In the major technical colleges in New Zealand, instruction is given to the level of the examinations of the Institutes in London and the qualification A.M.I.C.E. or A.M.I.Mech.E. For admission to the Institute of Electrical Engineers, however, a candidate must take classes in a university department for one year, though, after taking the first and second parts of the London examinations and after practical work and “interview”, he may be admitted to the N.Z.I.E.

Entry to the ranks of tradesmen or craftsmen is through apprenticeship after at least two years of post-primary education. By the terms of his apprenticeship, the youth is required to attend technical classes for three years, and his employer is required to release him for the purpose for one half-day a week or its equivalent in longer periods. The apprentice may sit examinations (instruction for which is provided in approved technical schools) for a Certificate in Engineering issued by the Technicians' Certification Authority set up by Act of Parliament (1960). The standard of the certificate is somewhere between Stage I and Stage II of a university degree course; and the University of Canterbury gives exemption from the Intermediate and the First Professional Examinations of the course for B.E. degree to students who have obtained the certificate with “outstanding merit” and are otherwise considered suitable.