Notice Type
Authorities/Other Agencies of State
Notice Title

Education (Exempt Training Schemes) Notice 2012

The following notice is given by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority under section 232B(1)(b) of the Education Act 1989.
N o t i c e
1. Title-This notice is the Education (Exempt Training Schemes) Notice 2012.
2. Commencement-This notice comes into force on Thursday, 8 November 2012.
3. Interpretation-In this notice:
"corporate training" means study or training arranged for personnel of one or more organisations, where the study or training is paid for by the organisations, and it is not open for participation by the general public.
"credit value" means the measurement of time spent on study or training, where each credit represents ten notional learning hours.
"recreational in nature" means the training scheme is for the pursuit of recreation, pleasure or leisure (including
in the nature of a hobby), and the skills gained are not designed to lead to further or higher study, or entry into employment.
4. Exempt training schemes-The following classes of training schemes, which are of less than three months duration, are exempt for the purposes of section 232B(1)(b) of the Education Act 1989:
(a) Training schemes that are recreational in nature;
(b) corporate training, but not including corporate training schemes that are designed for the purpose of meeting regulatory requirements for occupational registration, occupational licensing, or health and safety in the workplace; and
(c) training schemes of less than a credit value of ten credits, but not including training schemes that are designed for the purpose of meeting regulatory requirements for occupational registration, occupational licensing, or health and safety in the workplace.
5. Revocation-The section entitled "Exemption criteria for the exemption of courses of less than three months", contained in the notice in the New Zealand Gazette,10 July 2003, No. 78, page 2075, entitled "Criteria for the Exemption of Courses of Less Than Three Months Delivered to Foreign Students and Associated Withdrawal and Refund Criteria", is revoked.
Dated at Wellington this 8th day of November 2012.
KAREN POUTASI (DR), Chief Executive, acting under delegated authority from the Board of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
Explanatory Note
This note is not part of the notice, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This notice, which comes into force on Thursday,
8 November 2012, sets out the training schemes of
under three months for which certain tertiary education institutions do not require NZQA approval under section 251 of the Education Act 1989 ("the Act"). Those tertiary institutions are universities, polytechnics, wananga, and registered private training establishments.
A training scheme is study or training that leads to an award, such as a certificate or document granted in recognition of a student’s achievement and completion of study or training, but does not of itself lead to a qualification on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.
By being exempt from approval, those tertiary education institutions may enrol international students in the exempt training schemes without committing an offence under section 292F of the Act.
The exempt training schemes are those for recreational activities (eg, leisure or hobby activities like rope climbing or origami), corporate training provided exclusively for personnel of employers, and those of less than ten credits
(ie, being less than 100 notional learning hours). However, where a training scheme of less than ten credits is for the purpose of a regulatory requirement for occupational registration, occupational licensing, or health and safety in the workplace, it is not exempt. An example of training for a regulatory requirement is first aid training.
It is important to note that although a training scheme may be exempt from approval under section 251 of the Act, a tertiary education institution is not prevented from applying for approval of the training scheme under section 251. For example, a registered private training establishment may wish to obtain approval because the organisations to which it is providing corporate training require the training to be externally quality assured, or the registered private training establishment may wish to obtain the training scheme approval in order to avoid lapse of its registration under section 234(1) of the Act.