University Entrance

Students who want to study at university must ensure that the courses they select at school allow them to qualify for university entry.  You will be qualified for entrance to a university in New Zealand in 2025 if you have obtained all of the following:

• NCEA Level 3 – 60 credits Level 3 or above (including 10 literacy and 10 numeracy credits from Level 1).
• Level 3 approved subjects – At least 14 credits in each of three Level 3 university approved subjects.
• Literacy – At least 10 credits at Level 2 or higher in English or Te Reo Māori or Level 4 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or from other approved standards; 5 credits must be in reading and 5 credits must be in writing.  Course descriptions use R for reading, W for writing, B for credits that can count as either reading or writing.
• Numeracy – At least 10 credits at Level 1 or higher from relevant standards. (This applies to students who achieved numeracy in 2023. 
• Students new to NCEA in 2025 will need to pass the new NCEA co-requisite to secure any achievement of an NCEA level. Co-requisite assessments are planned to take place multiple times in a year, each part of the co-requisite (reading, writing and numeracy) need to be passed only once. 
• In 2025 the co-requisite will be sat by students in Year 10 and students in the years above who have not yet achieved the literacy or numeracy requirements. Tagged NCEA level 1 standards that count toward literacy and numeracy as part of Level 1 courses in 2025 will also count towards a students achievement of the co-requisite.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITY COURSES

The entry criteria for any tertiary course should be checked with the university – the same course at different universities can have different entry criteria.

University Entrance will NOT give you entrance into all universities and/or all courses (UE is necessary but many courses and/or universities require more).  Therefore, students should be gaining 80 Level 3 credits from university approved subjects.

Students intending to apply for:

• University of Auckland should have FIVE university approved subjects.  
• Students may need to do a compulsory Academic English paper at university as part of their first 12 months of study.
• Students studying English for Academic Purposes (EAP) should also seek advice from their EAP teachers on how they can meet requirements for University of Auckland.
• All other universities should have a minimum of FOUR university approved subjects in their programme, however, five is preferable. 

Some courses require a specific Rank Score. This is calculated as follows:

This example has a rank score of 210 points
(48 + 78 + 84) 

The University of Auckland has a rank score calculator: 
https://www.rankscorecalculator.auckland.ac.nz/

The following are examples of the current requirements for NZ universities.  These are subject to change and students should check the relevant university website for up-to-date information.  Please be aware that this can change at any time.

For guidance about education pathways toward specific career choices you may find some useful resources here: Careers and Gateway