We recognise this is a difficult time for people affected by Cyclone Gabrielle, and are making contact with private tertiary providers in Northland, Tairawhiti and the Hawke’s Bay to check on any information or support they might need.
The most important thing right now is for providers to be in contact with their staff and learners, and make sure they are safe.
If you have staff or learners you haven’t been able to contact, and who haven’t contacted their family, you should complete the online form from the police (external link). If you are later in contact with a person reported through this form, please update the police using this form (external link).
Remember that you have a responsibility under the Code to support all enrolled tertiary and international learners’ safety and wellbeing.
Delivery and approvals
We recognise the challenges providers will face, and will be as flexible as possible.
If you need to temporarily deliver from a different site, please just let us know the address. We will record it and follow up with you next month about the paperwork if you need to keep using it.
If you are unable to deliver for more than a few months we can extend approvals or look at whether hibernation is an option for you
We can also extend the duration of your programmes if you need to extend them for students to attend practicums or complete other work which they are unable to do so in the present conditions.
If you would like to discuss your situation and what options are available, please contact us on 0800 697 296 or qaadmin@nzqa.govt.nz.
Student fees and withdrawals
If you temporarily pause delivery to learners, drawdowns for learner fees must stop for that period of time. Depending on how the trustee’s system operates, you will either need to freeze student accounts yourself or request that the trustee do this, until the delivery starts again.
It’s important that you let your trustee and us know if you are pausing delivery. If you get funding through either TEC or student loans, you should also contact TEC and Studylink to let them know.
If you keep delivering the course, the normal refund entitlements apply. In other words, if the learner’s refund period has ended, you don’t have to give a refund if the learner chooses to withdraw (unless specified otherwise in your refund policy). However, we encourage you to review learners’ individual situations and carefully consider whether a refund would be appropriate.
You may wish to explore possibilities other than withdrawal with the learner, such as putting their studies on hold or changing to a different course. If you and the learner agree to put the learner’s studies on hold, the fees should be held in Trust until they start studying again (even if you continue to deliver the course they are enrolled in to other students).
Questions and more information
If you have any questions, or need more information, please contact us on 0800 697 296 or email the relevant team below:
- The Code – code.enquiries@nzqa.govt.nz
- Student fee protection – risk@nzqa.govt.nz
- Approvals and Accreditations – qaadmin@nzqa.govt.nz