NZQA Explained: How an Indian Degree Is Recognised in New Zealand

NZQA is the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, the government body that owns New Zealand’s qualifications framework and evaluates overseas qualifications when somebody asks it to. If your plan is to study in New Zealand, the useful thing to know first is that nobody in that process is going to ask it about your Indian degree.

Universities assess overseas qualifications through their own admissions processes, and Immigration New Zealand hands the academic judgement on a student visa to your education provider. NZQA’s assessment starts to matter later, when you stop being a student and apply for work and then residence. Whether you need one depends entirely on who is asking.

What does NZQA actually do, and what does it not decide about your Indian degree?

It runs New Zealand’s qualifications framework, quality assures the non-university half of the tertiary system, and evaluates overseas qualifications on request. University admissions is not on that list, and neither is professional licensing.

That is the part which catches Indian readers out, because it does not match how things work at home. In India the UGC and AICTE sit above the universities. New Zealand splits the job. NZQA’s own words are that “NZQA quality assures the non-university tertiary sector. Universities New Zealand quality assures the eight New Zealand universities“. Universities New Zealand also approves the degrees those universities offer, through its Committee on University Academic Programmes. NZQA is the regulator standing behind a polytechnic or a private training establishment, not behind the University of Auckland.

It does touch every international student in one way. NZQA administers the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021, which every provider enrolling international students has to follow. That is a welfare obligation on your provider.

Indian qualifications are no small part of its workload. Announcing a session for New Zealand decision makers on 24 September 2025, NZQA wrote that “India is the top country we see qualifications from“. It has still published no India comparability table and no list of recognised Indian institutions. Its guidance on checking an overseas qualification points to ENIC-NARIC, to the Asia-Pacific network APNNIC and to the Dutch body Nuffic, and does not mention India once. India is absent from the eight countries NZQA holds formal recognition arrangements with, which are Australia, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.

What are the NZQCF levels, and which one is a New Zealand bachelor’s degree?

A New Zealand bachelor’s degree sits at Level 7 of a ten level framework called the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework. If you have been searching for the NZQF, you have the right thing under its older name. NZQA renamed it in 2022 when micro-credentials were added, and refreshed the level descriptors in 2025. Many university pages still print the old name.

Four of the ten levels decide most graduate applications, and the step from Level 7 to Level 8, where honours and the postgraduate diploma sit, is a single postgraduate year.

Where does a three year Indian bachelor’s degree sit on the NZQCF?

At Level 7, the same place a New Zealand bachelor’s degree sits. New Zealand runs a three year bachelor’s of its own, which Massey describes as “most bachelor’s degrees are 360 credits, which takes three years if studying full-time“, at Level 7. A BSc, BCom or BA from an Indian university is that same shape, so the four year rule that complicates applications to Germany or the United States never arises here.

Be careful who you credit for that, though. It is not NZQA. The only place an Indian degree has ever been assigned an NZQCF level in writing is Immigration New Zealand’s exemption list, which covers 63 institutions and nobody else. On that list every Indian bachelor’s degree that “requires three or more years of full-time study” is recorded as a Level 7 bachelor’s degree. For a graduate of any other Indian university no published level exists, and an individual assessment would decide it.

Reaching Level 8 is a different matter, and that is where applications actually come unstuck. Auckland sets its masters entry by the size of the degree rather than by your marks alone. A 120 point masters “normally requires a completed bachelor honours degree or postgraduate diploma”, which a three year Indian degree is not. A 180 point masters requires “a completed bachelor degree or postgraduate certificate”, which it is. Canterbury puts the same rule in one line. A 120 point masters by thesis only needs “a year of postgraduate study, following an undergraduate degree“. A postgraduate diploma or an honours year is what closes that difference.

Once your degree is accepted, a university weighs your percentage and the standing of the institution that awarded it, which is the arithmetic behind most masters in New Zealand decisions. Canterbury is unusually open about it, publishing Indian entry marks in four institution bands with a conversion rule of “(GPA-0.5) x 10 = %”, where its elite band asks for a lower percentage than its bottom band.

When do you need an NZQA International Qualification Assessment, and when does nobody ask?

Study applications do not need one. Most work and residence applications do. An International Qualification Assessment, or IQA, is NZQA’s paid evaluation of a completed overseas qualification against the NZQCF, and Immigration New Zealand states that “most qualifications from outside New Zealand require an IQA“. That sentence is about the visas it is written for. The student visa is not one of them.

Take the study rows first. The Fee Paying Student Visa never mentions a qualification assessment. Immigration New Zealand asks for an offer of place, money and insurance, then pushes the academic call onto your provider, who must confirm “that the prospective student has the English language proficiency and academic capability to succeed in the programme offered“. Your New Zealand student visa rests on the university’s reading of your transcript.

The universities say the same in their own words. Five of the eight New Zealand universities publish their international admission rules openly enough to check, and none of them asks for an NZQA assessment. Canterbury tells applicants that “your admission to the University and to your chosen qualification will be assessed at the same time“. Waikato says it “will assess your study to determine whether it is an acceptable equivalent to the New Zealand University Entrance qualification”. Victoria University of Wellington names the references it leans on, saying it refers “to UK ENIC and NOOSR when determining the recognition of institutions and qualifications“, which are the British and Australian recognition bodies. AUT, Otago and Lincoln block automated access to those pages, so ask those three directly.

Victoria’s admission regulations do hand NZQA one job in admissions. Where an application for admission by qualification assessment is declined on grounds relating to the applicant’s educational qualifications, the applicant “may appeal to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority”.

The work visa rule is more generous than that Immigration New Zealand sentence suggests. An assessment is required only “if the qualification was gained outside of New Zealand and is not a Level 7 Bachelor’s degree or higher“, and qualifications at bachelor’s level or above “can be considered relevant to any employment offered”. So an Indian graduate applying for an Accredited Employer Work Visa on a BTech or a BCom buys nothing. Someone relying on a three year polytechnic diploma does.

Residence is where the cost lands. Claiming qualification points under the Skilled Migrant Category means producing either “an International Qualifications Assessment (IQA) from the NZQA” or a qualification “included on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment“. A Level 7 bachelor’s is currently worth 3 of the 6 points a principal applicant needs from one skill category, a Level 9 master’s 5, and a Level 10 doctorate 6. Even the exemption comes with a warning attached, because Immigration New Zealand says that “even if your qualification is on the list of exemptions, Immigration New Zealand may still ask you to get an IQA when we process your application”.

Note. Those points change on 24 August 2026. Immigration New Zealand has published that an overseas bachelor’s degree will earn 4 points rather than 3, and that some higher level qualifications will additionally require you to hold a bachelor’s. The operational manual still carries the old numbers, so work from the policy page until it catches up.

Which Indian qualifications are exempt from an NZQA assessment?

Only bachelor’s and master’s degrees from 63 named Indian institutions. India joined Immigration New Zealand’s List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment on 23 June 2025, alongside France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Switzerland. The 63 are 23 IITs, 31 NITs, 7 IISERs, IISc Bangalore and IIEST Shibpur. No central universities, no IIMs, no private universities.

Four conditions have to hold together.

• Your institution and your qualification type are both on the list.
• Your degree was awarded from or after the year shown against your institution. The years run from 2007 to 2016, most NITs sit at 2007 and most of the older IITs at 2012, and the newest campuses are 2015 or 2016. An IIT degree awarded before your own institution’s year is not exempt.
• It was not “completed outside of the list country, including any overseas campuses” of that institution.
• It clears the duration rule and the exclusions. A bachelor’s needs three or more years of full-time study, a master’s two or more, and the Master of Business Administration and the Executive MBA are excluded by name, so an IIT MBA still needs an assessment.

Why every other Indian university is missing has a published answer, and it is not about quality. NZQA set it out in an Official Information Act response dated 30 July 2025. The reason given is mode of study. NZQA wrote that “State, Central and Deemed universities have been excluded from the LQEA because these institutions offer a range of regular, online and distance education degree programmes”, and that a check with the University Grants Commission’s Distance Education Bureau is needed to establish the mode of study for any individual graduate. A list keyed to institution names cannot separate a regular degree from a distance one.

Engineering graduates have a second route with nothing to do with that list. Immigration New Zealand treats a degree accredited under the Washington Accord as occupying Level 7 on the NZQCF and worth 3 residence points, provided it “was awarded from or after the date the country became a signatory”. India’s National Board of Accreditation became a permanent Washington Accord signatory on 13 June 2014, covering NBA accredited programmes at Tier-1 institutions. A BTech from such a programme awarded in 2016 is covered and the identical degree awarded in 2012 is not, because the Accord is not applied retrospectively.

Anyone holding a four year integrated degree should read one more line before relying on that route. Immigration New Zealand notes that if you believe your qualification “may be higher than NZQCF level 7”, apply to NZQA anyway, since the Accord route fixes you at Level 7 while an assessment might place you above it.

Note. Being on the list is not the same as being called equivalent. The list “is for immigration purposes only”, and being named on it “does not mean that it is comparable to a similarly named New Zealand qualification”, nor does it bear on professional registration, further study, salary or employment.

What does an IQA cost, how long does it take, and what comes back?

NZ$445 for a Standard IQA, with a stated average wait of ten weeks. The fee includes GST, and there is no refund once you apply.

NZ$445 × 55.33 = 24,622 rupees

That rate of 55.33 rupees to the dollar comes from the European Central Bank’s reference rates on 28 July 2026, dividing the euro’s rupee rate by its New Zealand dollar rate. Redo that division on the day you pay, because the rupee moves.

Both timings you will see quoted are real and they count different things. NZQA says that “due to high demand, the average wait times for IQA applications are now 10 weeks“, and separately that once your application is confirmed complete it finishes 90 per cent within three weeks. Sitting in that gap is document verification, because NZQA does not begin evaluating “until all documents have been successfully verified”.

What arrives at the end is a recognition statement saying one of three things. Your qualification is compared to a level and a qualification type on the NZQCF, or to a level with no qualification type where nothing on the framework matches its structure, or it “cannot be recognised by NZQA“. The reasons NZQA gives for that third outcome are that the qualification is not nationally recognised or properly accredited in India, that it does not meet New Zealand’s definition of a qualification, or that NZQA could not verify it.

The statement “is valid indefinitely”, so a later visa never means paying twice. NZQA does “only retain documents for 10 years”, so download your own copy the day it lands.

If you want to challenge the outcome, check the date carefully. NZQA’s recognition statement page now says you can appeal “within 20 working days from the date your recognition outcome statement was issued”, preserving the old three month window only for applications submitted before 30 July 2026. Its own application page still describes the three month rule, so the two disagree as things stand. Work to the shorter window and confirm with NZQA before relying on either.

Some qualifications cannot be assessed at all. NZQA will not evaluate secondary school qualifications, which rules out your Class 12 marksheet, nor incomplete study, certificates of attendance, letters of work experience, or vendor certifications such as Cisco and Microsoft awards. Whatever it does assess needs at least 400 notional learning hours, roughly ten weeks of full time study.

One product is easy to misread while comparing prices. The Overseas Study Assessment at NZ$165 is not a cheaper student version of the IQA. It exists for New Zealand citizens and residents with a New Zealand student loan who are going abroad, so Inland Revenue can keep that loan interest free.

How does NZQA verify documents from an Indian university?

Not from the copies you upload. NZQA wants independent proof that your documents are genuine, and says your “qualification cannot be recognised if you do not provide an acceptable form of verification“. Three routes are open. Your institution can verify through its own online platform if NZQA trusts it, its academic records section can email digital copies straight to NZQA from an official address, or you can use an approved third party service. Most Indian universities run no verification portal, so the middle route is usually the realistic one. Applications stall here on procedure.

• A forwarded email fails. NZQA “cannot accept an email which has been forwarded”, so your registrar has to write to NZQA directly rather than copy you in.
• Attestation and apostille do not help. NZQA does not accept “physical or certified copies of your qualification documents (i.e. apostille or public notary copies)”, which is exactly the instinct every other visa process teaches an Indian applicant.
• Do not post anything. Where a university cannot send records electronically, NZQA asks you not to arrange physical copies at all and to use another route.
• Your own portal login is not proof. NZQA will not use your student portal credentials to check your results itself.

If you already paid for a WES report while you were considering Canada, read the next part before spending anything twice. NZQA “cannot accept recognition evaluations from other countries”, so a WES credential evaluation is no substitute for an IQA. It will accept WES as a document verification service, and it is specific about how. NZQA does “not accept a WES US/Canada credential evaluation report as verification”, but you can apply for a WES Global Records Verification Report for NZQA, and doing that means creating “a new WES application using a different email address” before quoting your old reference number. Your old report is not wasted, yet it cannot be forwarded and the account cannot be reused.

Be straight with them as well. NZQA states that on receiving false information it will cancel the application, withdraw the recognition statement, and contact the relevant agencies including Immigration New Zealand, the Teaching Council and the New Zealand Police.

Who decides recognition if you want to register as a nurse, a teacher or an engineer?

Not always NZQA. The answer changes with the profession, so check your own council’s rules before you settle on a programme. For two of the three below, NZQA never sees your file.

For nurses the Nursing Council of New Zealand does it in house. Its rule is that for an internationally qualified nurse the “assessment of equivalency to New Zealand nursing qualifications will be made by the Nursing Council of New Zealand“, after documents are verified through TruMerit. NZQA is not named anywhere in that process. English must be OET at 350 for reading, listening and speaking with 300 for writing, or IELTS Academic at 7 with 6.5 for writing, and PTE is not accepted. The clinical assessment is a ten station examination sat in person at the Nurse Maude centre in Christchurch.

For teachers the arrangement reverses. The Teaching Council says that “NZQA no longer pre-approves overseas teaching qualifications” and that you must apply for a Teaching IQA instead, which compares your qualification against New Zealand’s initial teacher education standards. The Council then works from NZQA’s verdict.

Engineering New Zealand asks a Chartered Professional Engineer applicant to hold “a Washington Accord-accredited qualification” or to demonstrate equivalent knowledge, so the same NBA accreditation that excuses you from an assessment at the immigration counter is what the professional body looks for. Doctors go through the Medical Council, which again runs a process of its own.

Sources

• NZQA, about the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (the ten levels and the qualification type at each)
• NZQA, history of the NZQCF (renamed from the NZQF in 2022 when micro-credentials were added, descriptors updated 2025)
• NZQA, quality assurance of education in New Zealand (NZQA quality assures the non-university sector, Universities New Zealand quality assures the eight universities)
• NZQA, find out if you need an International Qualification Assessment (the three IQA types, what can and cannot be evaluated, the 400 hour minimum, no evaluations accepted from other countries)
• NZQA, apply for an International Qualification Assessment (ten week average wait, 90 per cent within three weeks once complete)
• NZQA, qualification evaluation fees (NZ$445 Standard, NZ$610 Skill Shortage List, NZ$746 Teaching, NZ$275 pre-1998, NZ$765 appeal, NZ$165 Overseas Study Assessment)
• NZQA, verify documents for an IQA application (accepted and rejected verification methods, the WES Global Records Verification Report, forwarded emails and apostilles not accepted)
• NZQA, recognition statements we issue (the three outcomes, valid indefinitely, documents retained ten years, the 20 working day appeal window from 30 July 2026)
• NZQA, check an overseas qualification (ENIC-NARIC, APNNIC and Nuffic, and no mention of India)
• NZQA, recognition arrangements with other countries (the eight countries, India not among them)
• NZQA, Overseas Qualifications Country Spotlight India, 24 September 2025 (India is the top country NZQA sees qualifications from)
• NZQA, apply for an Overseas Study Assessment (for New Zealand citizens and residents with a student loan studying overseas)
• NZQA, Official Information Act response on adding India and Sri Lanka to the exemption list, 30 July 2025 (the institution groups, and why State, Central and Deemed universities were excluded)
• Immigration New Zealand, Appendix 17 List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment, effective 23 June 2025 (the four part exemption test, immigration purposes only, no bearing on registration or study, the teaching visa rule)
• Immigration New Zealand, Appendix 17 India, effective 23 June 2025 (the 63 institutions, their effective years, three or more years for a bachelor’s, MBA and EMBA excluded)
• Immigration New Zealand, further updates to the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment, 18 June 2025 (India added from 23 June 2025)
• Immigration New Zealand, SR3.25 skill categories, effective 9 March 2026 (qualification points, and the IQA or exemption list requirement)
• Immigration New Zealand, 2026 changes to the Skilled Migrant Category resident visa (an overseas bachelor’s moves from 3 points to 4 on 24 August 2026)
• Immigration New Zealand, WA4.10 determining an Accredited Employer work visa, effective 1 June 2026 (an IQA only below a Level 7 bachelor’s degree)
• Immigration New Zealand, Washington Accord and Sydney Accord accredited degrees, effective 23 June 2025 (Level 7 and 3 points, from the date the country signed)
• Immigration New Zealand, U3.5 offer of a place (the provider declares academic capability, not NZQA)
• Immigration New Zealand, check if you need an International Qualification Assessment (most overseas qualifications need one, and exemption is not a guarantee)
• National Board of Accreditation, India, international recognition (permanent Washington Accord signatory from 13 June 2014, Tier-1 accredited programmes, not retrospective)
• Nursing Council of New Zealand, internationally qualified nurses (equivalency assessed by the Council, TruMerit verification, OET and IELTS scores, PTE not accepted, the Christchurch OSCE)
• Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, requirements to teach in New Zealand (NZQA no longer pre-approves overseas teaching qualifications, a Teaching IQA is required)
• Engineering New Zealand, assessment guidance (a Washington Accord accredited qualification or equivalent knowledge for Chartered Professional Engineer)
• University of Auckland, masters degree entry requirements (120, 180 and 240 point masters and what each requires)
• University of Canterbury, programme specific entry requirements for postgraduate applicants with international qualifications, updated 19 August 2025 (the India percentage bands and the GPA conversion)
• University of Canterbury, admission with an overseas qualification (admission and qualification assessed together, with no NZQA step)
• University of Waikato, applying as an international undergraduate (Waikato assesses equivalence to New Zealand University Entrance itself)
• Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, international entry requirements (recognition determined with reference to UK ENIC and NOOSR)
• Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, admission and enrolment regulations, 6 November 2025 (a declined qualification assessment may be appealed to NZQA)
• Massey University, qualification types and levels (360 credits and three years full time for a bachelor’s degree at Level 7)
• European Central Bank, euro foreign exchange reference rates (108.9610 rupees and 1.9693 New Zealand dollars to the euro on 28 July 2026)

Related reading. The masters in New Zealand compares taught and research programmes. The New Zealand student visa walks through the application itself. There is a profile of each of the eight New Zealand universities, a year of real numbers in the cost of studying in New Zealand, the rules for staying on in the New Zealand post study work visa, and the longer route to residence in New Zealand PR after studying.