EER is gone. What does iQAF mean for PTEs, especially new ones?

Since January 2026, private training establishments (PTEs) and institutes of technology and polytechnics have been working under a new quality system. NZQA’s integrated Quality Assurance Framework, or iQAF, has replaced the old evaluative framework and its External Evaluation and Review (EER). No new EERs are being started, and the familiar Category 1 to 4 ratings are on their way out.

The direction is clear. Quality is moving away from a four-yearly external snapshot and towards something providers own, evidence and talk about with NZQA every year. For established providers that is a change of habit. For new PTEs it is a real opportunity, as long as the systems are set up early.

What has changed since January

NZQA confirmed that iQAF went live in January 2026 after the updated NZQA Rules were approved. The main changes for providers are:

• No new EERs. From 1 January 2026 NZQA stopped starting new EER processes and assuring consistency reviews. Reviews already underway are being completed.
• An annual self-review summary. Each provider sends NZQA a yearly self-review summary report, then meets NZQA to discuss its improvement plan. NZQA is supplying templates and working with providers on when their first submission is due.
• Code of Practice reporting in the same submission. Providers still review their practice against the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice, but that self-review is now reported as part of the annual self-review submission rather than separately.
• Risk-informed monitoring. NZQA’s monitoring is shaped by each provider’s capability and maturity and by wider system data, with NZQA, providers and other parties sharing information. In practice, a provider with strong evidence and few concerns should see lighter-touch oversight than one where risks show up.

What happened to Category 1 to 4?

With EER discontinued, the category rating system stops too. Providers that still refer to their old EER category must add the accompanying statement required by Rule 10 of the Quality Assurance of Tertiary Education Providers Rules 2026.

Some agencies are keeping the old ratings for a while. Immigration New Zealand has said it will keep using existing EER ratings for 12 months from early 2026, with student visa conditions based on a provider’s rating as at the end of 2025. This matters mainly for conditions that refer to a provider’s category, such as part-time work rights for English language students. INZ says this approach lines up with the Tertiary Education Commission.

What is coming next: three quality descriptors

NZQA first proposed a simple compliant or non-compliant view of quality. Providers and government agencies asked for something more graduated, so in August 2026 NZQA consulted on three overall descriptors:

• Highly effective
• Effective
• Not effective

The descriptor would come from a weighted score across four criteria: programme and micro-credential design, delivery of education and training, assessment practice, and quality management system (QMS) implementation. Scores would be based on evidence NZQA already holds and the provider already knows about.

Consultation closed on 7 September 2026. NZQA expects to consult on any supporting Rules in February or March 2027 and anticipates starting to use the descriptors from July 2027. Until then this is still a proposal, and the detail could change.

Why this is good news for new PTEs

Under the old system a new provider could wait years for its first EER before it had a rating to point to. Under iQAF that waiting period largely disappears. The evidence that will feed into your quality descriptor, from how your programmes are designed to how your QMS actually works, starts building from your first intake.

The flip side is that there is no grace period. A new PTE has no track record to lean on, so the quality of its first-year records, self-review and improvement planning will carry more weight than it used to.

For new providers wanting international learners, INZ notes that newly established providers can enrol international students once they are approved and accredited by NZQA and have signed up to the Code of Practice.

Five things new PTEs can do now

1. Put self-review in the calendar now. Plan it as a cycle across the year, with clear owners and dates, not a scramble in the month before your submission is due.
2. Collect learner data from your first intake. Enrolments, attendance, retention, course and qualification completions, learner feedback and, later, graduate destinations. Data you did not collect at the time is very hard to rebuild.
3. Treat your QMS as a living system. One of the proposed criteria is QMS implementation, not QMS documentation. Keep evidence that your policies are used: moderation records, meeting notes, complaints handled, changes made and why.
4. Run Code of Practice review alongside self-review. Because both are now reported together, it makes sense to gather learner wellbeing and safety evidence in the same cycle rather than as a separate exercise.
5. Keep an eye on the settings that are still moving. Watch for NZQA’s Rules consultation on the descriptors in early 2027, and if you enrol international students, check directly with INZ and NZQA how visa conditions will apply once the 12-month transition ends.

How TIN can help

TIN’s Education Consulting service works with training providers on the practical side of quality: planning a self-review cycle, checking whether a QMS is working in practice, preparing for the annual submission and improvement-plan meeting, and reviewing practice against the Code of Practice.

If you are a new PTE getting ready for your first iQAF self-review, talk to us. Call 021 081 75976, email admin@tin.ac.nz or send us a message through our Contact Us page (/contact-us/).

Quality is no longer an event every four years. It is a habit you build from day one.

Sources

• NZQA: New tertiary quality assurance framework goes live (15 January 2026)
• NZQA: Consultation on describing tertiary education provider quality under iQAF
• NZQA: Consultation opens on describing tertiary education provider quality (10 August 2026)
• NZQA: iQAF summary diagrams (PDF)
• Immigration New Zealand: Changes to education quality assurance and what it means for student visas (11 December 2025)