Unfunded International Providers (UIP) background and how to on-board the system.
Unfunded International Providers (UIPs) are private training establishments that enrol international students and do not receive government funding. Some UIPs offer courses leading to a qualification on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework. Other UIPs, such as the majority of English-language providers, do not offer qualifications.
Since 31 March 2016, UIPs have been submitting specified information to the Ministry of Education as a condition of registration, under Rule 5.1.3 of the Private Training Establishment Registration Rules 2013. Information about the change to Rule 5.1.3 is available on the NZQA website. See a list of current UIPs.
English-language providers are UIPs that solely offer English language courses. Since 1 January 2018, English-language providers who enrol international students are also required to submit enrolment information electronically to the Ministry of Education.
This requirement follows work by the Ministry of Education, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and Education New Zealand alongside English New Zealand and English-language providers. As a result of this work a shorter set of data requirements was developed that reflects the more informal nature of their English programmes.
The English Language UIPs - Independent Facilitation Report [PDF; 5MB] summarises the outcomes from the workshops between English NZ, English-language providers and government agencies.
The requirement to submit a shorter set of data will only apply to providers that offer English language tuition not leading to a qualification on the NZQF. Once the English-language provider expands and starts offering either non-English programmes or programmes leading to a qualification on the NZQF, they will supply the full set of data to the UIP system for all of their programmes.
Due to the shorter data set required for English-language providers, we have grouped all UIPs into the following groups:
| Group 1 | Group 2 |
|---|---|
|
UIPs offering tuition leading to a qualification listed on the NZQF which may include English language qualifications. They may also offer other tuition that does not lead to a qualification. |
UIPs offering English-language only tuition not leading to a qualification listed on the NZQF. |
Group 1 providers will submit the following information:
Group 2 providers will submit the following information:
The Unfunded International Providers (UIP) system is an automated data collection system which will collect individual learner and provider data from UIPs.
The UIP system adheres to a robust assessment process conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. It is regularly monitored to ensure these standards are upheld.
There are three ways to submit data to the UIP system:
Below is the comparison of the three options for UIP data submission.
| Option 1:SMS Integration | Option 2: Bureau Service | Option 3: Uploading files to a data collection portal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key features |
|
|
|
| Business effort |
High (initially) to Low (ongoing)
|
Low /Medium(ongoing)
|
Medium (ongoing)
|
| Technical complexity |
High (initially) to Low (ongoing)
|
Low /Medium(ongoing)
|
Medium (ongoing)
|
*This may incur additional charges.
The content on these pages will guide you through the process of preparing for the data collection, updating your Student Management System (SMS), undertaking the SMS compliance testing process and going live. The Business as Usual (BAU) pages have information for Tertiary Education Organisations (TEOs) and system information for SMS vendors and development teams.
You will need to make updates to your SMS to enable the automated data collection process. The PTE Guide to integrating your SMS with UIP [PDF; 634KB] will help guide you through this process.
Once you have made the initial changes to integrate your SMS with the UIP system no further action is required. Your BAU processes within your SMS will transmit messages to the UIP system in the background.
A bureau can submit UIP data on your behalf. How the data will be submitted to the bureau service will be discussed between the providers and the company offering the bureau service. See a list of companies that offer this service.
This option allows providers to submit data using a data collection portal. Data needs to be submitted in a .txt submission file, which can be created using a template. Guidance documents and a submission file template have been created to assist with this process. These documents are available to download.
Access the UIP file upload portal and tour group portal.
The definition of a tour group (group study tour) is a group with two or more international learners entering New Zealand together in an organised group , for study and activities, at a tertiary education provider.
The Ministry does not require individual learner information for international learners in tour groups. To capture aggregate data for these groups, providers are required to submit their information to a Tour Group portal.
Providers will need to submit the following to the Tour Group portal:
The Tour Group Portal is a web-based form. Data is entered directly onto the webpage. Data submission guides are available to assist with this process and are available to download.
Access the UIP file upload portal and tour group portal.