Chief Executive's Foreword

With a near faultless exam round under our belt, 2004 ended on a very positive note for NZQA. The exam round was easily the organisation's biggest logistical challenge to date, with 130,000 students, 114 exam sessions and three million exam papers over a three-week period.

The amount of work that went into ensuring the operation went smoothly was enormous, and required commitment and dedication from thousands of people � NZQA staff, examiners, moderators, checkers, editors, printers, couriers, markers, exam center managers and supervisors, and school liaison staff. I have been thanking my staff profusely for their work in this area over the past few weeks, and I extend that to all who have worked so hard to deliver such a good result. There are more details about the 2004 exams elsewhere in this issue of QA News.

This issue also covers a project that will see the publishing of more information about private training establishments on the NZQA website. The data will include copies of audit reports and statistical information about each provider. By doing this we enhance our service to both the public and providers. All of us want learners to have quality information on which they can base their decisions about training. PTEs are catering to an increasingly diverse range of learners who are rightly demanding greater choice, so they can choose programmes that are going to suit their learning style, their lifestyle, their career plans and their budget. Being able to deliver information online to help learners, both here and overseas, make the best choice is exciting, and I expect to see us expanding our service in this area in the future. This particular project began with a small pilot in December and you will be seeing more information as the year progresses. You can read more about it HERE.

There will, as always, be many challenges in the coming year. We are currently seeking public submissions on the application by Unitech to become a university. I know there are many who will be awaiting the outcome with interest.

We will be working to ensure the Qualification Authority's Qualifications Recognition Service continues to meet the changing requirements of the Immigration Service.

Overall, I want to maintain our focus on ensuring that we have quality teaching and learning going on in schools and providers and that NZQA continues to play its role in working collaboratively within the education sector.

Finally I want to remind you that nominations are being sought for the 2005 Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards. It is always important to celebrate and recognise excellence in teaching. If you have teachers running programmes that embody excellence in teaching, make sure they are nominated for the next round of awards. I would especially encourage PTE's to nominate this year, as I know that there are some superb teachers in the PTE sector who should be recognised through these awards.

I wish you all a happy new year.

Karen Van Rooyen