BA Honours from an institution not on the exempt list

[willmsmith]

Hi,

I have received my ITA but told i will need to have my degree confirmed by NZQA as the University of Northampton is no longer on the exempt list.

It was previously free from assessment but have been downgraded in recent years it seems, the list for British Universities seems to have been reduced from 100+ to 40 odd....

Has anyone else had a problem with NZ immigration and British unis?

Thanks!

[JandM]

Yes. It's nothing personal - not just you, and not just British universities.

[willmsmith]

Thank you for your reassurance, i'm sure it's the same for many a immigrant!

Is there any precedent for BA Honours from these unfortunate unis not being given a '7' that you know of?

Thanks again

[JandM]

I don't know quite why they took so many universities off the 'exempt' list. My personal feeling is that it's more likely to be about doubts over the quality of THEIR checking, that got them put on the list in the first place, than about the universities' courses in themselves. A lot of the UK universities that have been removed are perfectly respectable institutions, so I'm thinking that probably somebody in a NZ office suddenly realized that Mr A, who set up the list, missed out e.g. procedures 8, 9 and 10 of the investigation before putting them on, rather than anyone thinking that some aspect of their courses isn't up to the level. So I don't think you need have any particular concerns about putting in for your IQA. (And incidentally, don't bother doing PAR, because it's a waste of time and money.)

[Karen Phillips]

I asked INZ that question about why - not least when I discovered that all but Imperial College the Unis that used to make up London Uni but now award degrees separately are not on the list for degrees awarded since 2007. The answer I got was that it was down to the amount and quality of published research and whether all departments offered PhDs. Still doesn't make sense to me. If you got your degree in Wales, there is only Cardiff on the list!

[JandM]

Hmmm. That sounds like fancy talk for, 'We'd rather people didn't think too hard about this, thank you very much, goodbye.' Especially given that some of the former constituent colleges of the University of London have world class reputations!

[Escapee]

I asked INZ that question about why - not least when I discovered that all but Imperial College the Unis that used to make up London Uni but now award degrees separately are not on the list for degrees awarded since 2007. The answer I got was that it was down to the amount and quality of published research and whether all departments offered PhDs. Still doesn't make sense to me. If you got your degree in Wales, there is only Cardiff on the list!

That's crazy! UCL is ranked 5th in the world and Kings College London 16th. I'm doubtful that their research departments or PhD offerings are below par! I'm wondering if NZQA is an income generating department....

[laxgr]

Hi Karen,

Thanks for asking INZ that question and updating us here.

Does INZ have a way to, on a regular basis, close out the remaining procedural stuff and 'bring back' universities/courses to the exempted list. I'm one such affected party as well, and yes, seems like it is not only about British university or specifically any country..

NZQA/INZ's answer to your question seems unconvincing