New Zealand universities endorse NCEA

New Zealand universities have said they support NCEA, and have reassured sixth form students that they will not be disadvantaged by the range of qualifications on offer next year.

Schools were recently told that they could offer the NCEA level 2 or a transitional Sixth Form Certificate, or a combination of the two. Therefore, students from year 12 could be applying for provisional entrance to universities with a mix of results.

Professor Roger Field, chair of the New Zealand Vice Chancellors Committee (NZVCC) entrance committee, said last month that the interests of students were paramount.

"We are determined to create mechanisms that will not jeopardise the opportunities for suitable students to enter tertiary courses directly from year 12."

Professor Field said universities had worked closely with the NZQA to define university entrance requirements from NCEA level 3 credits and address other entrance issues. "We are, therefore, familiar with the new qualification and supportive of it," he said.

He said the NZVCC saw the progressive implementation of a national standards based system as desirable as it would give them more information about the specific abilities of school leavers. This would assist in guiding students to appropriate programmes.

Universities will now work with NZQA to ensure a combination of results could be handled for provisional entrance purposes.

"The sooner the country moves to a single national secondary school qualification based on standards, the sooner an end will come to the proliferation of results school leavers currently present," said Professor Field.