Pursuant to clause 20(3) and 20(6)(b) of Schedule 18 of the Education and Training Act 2020, the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) gives the following notice.

Title

This notice may be cited as the Education (Criteria for Significant Amendment to a Plan and Replacement of a Plan) Notice 2025.

Commencement

This notice applies from 1 January 2026.

Introduction

A tertiary education organisation (TEO) must use the criteria set out in this notice to determine if it must seek TEC approval for a significant amendment to a plan or a replacement of a plan.

Part 1 of this notice sets out:

• the criteria for significant amendment to a plan pursuant to clause 20(3)(a) of Schedule 18 of the Act; and
• the criteria for replacement of a plan pursuant to clause 20(3)(b) of Schedule 18 of the Act. 

Part 2 of this notice sets out the criteria for assessing a significant amendment or replacement of a plan pursuant to clause 20(6)(b) of Schedule 18 of the Act.

If a TEO’s proposed significant amendment to, or replacement of, a plan meets the criteria in Part 1, then the TEO must ask TEC to approve the significant amendment to or replacement of its plan. The TEC will assess the significant amendment to, or replacement of, a plan in accordance with the criteria set out in Part 2.

If a TEO’s proposed significant amendment of a plan does not meet the criteria in Part 1, the TEO does not need to seek TEC approval for the amendment to its plan.

Definitions

In this notice:

1. “Act” means the Education and Training Act 2020;
2. “EFTS” means Equivalent Full Time Student;
3. “field of study” refers to narrow Field of Study in the Course New Zealand Standard Classification of Education for all provision except (99) Other Natural and Physical Sciences and (06) Health provision where detailed Field of Study applies;
4. “fund” means any fund established by the Minister for Vocational Education or the Minister for Universities pursuant to section 419 of the Act;
5. “programmes and activities” means tertiary education programmes or activities in relation to which funding has been given under section 425 of the Act;
6. “plan”, in relation to a TEO, means the plan submitted to the TEC by the TEO under clause 8 of Schedule 18 of the Act and for which the TEC has granted funding approval for the tertiary education programmes and activities described in the plan under section 425 of the Act;
7. “PTE” means “private training establishment” as defined in section 10(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020;
8. “region” means delivering a programme or activity in a region of New Zealand where the provider has a physical presence. For the avoidance of doubt, in this notice, a region does not include a situation where a TEO is delivering extramural activity;
9. “significant amendment” has the meaning set out in clause 20(1) of Schedule 18 of the Act;
10. “TEI” means “institution” as defined in section 10(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020;
11. “TEC priority” means programmes or activities in priority areas as set out in the Tertiary Education Commission Plan Guidance which is available on the TEC’s website. These include the Tertiary Education Strategy priorities and the targeted priorities. It may also include other priorities that TEC deems necessary for the tertiary education system to operate effectively;
12. “tertiary education organisation (TEO)” has the same meaning as set out in section 10(1) of the Act.

---

Part 1. Criteria for significant amendment to a plan 

Pursuant to clause 20(3)(a) of Schedule 18 of the Act, a TEO must ask the TEC to approve a significant amendment to a plan if one or more of the following criteria apply:

1. For all TEOs, if a TEO proposes to:

1. increase its approved total amount of on-plan funding;
2. decrease or stop the provision of programmes or activities that are a TEC priority[i] and increase provision of programmes or activities that are not a TEC priority;
3. introduce existing programmes or activities in a region of New Zealand not currently provided for in its plan; or
4. reduce any of the commitments that it is required (by its plan) to use to measure whether proposed outcomes for programmes or activities are being or have been achieved. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes any adverse change to learner success milestones.

2. For all TEOs currently approved to deliver a work-based mode of learning, if a TEO proposes to:

1. increase the number of EFTS in a work-based mode of learning; or
2. change a qualification or credential, or region or mode of learning of any work-based mode of learning in its approved plan.

3. For TEIs, in addition to paragraphs 1 and 2 above, if a TEI proposes to introduce new programmes or activities in a new field of study. For the avoidance of doubt, this is for programmes or activities by qualification, not by course.

4. For PTEs, in addition to paragraphs 1 and 2 above, if a PTE proposes to:

1. introduce new programmes and activities that are not provided for in its plan;
2. change a qualification or credential, region (if currently provided for in its plan), and/or the mode of delivery of its approved EFTS:
   1. by more than 10 EFTS where a PTE has 100 or fewer EFTS in a fund;
   2. by more than 10% where a PTE has 101 to 249 EFTS in a fund;
   3. by more than 25 EFTS where a PTE has 250 or more EFTS in a fund;
3. for hours-based funds only, change, by more than 5,000 hours:
   1. the number of hours the PTE will deliver in a region (if currently provided for in its plan); or
   2. the number of hours associated with a particular mode of delivery.

5. For example, any PTE may change the qualification of the programmes or activities detailed in its plan by up to 10 EFTS regardless of the size of its fund. A PTE that has funding approval for:

1. 150 EFTS in a fund may change the qualification of the programmes or activities detailed in its plan by 15 or fewer EFTS without that change requiring the TEC’s approval (i.e., up to 10%);
2. 1,000 EFTS in a fund may change the qualification of the programmes or activities detailed in its plan by 25 or fewer EFTS without that change requiring the TEC’s approval.

6. In determining whether an amendment to a plan is a significant amendment for the purposes of the above criteria in paragraphs 4(b) and 4 (c), the PTE must take into account all changes to the plan in the calendar year, regardless of whether those changes have already been made. For the avoidance of doubt, the maximum allowable changes is the cumulative total of all changes made in the calendar year.

7. Any over-delivery for which a TEO will receive flexible funding, or any delivery up to 105% (if such a limit is specified in the relevant funding conditions), does not require a significant amendment to a plan and is treated as if it is specified in the mix of provision.

Criteria for replacement of a plan

Pursuant to clause 20(3)(b) of Schedule 18 of the Act, a TEO must ask the TEC to approve a replacement of a plan if a TEO proposes to:

8. change the TEO’s mission and role detailed in its plan in a way that is not consistent with the mission and role in its approved plan;

9. make a change to a qualification, credential, region and/or mode of delivery over the course of a year that affects 50% or more of the TEO’s total programmes or activities, when measured by EFTS or hours learned, and where the total number of EFTS changing is 50 or more. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes cumulative changes made over the current year.

---

Part 2. Criteria for assessing a significant amendment to, or replacement of a plan

Pursuant to clause 20(6)(b) of Schedule 18 of the Act, the TEC sets the criteria for assessing a significant amendment to, or replacement of a plan, that meets the criteria set out in Part 1 to determine whether they will receive the TEC's approval as follows:

10. the criteria for assessing a significant amendment to or replacement of a plan are the same as the criteria prescribed by the TEC under section 424 of the Act for assessing proposed plans, set out in the current Education (Proposed Investment Plans: Content and Submission; Assessment Criteria; and Plan Summaries) Notice.

Dated at Wellington this 19th day of September 2025.

TIM FOWLER, Chief Executive, Tertiary Education Commission

---

Notes

[i] As listed in the relevant Tertiary Education Commission Plan Guidance publication.