On this page:

• Limit on prior qualification achievement
• Learners studying extramurally or outside New Zealand

For the full learner eligibility requirements, see the funding conditions for the relevant year.

Refer to the base funding conditions and Delivery at Levels 1 and 2 on the NZQCF (DQ1-2) Fund specific conditions.

Limit on prior qualification achievement

DQ1-2 funding is intended to provide a low-cost way for learners to build essential skills that will help them progress to higher-level study and/or move into skilled work.

Level 1 and 2 funded provision needs to be applied to learners who will benefit from completing an entry-level tertiary qualification. Research has shown that learners are most likely to benefit from foundational-level learning when they do not already have a Level 2 qualification.

We need to ensure that DQ1-2 funding is only allocated to tertiary education organisations (TEOs) for provision that targets learners with no, or low, prior educational achievement.

Funding condition: Prior achieved qualifications and 10% limit

A funding condition applies that restricts funding for learners who already hold a qualification at Level 2 or above.

The funding condition is expressed in two parts:

1. Restrictions on claiming funding for individual learners

You cannot claim DQ1-2 funding for a learner who enrols with you and already holds a qualification at Level 2 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Programme (NZQCF).  

There are two exceptions to this rule:

• They are enrolling in an English language or te reo Māori programme.
• Their prior achieved qualification at Level 2 or higher is more than five years old (as at the date of achievement shown on their NZQA Record of Achievement [NZRoA]).

These exceptions recognise that:

• some learners may enrol in a Level 1 or 2 qualification to acquire English or Māori language skills, with no expectation of study progression or employment
• some qualifications have a limited useful lifespan, and a learner may wish to update their qualification after a period of time, or retrain in another area at a foundational level.

2. A maximum limit that applies across your organisation

You can enrol a maximum of 10% of learners that hold a qualification at Level 2 or higher (excluding the exceptions listed above).

This means you can decide to enrol learners with higher-level qualifications that would usually not be eligible, but you must ensure you stay under the 10% overall limit allowed for your organisation under the funding condition.

Practical guidance to stay under the 10% limit

All TEOs (and secondary schools) are given 90 days to upload credits and qualification completions to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). This can create a time delay between a learner’s previous provider updating a learner’s NZRoA, and them enrolling with you. It is possible the learner may have achieved a qualification that is not yet showing on their NZRoA.  

You can assess a learner’s eligibility for funded provision based on the information showing on their NZRoA on the date you accept their application. You must retain dated evidence that you have checked their NZRoA for audit purposes. 

We suggest you retain a dated pdf or printed copy of a learner’s NZRoA, showing there were no prior qualifications at Level 2 or above listed at the time you accepted their application.

You should also ask the learner about their immediate prior study, to assess if they may have achieved a qualification at Level 2 or above before enrolling with you. Keep evidence that you made reasonable enquiries with them about their immediate past study. Evidence of a reasonable enquiry may be a dated file note with a statement such as “Asked learner about past study – confirmed no quals in addition to what is shown on NZRoA”.

All evidence should be kept on the learner’s file. We undertake monitoring across all TEOs regularly and will contact you if your organisation has exceeded the 10% limit. In the event of an audit, if we see satisfactory evidence that there was no prior qualification showing on the NZRoA, and you made reasonable enquiries with the learner, we will exclude that learner from your organisation’s 10% limit.

Organisational level monitoring

You need to monitor your enrolments to ensure you do not exceed your organisation’s 10% limit. How you do this is up to you, but you may want to consider the following guidance:

• It may be useful to pre-calculate the maximum number of learners allowed, based on your anticipated enrolments. You will need to review this frequently based on your actual enrolment figures as individual learners are enrolled. We recommend you take a conservative approach.
• When learners enrol with you but hold a prior achieved qualification at Level 2 or above, you can exclude those who fall into one, or both, of the two exclusion categories above (if a learner falls into both categories they are only counted once). This will reduce the total enrolments contributing towards your 10% limit, but again, you will need to frequently monitor this, especially during peak enrolment periods.

If you discover significant numbers of your learners have a common eligibility issue that impacts on your 10% limit, we encourage you to collect relevant data and information and discuss this with us.

Learners studying extramurally or outside New Zealand

You may deliver to learners studying outside of New Zealand and/or extramurally with prior written approval from us. Approval will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

For more information, see the section “Use of DQ1-2 Funding for valid domestic enrolments” in the funding conditions for the relevant year.

To request an exception to deliver to a learner studying outside New Zealand and/or extramurally, please contact our Customer Contact Team on 0800 601 301 or customerservice@tec.govt.nz.