A global report gives NZ tertiary education a pass – but hides another side of the story

Getty Images Each year, the OECD’s sprawling Education at a Glance report compares education systems across the developed world.

And each year, New Zealand typically gets a pass mark.

The 2026 edition is no different.

About 44% of New Zealand adults aged 25-64 have a tertiary qualification – a diploma, degree or higher.

That’s almost exactly the OECD average of 43%.

Young graduates here also have a low unemployment rate – just 3%, compared with 5% across the OECD.

So, nothing to see here? Not quite.

Those headline numbers hide a potentially troubling side of the story about the skills of young people growing up in New Zealand.

Aotearoa has one of the largest migrant populations in the developed world, relative to its size.

More than a third of working-age adults were born overseas, the second-highest share in the OECD .

Many arrived through skilled migration programmes, so tend to be well qualified.

When the Ministry of Education analysed the OECD’s 2024 report , it found 51% of overseas-born adults held a tertiary qualification, compared with just 36% of those born here.

That gap is one of the largest in the OECD.

In other words, New Zealand’s “average” performance leans heavily on qualifications earned somewhere else.