ITI NEWSLETTER
Our Views - External Quality AssuranceExternal quality assurance is crucial to ITI’s members because it builds trust in our ability to meet stakeholders’ needs. Some of our members have built up a reputation over many years, but an external tick also benefits them.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority registers private training establishments (a check on organisational quality) and approves and accredits their courses (checking for resources, academic integrity, etc). They audit PTEs’ compliance with the standards and then set an audit cycle, which may be from a few months to three years. All ITI members must have an audit cycle of at least two years.
NZQA is an important organisation to ITI and we have ongoing discussions with them about the nature of their standards and auditor consistency, expertise, costs, timelines and report writing. This communication is important because NZQA does not have any requirement to consult with us – unlike the university and institute of technology and polytechnic sectors that own and operate their quality assurance bodies. We want to explore self-regulation, but legislation would need to change for us to have our own quality assurance body.
Our member profiles on this website include a link to each member’s page on NZQA’s website, where people can check the audit cycle and the latest audit report.