Translation of Education Documents for New Zealand

The NZQA assessment and the offer of a place move apart

In New Zealand it is NZQA that determines what a foreign qualification corresponds to. The body places the degree at a level within the country’s qualifications framework and notifies that in writing. This assessment is a procedure quite apart from admission to a university: the decision to admit is taken by the higher education institution on its own criteria, while the NZQA assessment shows what the degree amounts to nationwide. Where migration or professional use is in question, the NZQA letter is usually the document looked for; if you are applying only as a student, the institution’s own assessment may be enough.

This double structure also settles which procedure to begin with. The NZQA process involves having the documents verified, so it takes time, whereas an admission application depends on the timetable of the school. Running the two in parallel is usually the most realistic plan.

What each document is asked for

The diploma proves the degree; the academic transcript, by showing the length and the load of the programme, makes the placement at a level possible. Information about the standing of the institution supports the origin of the degree. A student certificate shows enrolment in progress. A language proficiency certificate is assessed separately on the admission side and on the migration side. Course descriptions come up only where professional matching is called for.

Procedure	Who deals with it	What it produces
Qualification assessment	NZQA	A letter stating the level
Admission to a programme	Higher education institution	Letter of admission
Student visa	Immigration New Zealand	Decision on status

Where things go wrong most often

The commonest trouble here is a translation obtained from a source that belongs to no recognised professional body and carries no official approval; the translation is sent back. The second frequent problem is taking the NZQA assessment for a decision on admission – the candidate receives the letter about the level but, having made no separate application to a school, gets no further. The third is that confirmation cannot be had from the university at the verification stage; where contact details are out of date, the process drags on.

The point at which translation enters

The English versions of the documents must be ready before the assessment application is made. The order runs like this: the originals and their annexes are gathered, the attestation step is completed if it is needed, the translation is made and the certification details are added, and the assessment and admission applications are then set in motion. You will find expectations document by document in our document guide, and the differences between countries in our country list.

Line up your university contact for verification

The longest part of the assessment process in New Zealand is confirming that the document really did come from the issuing institution. That confirmation is usually made by corresponding with your university directly, which means the speed of the process depends as much on how quickly the institution you graduated from replies as it does on you. It is a practical preparation, then, to get in touch with the student affairs office before you apply and find out who will answer a request for verification arriving from abroad. Making sure the institution’s official e-mail address is current can shorten the process by weeks.

The second preparation is to see that the numbers and dates on the documents are legible. The diploma number, the date of graduation and the student number are the keys to verification; a number that comes out faint in a scan will leave the institution unable to find the record. In the translation, too, these numbers are expected to be carried over exactly and kept in their original form.

• Find out your university’s point of contact for verification.
• Check that the diploma and student numbers are legible.
• Keep numbers and dates exactly as they stand in the translation.
• Run the assessment and the admission application in parallel.

Knowing from the start what the result of a New Zealand assessment will be used for also decides which application you make. If all you want is admission to a programme, the institution’s own review may be enough and you spare yourself the cost of a formal assessment. If, on the other hand, you have work after graduation or professional registration in mind, the formal letter about the level will certainly be wanted later on; obtaining it now rather than then comes cheaper.

On the documents side, the academic transcript is expected to show the length of study and the total credit load. That information is what the assignment of a level rests on. Something showing that the programme was taught face to face may also be asked for; where this does not appear on the transcript, a short letter has to be obtained from the university, and that letter is translated as well.

Because the thresholds for admission and for the visa are assessed separately on a language certificate, planning the two together saves you having to sit the examination again later.

In budgeting for New Zealand it is worth remembering that the assessment fee, the cost of translation and the school’s application fee are separate items. The assessment process is the least predictable of them, since it involves verifying documents, and the other items should be planned around it. It also helps to reckon with how long the documents will stay in use; a process that begins with student status brings the same documents up again at the stages of post-study work and professional registration. Keeping digital copies of the translation set and of the letter about the level saves repeating the same work at that point, and saves time.

Since the verification step takes time, starting early shortens the process as a whole. Have a look at our pricing page, and you can upload your documents to ask for a quotation.

This page is meant as guidance; the approval regimes of individual countries and the document formats they require can be updated over time. As practice changes, take the requirement in force at the moment of application as your guide.