Applicants should be a minimum of 16 years of age (unless an exemption from attending school has been granted) at the commencement of the programme. An exemption from attending school may be granted by a person designated under sections 21 or 26 of the Education Act 1989, by a school principal from a school in which the prospective tauira is registered, or by the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Education.

Open entry, however, applicants should have little or no knowledge of Te Reo Māori and must attend an information sharing hui with a Kaiako before enrolment.

Language Requirements

Applicants from countries with an annual student visa approval rate below 80 per cent, whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools is not English must provide evidence of:

Have gained NCEA Level 3 and met New Zealand University Entrance requirements, or

Have successfully completed a Bachelors Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours degree, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Master’s 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

Have achieved a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, CELTA, or

Have achieved the required score and with all scores achieved in a single test in one of the internationally recognised English Proficiency tests (specified above) within the preceding two years.

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 preceding two years:

• IELTS test - Academic score of 5 with no band score lower than 5
• TOEFL Paper based test (pBT) – Score of 500 (with an essay score 4 TWE)
• TOEFL Internet- based test (iBT) – Score of 35 (with a writing score of 14)
• University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations – FCE or FCE for schools with a score of 154.  No less than 154 in each skill. OET at Grade C in all sub-tests
• NZCEL a) To be discontinued on 31 December 2019 Level 3 General or Workplace, b) Current Level 3 General
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) – PToE (Academic score of 36)
• City and Guilds IESOL – B1 Achiever with a score of 43
• Language CertB1 Achiever IESOL (LRWS with PASS)

An NZQA approved English Language proficiency test, where the student has achieved an outcome that is equivalent or better than those scores listed for Internationally recognised English language proficiency tests above in relation to the level of intended programme of study, or

Completion of all primary education and at least three years’ secondary education at schools with English as the language of instruction, or

Completion of five years of secondary education at schools with English as the language of instruction.