What IELTS score do you need for Whitireia and WelTec?

The Graduate Diploma in IT asks for an IELTS result issued within the last two years, and the enrolled nursing diploma says the score must come from a single IELTS Test Report Form and is valid for two years from the test date. The management pages also accept the New Zealand Certificate in English Language (Academic) at Level 5.

The postgraduate management programmes ask for a bachelor's degree and, for non-business graduates, two years of work in a manager or senior manager role. The institute's management page describes Whitireia and WelTec as a business division of the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST).

Each programme page states its own English level, and Whitireia and WelTec can change it for a new intake. Confirm the score on your programme page before you book a test.

Outside the universities, New Zealand providers must follow NZQA's English language entry requirements. The minimum by level in NZQA's Table is IELTS Academic 5.5 (no band below 5) or PTE 42 (36) for Level 5 programmes, 6.0 (5.5) or PTE 50 (42) for Level 6 and 7 diplomas and degrees, and 6.5 (6.0) or PTE 58 (50) for Level 8 to 10 postgraduate study. A programme may set a higher level, and then the higher level applies.

Results must be from the two years before the programme starts and from a single test report, taken at a test centre. NZQA accepts IELTS One Skill Retake but not TOEFL MyBest scores. Since 21 January 2026 the new-format TOEFL iBT cannot be accepted by non-university providers; only older TOEFL results and the TOEFL iBT Australia / New Zealand test count. Duolingo is not in NZQA's Table.

A degree taught in English exempts you only if it is from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, South Africa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the UK, the US or Vanuatu. Indian, Nepali and Pakistani degrees are not on that list, so applicants from those countries need a test.