Your options after leaving school

NCEA and other national certificates are recognised by employers, and used as the benchmark for selection by universities and other tertiary providers.

NCEA Level 2 provides the foundation skills required for employment.

Independent research shows that performance in NCEA is a good indicator of success at first-year university.

Entrance to a New Zealand university

There are some basic requirements for entrance to a New Zealand university, including a minimum number of Literacy and Numeracy credits.

More information about university entrance requirements

Entrance to an overseas university

NCEA is New Zealand's national school-leaver qualification.

Overseas universities usually require international students to have achieved the university entrance standard set by the country they studied in.

The same principle generally applies to other tertiary providers overseas.

New Zealand qualifications are widely accepted in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom (UK).

NCEA Level 3 is equivalent to:

the UK General Certificate of Education (GCE) A-level
the relevant state or territory Senior Secondary Certificate of Education in Australia.

NCEA Level 3 results are used in the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank for entrance to all Australian universities.

When they receive an application, Australian Tertiary Admission Centres contact us directly for results from early in January.

More information

Applying to study overseas with NCEA

How to order result documents

Using your NCEA results to get a job

Your NCEA results can help you get a job. Create a summary of your results from your Record of Achievement and include it in your CV or job applications.

Accessing your NCEA results

Log in to the learners portal to view your Record of Achievement using your National Student Number (NSN).

Log in to the learners portal (external link)

Choose to view a selection of items, then copy and paste this information into your CV or job application.

Using your NCEA results for vocational training

There are many paths you can take to earn a qualification and get into a valuable career.

You can also add to any NCEA credits you earn at school through further training. For example, if you earn credits doing workplace training, these can be combined with credits you gained while at school.

Vocational training is work-based learning. You can use and build on your existing NCEA credits to: