Data on post-study outcomes for tertiary education graduates

Ngā raraunga mō ngā putanga whai muri i ngā akoranga mō ngā paetahi mātauranga matua

Last updated 27 March 2024
Last updated 27 March 2024

Find out what proportion of graduates are in employment, overseas, receiving benefits or in further study and what they earn. You can filter this information by field of study, demographic information, region and tertiary education provider.

Access the data

You can use the data to compare graduates’ outcomes from tertiary providers delivering the same or similar fields of study. You can also find out about the outcomes of graduates in different fields of study at the same provider and at national and regional levels. 

The data is available here:

If you have any questions about the provider-level employment outcomes data, email customerservice@tec.govt.nz.

Individual courses and career paths

This data does not give information on individual courses or career paths.

For information on employment and salary prospects in different jobs, see Careers.govt.nz’s jobs database.

For information on courses and their completion rates, entry requirements, costs and career opportunities, see Careers.govt.nz’s courses database.

Things to consider when using this data

Graduates are grouped into cohorts

We show outcomes for graduates 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 years after graduation. To create a large enough set of data to analyse across qualification level, subject area, age, gender, ethnicity, etc, we group graduates into four-year cohorts.

For a detailed description of how the cohorts work please read Post-study outcomes data – technical information.

Outcomes are influenced by a range of factors

Graduates' outcomes are influenced by a range of factors outside of providers' control. These include different regional labour markets, individuals' choices, and graduates’ other qualifications, skills and experience.

Outcomes are grouped by qualification subject area, not specific qualification

We’ve used this higher level of grouping because there are often too few graduates at individual qualification level to produce any meaningful data. We have grouped together some qualifications that are likely to give graduates different outcomes. For example, graduates with a Bachelor in Oral Health (needed to become a dental hygienist) and a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (needed to become a dentist) are grouped together under dentistry.

Income may appear lower compared to other data sources

The data shows actual income earned rather than adjusting for hours worked, so areas of study where many graduates work part-time will appear to have lower incomes.

Older graduates’ outcomes may be affected by other factors

This data presents earnings and destinations for all age groups (under 25, 25–39 years, and 40 years and over).

Older graduates will likely have different outcomes to younger graduates with similar qualifications, due to factors such as prior learning and work experience. Accordingly, for older graduates traditional outcome indicators of earnings, employment, unemployment and further study may not be enough to define which graduates have better outcomes from their tertiary study.

To improve outcome information for older graduates, this data includes measures such as:

  • change in employment or jobseeker status over a period from two years before graduation to the outcome year, and
  • employed students’ earnings two years before graduation compared to graduates’ earnings in the outcome year.