Graduate Study in New Zealand

New Zealand has an international reputation as a provider of high quality education. The country offers a safe learning environment with excellent study opportunities and support services for international students. Academic, professional and vocational studies courses are available at universities, polytechnics and institutes of technology, colleges of education, wananga (New Zealand Maori tertiary institutions), private education providers and secondary schools.

Universities in New Zealand

University education was established in New Zealand in 1870 and has a similar tradition to the British university system. There are eight state-funded universities, all of them internationally respected for their academic and research performance. In addition to a centrally co-ordinated system of quality assurance audits at both institution and program level, each university undertakes internal quality checks. All new programmes are accredited through a national university qualifications committee.

All New Zealand universities offer a broad range of subjects in the arts (humanities and social sciences), business and science. Each also has its own specialist subjects such as medicine, engineering, law, veterinary science, computer studies, agriculture and environmental studies.

Graduate Study in New Zealand

With a completed Bachelor's degree, a graduate is able to go on to one-year graduate or postgraduate programmes, or to a Master’s or a Doctorate.

Graduate Diploma

A one-year, full-time course of study for graduates. Although regulations differ, prior learning or experiences in the subject matter of the diploma is not always required, giving graduates an opportunity to add a qualification in a different subject to that of their first degree .A Graduate Diploma may also be used as a bridging qualification to specialist postgraduate study.

Postgraduate Diploma

A one-year, full-time course of study that builds on the subject matter in the academic field of a relevant Bachelor's degree. In many universities, the Postgraduate Diploma comprises the first year of a two-year Masters degree.

Master's Degree

The Master's degree is open to those who have completed a Bachelor's degree with good grades. Depending on the duration of the Bachelor's degree the course of study
is one or two years of advanced study in the student's majoring discipline. The successful student is expected to show, as the title implies, a real grasp of the subject, demonstrated by an understanding of the discipline, a capacity to reflect upon it, and an ability to undertake research.

A Master's degree normally includes both course work and a significant research component. The more advanced level of teaching is reflected in the content of the lectures; in the mode of teaching, which is likely to emphasize seminar presentation; and in provision of research experience for the candidate. Many Master's degrees include a thesis component of up to one year; in some cases, particularly when it follows a four-year Bachelor's (Honours) course or a Postgraduate Diploma, the degree may be taken by thesis only. However, increasingly Master's degrees by papers or coursework plus a smaller research project are becoming available.

Doctorate

The main Doctorate offered by New Zealand universities is the PhD, or Doctor of Philosophy. This degree can be taken in almost any one of the wide range of subjects that universities offer. A student is normally required to prepare under supervision a substantial thesis that represents original research into an approved topic. This research is normally carried out over three full-time years. The PhD thesis is marked by a panel of examiners including at least two external to the university. In most cases this is followed by an oral examination of the thesis and the candidate's knowledge in the area before the degree is awarded.

Research in New Zealand Universities

New Zealand universities are research- based institutions: all teaching staff are normally expected to be undertaking original research and developing new knowledge in their field. Research-based teaching is a key characteristic that distinguishes universities from other tertiary education institutions, and enhances the quality and depth of a New Zealand university education.

New Zealand universities maintain a high level of research activity, the calibre of which continues to be internationally recognised. The proof of this research quality is the impressive list of books and publications, many of the latter in refereed journals, which are produced each year. Further evidence of New Zealand's high standing is provided by the large number of awards and distinctions achieved by New Zealand research leaders. In order to show its commitment to research-based tertiary education, the Government introduced the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) in 2004. The PBRF, administered by the Tertiary Education Commission, providers a proportion of funding for the tertiary sector determined by the research output, research income and number of postgraduate thesis completions per institution.

Study Abroad

Study Abroad programs at universities in New Zealand allow students to sudy for one or two semesters, and take the credits back home as part of their degree at their home university. Students normally take three to four papers or courses per semester, depending on the study level.

Academic Year

The university academic year extends form mid-February or early March to November. The long summer vacation is from mid-November to mid-February. Most universities operate a semester system, with two intakes each year, though some specialist programmes, especially professional and postgraduate programmes, may only have one entry point per year.

The normal patter is 12 to 13 weeks of teaching in the first half-year, followed by examinations and a study break from mid-June to early July, then a further 12 to 13 weeks' teaching, followed again by examinations. Each semester is broken by a study break of one or two weeks. An increasing variety of courses are offered in summer schools and these may be referred to as the "third trimester" in some universities.

Admission Procedure

Application forms for international students are available from each university's international office.

Students must submit the following:

• Certified and translated copies of each academic certificate or transcript upon which the application is based. It is very important that photocopies are certified as true copies of the original by a recognised authority.

• Evidence of ability in the English language.

• Some universities require a processing fee.

• Postgraduate students may also be asked to submit the following:

• A brief statement outlining the area of research interest or intended research project, along with two recent academic references.

• A copy of the Abstract of Evidence from a previous thesis (PhD only).

Government Policy on International PhD Fees

The New Zealand Government announced that new international PhD students enrolling after 1 January 2006, where they are supervised by leading researchers in New Zealand universities, will pay the same fees as New Zealand domestic students for their PhD studies.

The New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee

The New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee (NZVCC) is recognised in legislation as the interface between the New Zealand Government and the country's eight universities. The Committee maintains strong international links on behalf of New Zealand universities with such bodies as the Association of the Commonwealth Universities (ACU), and University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP).

Course approval and moderation procedures for New Zealand universities are carried out by the NZVCC through its Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP). In addition to this quality assurance function at programme level, CUAP provides advice on university academic developments and encourages the balanced development of curricula within the New Zealand university system.

Quality assurance for New Zealand universities at the institutional level is provided by the New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit (AAU), established by the NZVCC as an independent and autonomous entity.