The National Certificate of Educational Achievement Level 1 (NCEA Level 1) is the first stage of upper-secondary education, and serves as a foundation for further study and/or employment. NCEA Level 1, as with all levels of NCEA, encompasses a wide range of learning. Students can attain credits through internal and external assessment, and they can accumulate these credits both within and across years.

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement Level 2 (NCEA Level 2) is the second stage of upper-secondary education, and serves as a foundation for further study and/or employment. NCEA Level 2, as with all levels of NCEA, encompasses a wide range of learning. Students can attain credits through internal and external assessment, and they can accumulate these credits both within and across years.

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement Level 3 (NCEA Level 3) is the final stage of upper-secondary education, and serves as a foundation for further study and/or employment. NCEA Level 3, as with all levels of NCEA, encompasses a wide range of learning. Students can attain credits through internal and external assessment, and they can accumulate these credits both within and across years. University Entrance (UE) is the minimum requirement to go to a New Zealand university. Achieving NCEA Level 3 in only one component of attaining UE.

STEM - Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a broad term used to group together these academic disciplines. This term is typically used when addressing education policy and curriculum choices in schools to improve competitiveness in science and technology development.

This data relates to students completing PhDs and other doctorates but excludes higher doctorates (higher doctorates are awarded to researchers for independent work of special excellence which is completed before the person applies for the degree). Students who complete a qualification that can be assigned to more than one field have been counted in each field, so the sum of the various fields may not add to the total. Totals also include those students with unknown values. For more information on tertiary research statistics, refer to here.

This data relates to students completing PhDs and other doctorates but excludes higher doctorates (higher doctorates are awarded to researchers for independent work of special excellence which is completed before the person applies for the degree). Students are counted in each ethnic group they identify with, so the sum of the various ethnic groups may not add to the total. Students who complete a qualification that can be assigned to more than one field have been counted in each field, so the sum of the various fields may not add to the total. For more information on tertiary research statistics, refer to here.

Data for 2019 should be treated as indicative as providers can continue to report completions throughout the following year. Data in this figure, including totals, have been rounded to the nearest 5 to protect the privacy of individuals, so the sum of individual counts may not add to the total. This data relates to the predominant field(s) of study of graduates from tertiary education providers. This data looks at all the courses studied within a qualification to determine a graduates’ predominant field(s) of study. For example, you might use this data to know how many graduates specialised in Information technology. The Ministry of Education has revised the method used to derive the predominant field of study of students/graduates in tertiary education providers. For more information on this, refer to here.

This data relates to students completing PhDs and other doctorates but excludes higher doctorates (higher doctorates are awarded to researchers for independent work of special excellence which is completed before the person applies for the degree). Students who complete a qualification that can be assigned to more than one field have been counted in each field, so the sum of the various fields may not add to the total. For more information on tertiary research statistics, refer to here.

Data for 2019 should be treated as indicative as providers can continue to report completions throughout the following year. Data in this figure, including totals, have been rounded to the nearest 5 to protect the privacy of individuals, so the sum of individual counts may not add to the total. This data relates to the predominant field(s) of study of graduates from tertiary education providers. This data looks at all the courses studied within a qualification to determine a graduates’ predominant field(s) of study. For example, you might use this data to know how many graduates specialised in Information technology. The Ministry of Education has revised the method used to derive the predominant field of study of students/graduates in tertiary education providers. For more information on this, refer to here.