NZQA’s complaint process is for learners who want to escalate a complaint about a possible breach of NZQA regulations that affected their experience studying at an education provider.
If you have concerns about an education provider but you are not a learner, or you do not want to go through our formal complaint process, we might still be able to help.
On this page
What NZQA can investigate
We can assess your concerns about providers not meeting the requirements in the:
- NZQA Rules
- Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021, and
- Education and Training Act 2020 (external link).
If NZQA can’t look into your concerns, we will let you know, and suggest another complaint body that might be able to help.
These requirements cover:
- the quality of their education, overall management, and the pastoral care of learners in Private training establishments
- the quality of their education and pastoral care of learners at Te Pūkenga or Wānanga
- the pastoral care of learners at universities
- the pastoral care of international students at schools.
If you’re a student, and you would like to make a formal complaint about something NZQA can investigate, submit a formal complaint form to:
Download the formal complaint form [PDF, 272 KB]
If you are not a student, but you have concerns that fall under the requirements that NZQA can investigate, see below:
What NZQA cannot investigate
NZQA cannot look into concerns about:
- Business decisions of an education provider/school, e.g. who it hires or when it decides not to deliver a certain a course
- The administrative acts or decisions of Wānanga, Te Pūkenga subsidiaries, universities, or schools
- The quality of education delivered by a university or school
- Unregistered education providers
- Complaints that are not from the learners
- Employment matters
- Criminal activity
- An event that took place more than 12 months ago.
NZQA also can’t:
- Re-mark your assessments or overrule your grades
- Re-enrol you
- Discipline or remove staff
- Hire staff
- Award compensation
- Provide legal advice
- Act as your advocate or agent
- Require a written apology
- Conduct undercover investigations.
NZQA is not a dispute resolution service and generally cannot help you get a refund or a specific solution.
If you are looking for a specific solution, we recommend you seek legal advice or contact:
Study Complaints (for international and tertiary students) (external link)
Raising concerns about a provider with NZQA
If you have concerns about an education provider, but you are not a student or you do not want to use our formal complaint process, you can still raise your concerns with us.
This information could help identify areas where NZQA intervention may improve the quality of outcomes for learners.
Get advice on resolving your concerns
When we receive your information we will assess it carefully and we may:
- ask for more details
- refer you to a more appropriate agency
- discuss the issues with the provider taking account of any privacy or confidentiality issues or concerns (whether raised by you or as they affect a third party)
- carry out an investigation
- make a note of the concerns for future reference.
Unless the concerns relate to you personally (in which case, the formal student complaint process may be more appropriate), NZQA is unlikely to give you updates about any investigation and findings.
We do, however, appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention, and will take them seriously.
Will the tertiary education organisation know where NZQA has got the information from?
If it is necessary to let the tertiary education organisation know where the information has come from, so that we can investigate it fairly and thoroughly, we will discuss this with you before doing so.
For more information on how NZQA handles your information, visit our Privacy pages: