General admission

40 credits at NCEA Level 1, including 10 Literacy credits and 10 Numeracy credits;

OR a relevant qualification at NZQF Level 2;

OR a recognised equivalent 

Special admission

Any ākonga who is 20 years of age or older and has not reached the general admission requirements for their intended programme is eligible for Special Admission. Te Pūkenga works with the ākonga to ensure they are prepared for their intended programme.

Discretionary admission

Any ākonga who is not yet 20 years of age and has not reached the general admission requirements for their intended programme may be eligible for Discretionary Admission. In assessing whether to grant Discretionary Admission, the delegated authority focuses on the applicant’s level of preparedness for their intended programme.

English language requirements  

All applicants (international and domestic) for whom English or te reo Māori is not a first language need to provide evidence that they have the necessary English language proficiency required for the programme.  

International applicants are required to have an IELTS (general or academic)score of 5.5  with no individual band lower than 5 from one test taken in the preceding two years, or an equivalent described in NZQA Rules. 

English Language Requirements

Applicants, whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools is not English, are required to provide evidence of having achieved one of the following:

NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance, or

an International Baccalaureate Diploma or Cambridge A- level qualification for which the teaching and assessment was conducted in English; or

Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA), or Trinity College London Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL); or

Successful completion of all primary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand primary school years 1 to 8) and at least three years of secondary education (being the equivalent of three years from New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in  either New Zealand, Australia­, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States one of the countries listed in Rule 18.5 where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of at least five years of secondary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of a Bachelor ‘s Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours degree, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters’ Degree or Doctoral Degree, the language of instruction of which must be in English and which must be  from a tertiary education provider from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States or

Successful completion of one of the following internationally recognised proficiency tests listed below to the level required of the programme of study and with all scores achieved in a single test during the two years preceding the proposed date of enrolment

Certificate at Level 4

• IELTS test - General or Academic score of 5.5 with no band score lower than 5
• TOEFL Paper based test (pBT) - Score of 530 (with an essay score of 4.5 TWE)
• TOEFL Internet based test (iBT) - Score of 46 (with a writing score of 14)
• Cambridge English Examination –B2 First or B2First for schools with a score of 162.  No less than 154 in each skill.
• OET - Minimum of Grade C or 200 in all sub-tests
• NZCEL - Level 3 (Applied)
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) – PTE (Academic) score of 42 with no band score lower than 36
• Language Cert - B2 Communicator International ESOL Written (LRW) PASS with no less than 25/50 in each skill and Spoken (S) PASS
• Trinity ISE - ISE II with no less than pass in any band