The information on this page applies to:
- domestic learners at tertiary education providers
- international learners at primary, secondary and tertiary education providers.
It can also help learners’ parents and guardians raise any concerns with education providers.
On this page
Raise your concerns through the provider’s formal channels first
If you have concerns about your education experience, the first step is to make a complaint directly to your education provider.
Providers must have a complaints process. This is usually outlined in their student handbook or on their website. This includes complaints about academic, administrative, safety or wellbeing issues.
You should follow that process all the way through, along with any appeals process.
Your education provider is in the best position to address your concerns quickly and to remedy the situation for you.
Tips for resolving a complaint with your education provider
Sometimes navigating a complaints process with your provider while you’re experiencing difficulties could be challenging.
Consider these tips as you work with your education provider to resolve your concerns.
What to do if your concerns are not resolved by the education provider
If you have followed and come to the end of your provider’s complaint process but are not satisfied with the outcome, you can consider making a complaint to an external body.
Whether they could assist you would depend on the nature of your complaint and what the provider has already done to address your concerns.
Here is a list of organisations that can deal with the different kinds of issues learners might experience while studying:
Telling NZQA about your concerns
We are responsible for:
- quality assuring tertiary education providers
- administering the Code of Pastoral Care.
The Code of Pastoral Care covers our expectations for learner safety and wellbeing. It also applies to international learners at New Zealand primary and secondary schools.
We do not provide a dispute resolution service and it is not our role to act as your advocate.
We cannot provide you with personal remedy such as compensation, an apology from the provider, re-enrolment, re-marking of your work, disciplinary action against a tutor, or any other resolution.
This applies even if the provider has not met NZQA requirements.
You can report any concerns to us about the quality of education or safety and wellbeing at a specific education provider. Information you provide supports us in monitoring of the quality and integrity of New Zealand qualifications and the pastoral care of learners.
When we investigate your concerns
We assess all concerns we receive, but we are unable to investigate all of them.
Whether or not we investigate your concerns will depend on a number of factors, such as:
- other information we have about the education provider
- the severity of the issue
- how long ago it occurred
- whether it is systemic in its impact on learners or if it’s something more specific to your circumstances.
We prioritise investigating issues that have the greatest risk and impact on educational quality and pastoral care.
When we don't investigate your concerns
We understand it may be disappointing for you if we do not investigate your concerns due to other priorities, but we value all information you give us.
If we do not investigate your concerns, we may use the information you provide to:
- inform future regulatory activities
- broaden the scope of current regulatory activities
- refer the matter to other government agencies
- keep a record of the information for future reference.