Recovery Plan.

Challenges and opportunities in international education

In the Government’s 2020 Strategic Recovery Plan for International Education, NZQA was tasked with ensuring quality in the online delivery of education offshore.

As a preliminary step, NZQA commissioned a report to take soundings among education providers about their expectations and needs, and their appetite for new modes of international education delivery.

As a result of a series of interviews which were conducted with a wide range of people working in the education sector when compiling this report (PDF, 715KB), several key themes emerged:

• Online delivery is likely to become more important as a pathway towards study in New Zealand.

• Most providers believe that in-country delivery will continue to have a central role in international education learning.

• For some specialist providers, future international education will be characterized by a hybrid model of delivery including in New Zealand, online, offshore and trans-national modes.

• International students – who are likely to include a growing number of lifelong learners – will expect more flexibility and agency in structuring their learning paths.

Literature Review - Good practice for online delivery

This literature review (PDF, 711KB) is designed to promote good practice for online delivery to all students, including international students residing outside of New Zealand.

The document provides information about current trends and developments in the offshore delivery of qualifications. It also provides a selective stocktake of international guidelines and good practice tools.

Key points from the literature review:

• It is crucial to understand the learner's motivation for undertaking an online programme, and information provided to them should be clear and accurate.

• A good learning experience requires: the learner to have a sense of self-efficacy and agency over their learning, an acknowledgment of the importance of interaction and connection for the learner, and an ecosystem of learner supports.

• While the role of the ‘educator’ remains key, there are varying models of instruction in the online environment, e.g., via resources, a facilitator, or a teacher. The extent to which online delivery is scalable appears to be more dependent on the model of delivery than the concept of ‘educator to student’ ratio.

• The move to online teaching and learning is driving new pedagogical approaches; but these are also sited in wider societal changes that are impacting on the structure of teaching and learning.

• Professional development must keep apace with both new delivery models and pedagogical changes, and aim to empower the educator to work in new ways.

• While technology ‘opens’ teaching and learning by removing time and geographical barriers, it also requires (and makes possible) innovative assessment models and poses challenges to the integrity and security of those assessments.

• Technology also enables a wider range of learning analytics to be collected. Carefully used, they can help to predict learner outcomes and inform learning design and interventions.

• Robust quality assurance is at the heart of maintaining the high-quality reputation, credibility, and international recognition of New Zealand qualifications

Lessons about online delivery of education

This is a single page summary (PDF, 151KB) of the literature review, He arotake tuhinga he mahi e tika ana mō te tuku ā-ipurangi ki tāwāhi - Good practice for offshore online delivery. It also includes what we have learnt about technology-enabled learning following rapid shifts made in response to the pandemic.

Note: Please open this file in Adobe-based software (such as Acrobat or Reader) to read in full.