[4][5] NZQA administers the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and the New Zealand Scholarship for secondary school students.

[3] As of 2023, Grant Klinkum was the Chief Executive, supported by Alex Bidois, Utufa’asisili Rosemary Mose, Eve McMahon, Jann Marshall and Tim Bowron,[9] and Tracey Martin was Chair of the NZQA Board.

In 2011 NZQA introduced a new set of incentives and sanctions for providers, based on EER results, to bring higher performance to the sector.

[22] Students in the Hurunui and Kaikoura districts were unable to attend their exams as their schools were closed, meaning they had to use their derived grades.

[26] In 2017, many students and teachers were left perplexed by NCEA Level 1 MCAT externals, stating that they were "too difficult" and "not in the correct standard".