[Patrick]

Been waiting for 2 months now, original and first request have gone out with no response from one of my universities, but when I contact my university, they say they've never received anything. However, I have someone in the verification department there who is willing to forward a letter confirming who I am and that I studied there, as long as I give him an address for it to be sent to. So, I'm wondering ... since it appears that NZQA has mucked up sending their request twice now, and I can get the deed done by myself with help from this good samaritan, should I get involved and ask him to send it to NZQA? What would happen if I do interfere? Would the entire assessment be thrown out? Would I have to do it again? Does anyone know? Help!

[Cardy]

Hello i had similar with mine and they did say it could jeopardise your application if you interfered. i think it mentions it in the application form as well. they did eventually do it without me getting involved and it was worth waiting for ,i got a better assessment than i was expecting. I was tempted like yourself to try and speed it up but i,d persevere if i was you . Cheers Paul :yes

[zxof]

I am facing the same problem here..
sent my application early december last year, delayed because of xmas n new year holiday.
I finally received my original documents around mid january.

I sent an email to the evaluator mid feb, got a reply immediately that they're still waiting the answer from my university.

I called my uni, explained the situation. They said no records etc about such request.
A very nice lady promised to do further check.
After few days she called me back saying that no such letter or email from nzqa.... :(

[tee and dee]

ME too....... but Patrick I wouldn't interfere as I have tried to help by sending a scan of a verification doc and got a very shirty email telling me off ! I imagine if you get a letter sent they will really freak out. MY second verification request is supposed to have gone out on 7th Feb (1st - 7th DEc) - but just called Manchester Uni and they have had nothing and I'm waiitng to find out if my other uni has (just had a conversation by phone with a nice lady who will pass it onto the person I need). It feels like NZQA just email/write to any old dpt carelessly and so verification gets delayed - or worse - my fear is it will never be done!! Is this a money making scheme ? After 3 requests do we have to start the whole thing off again and pay again ? Very depressing as this is holding us up in getting PR. I asked my immigration case officer if there was anything more I could do and she told me "there is no way of getting NZQA to go any faster" !

HAng in there everyone - if this is a test of endurance - surely moving to the other side of the world will be easy in comparison,

Tracey

[willsken]

I have to agree. I did have a contact in my uni and I kept in touch with her as to when things arrive etc. But that being said I would not have done anything to let NZQA know I was in touch with them. I have the impression that they really don't like it.

I know the wait is hard but it will be worth it in the end.

[katandbob]

I have to agree. I did have a contact in my uni and I kept in touch with her as to when things arrive etc. But that being said I would not have done anything to let NZQA know I was in touch with them. I have the impression that they really don't like it.

I know the wait is hard but it will be worth it in the end.

I have my emails printed off, and I am sure that my assessor asked me to contact the awarding body....and pay the fee...it cost me a further £22 for them to then send an email to the assessor to confirm that I had done my certificate, and the grade I got.

But I will turf throught he boxes and see if I can find them forsure.

Kat

[KD17]

If we hadn't have "interfered" as such, we would not have got our PR.

We telephoned our assessing officer, usually on a Sunday evening around 10pm (UK time). She told us what she was waiting for. We went back to the awarding body and asked for that confirmation.

They sent it to us initially and we sent it on.

The last time this happened we had changed case officers and he asked for what we had sent to us, to be addressed to him directly, which we did. he then assessed our qualification, and we have PR (as of today !!)

I don't recall reading anything about "not interfering" but then I tend not to read the small print.. :confused: Our first case officer told us that they have their own contact with our awarding body, our final case officer said this was not so. There is a lot of contradiction with the NZQA, it depends on who your case officer is I think.

The NZQA rarely chase for anything, if it doesn't come back, then it doesn't come back and they do a "nil" assessment. We don't like that method as too much time, effort, tears & money go into getting PR and we weren't prepared to lose it all for the sake of a phone call or two.

As long as you're polite and respectful, and dont' hassle them, I don't think it hurts to take your fate into your own hands.

Good Luck


Keith & Debby

[willsken]

I have a friend that is going through this at the moment. She was sent forms by NZQA and asked to fill them in and then send them on to the awarding body. But she was told that was all she was to do and all future contacts must be between NZQA and the awarding body.

I think that it would be worth checking with your caseworker. As has been said before it will depend on how much of a jobs worth yours is.

Although that being said, in my case it was sent to the wrong department at the uni and if it hadn't been for me being in contact with someone, I don't know how long it would have taken to find its way to the right department.

Personally I can’t see what their problem is if all you are doing is chasing up where the paperwork is and not trying to influence what is sent to NZQA.

[KD17]

We agree with Wilsken

all we ever did was chase for what we were told was outstanding. Fortunately our awarding body was able to provide this information.

We have sent you PM.


Keith & Debby

[Patrick]

I've decided to interfere. I'll keep everyone posted as to what happens. If the application is rejected or something along those lines for my attempting to help, I'll definitely raise a stink. I kind of feel like my wife: we pay the money for the service, so the least they could do is actually try on their part.

[willsken]

Good luck Patrick.

Tread carefully and I can't see you will have to much of a problem. :)

[tee and dee]

Best of luck Patrick - I wait with bated breath!
Tracey

[Patrick]

Well, the letter from my good samaritan at my university has been sent. Now, I guess it's a bit of waiting on my part before a phone call next Friday after the letter should have arrived there to see what, if anything, is going to happen.

[zxof]

Last week, I checked again with my university for any letter/fax/email from NZQA, still nothing...

Finally I emailed the case officer the complete contact details of my university (with the department name, email, fax number, etc..) and begging him to re-send the verification letter.
I told him that according my university for such request usually will get respond within a week, so perhaps the letter is lost or being delivered to the wrong department.

All I got was the exact same song saying they can not control this process and according to their procedure, they will re-send the verification only after mid march. :(

It seems all they did was pointing finger and saying "The school's fault not ours"
But the funny thing is.. every schools, all over the world(almost) has the same problem?

[Patrick]

Some interesting developments. It seems that my interference has shaken the NZQA tree a bit. First, my case officer emailed a slightly rude letter to me telling me to bug off, as he had gotten the information from my university very quickly after I asked them to send it. Then, I phoned the general help line for NZQA and asked to complain to the person in charge about an apparent unwillingness on the part of my case officer to help verify my information, which had prompted me to tell my university to send info to them in the vain hope of solving the problem caused by my case officer's unwillingness to do his job, something which I supported by sending him a written statement from my university saying they have never received anything from the NZQA, contrary to my case officer's assertion that he had sent something to them. The nice lady told me to contact the CEO of NZQA, and gave me an extension. So, finally, someone in charge!

I phoned the number, told my story, then within a day received a nice email from another support officer who told me they had sent the request by fax to the number I had given them. My university contact sent this new form back via fax within a few hours, and it seems, after another phone call on my part, that the NZQA has received this fax. I'm now assuming, and crossing my fingers at the same time, that this means they will finish the process sometime around the ten working days listed on their website (I didn't fast-track). Needless to say, my case officer is not returning my thankful emails to him. Hmm. Maybe causing an uproar with the boss is a good idea? Of course, if the assessment is less than what I think is warranted (way over 7), then I'll have to do it all over again, but I'm hoping ...

[tee and dee]

Nice one Patrick - I'll know who to come to next time I want to kick some ***!

Tracey

[Smiler]

Good on ya Patrick :nice1

[Patrick]

Well, all's well that end well. I got the level I was looking for, the piece of paper is in my tightly-clenched hands as I speak, and all I can say is ... shake the tree. If you are going through this process, make it a whole lot easier on yourself stress-wise and complain loudly. I received quick service only after I complained to the CEO of the agency itself and pestered them endlessly. Once I did that, everything moved very fast, even to the point of them breaking their own "rule" of communicating with your university only at specific intervals within a ten month time period. Of course, it took an irate person from my own university also yelling at my case officer and his unprofessional attitude and such ... but in my opinion, that only helped my cause, as my university contact then proceeded to flood the NZQA office with various letters of support for my degrees until NZQA agreed to resend their verification form "within the next business day." Thanks to Donna at the University of British Columbia ... you are my hero! I will continue to post new messages as I work my way through the registration/immigration process ... so far, teacher registration is a breeze.

[Nienke]

:clap Well done Patrick!

[willsken]

... so far, teacher registration is a breeze.

Totally agree!

Congratulations on it all working out for you. :nice1

[tee and dee]

Congratulations Patrick - good advice for those out there still struggling.
My assessment came through today - after a 7 month process ! A question for both Patrick and Nicola about Teacher Registration - how long does it take once you havethe assessment report? I intend to send mine off tomorrow. It's been in the envelope waiting for the elusive report to be completed. I hope it's not another long haul - I don't think we could stand it !!
Tracey

[Patrick]

Tracey, they're telling me about 3-4 weeks for my registration. They said there's a bit of a backlog right now, though so who knows. They do sound like they're on the ball, though, so as long as you have all the documents they need, it should go fast.

[tee and dee]

CHeers, Patrick, I'm off to catch Postman Pat in 2 minutes !

Oh ! and a little gripe about NZQA (just for a change) - they assessed my Honours degree at Level 7 which equivalent to a degree without Honours in NZ and my Postgrad qulaification again at Level 7 a level below theirs ! Should I ask for a re-assessment or would that mean another 7 months of hell ?

Tracey

[Patrick]

Tracey, my situation is a bit different than yours. I was assessed at Level 10 given all of my degrees, though with the understanding that I wouldn't be seeking a job as a professor so that I didn't need to go through more tests and more waiting. So, I guess I'm actually sitting at a Level 9 in real terms. I would say, unless you really think you deserve a relook at what they did, don't waste the money and time now. Instead, once you get there, do what I'm going to do and go to a NZ university and ask them to look at the particulars of your educational background, to talk with your university, to issue something saying it's equivalent, and then to go back to the NZQA in perosn to argue your case. I will do it just to get around the test requirement because I don't see any need for it, but I think you could do it too. At least it saves a lot of time, stress and money now, right? Just an idea ...

[tee and dee]

Great idea Patrick,
thanks for that advice. I don't think I could put myself in NZQA's hands again just yet - I barely survived this first assessment with my sanity intact. I'm not sure how being at Level 7 will affect me in terms of seeking an educational job so I'll play it by ear for now. Next step - Teacher Registration and then hopefully, PR !! Light at the end of the tunnel as my OH would say,
CHeers, Tracey