How to become a tertiary education manager
Official title: Tertiary education manager
Also called: Dean, Deputy dean, Faculty head, Academic director, Academic manager, General manager education delivery, Lead education adviser
Tertiary education managers oversee student services, academic staff and research at universities, Te Pūkenga, wānanga and other tertiary education providers.
Main tasks
- Manage education services and support teams
- Set learning goals and teaching rules
- Check on staff wellbeing
- Recruit and hire new staff
- Plan lessons and study programmes
- Suggest programme improvements
- Create and check student assessments
- Train teachers and staff
How to become one
You need a qualification and experience to become a tertiary education manager. You need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: a Bachelor of Education or similar OR; a postgraduate certificate or diploma in curriculum and education (educational leadership) or similar OR; a Master of Educational Leadership or similar; experience in similar work. Other requirements: a master's degree in curriculum and education, tertiary teaching or similar area; a doctoral degree in curriculum and education or similar area; to pass a police check.
Ways in
- University: Education & Teaching degrees, Offered by 6 universities in New Zealand
Pay · Past change · AI and this job
- Most common pay: $78,000 to $144,000 a year (median $109,000), a TEC estimate before tax.
- Lower: $57,000 a year · Upper: $184,000 a year
- TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
- Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Steady (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Who does this work
- About 1,800 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
- In the group Other Education Managers, 76% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
- Where people in the group Other Education Managers work (2023 Census): Auckland 35.5%, Canterbury 11.6%, and Wellington 11.5%.
Related jobs
- Private teacher
- Māori medium teacher
- Kaupapa Māori researcher
- Early childhood education manager
- School principal
- Religious education director
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Questions people ask
How do I become a tertiary education manager?
You need a qualification and experience to become a tertiary education manager. You need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: a Bachelor of Education or similar OR; a postgraduate certificate or diploma in curriculum and education (educational leadership) or similar OR; a Master of Educational Leadership or similar; experience in similar work. Other requirements: a master's degree in curriculum and education, tertiary teaching or similar area; a doctoral degree in curriculum and education or similar area; to pass a police check.
How much does a tertiary education manager earn in New Zealand?
The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $109,000 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $78,000 to $144,000 a year.
Has the number of people working as a tertiary education manager grown in New Zealand?
It has held steady: TEC records the number of people doing this job as steady between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.
Will AI change the work of a tertiary education manager?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.
Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.
This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.
Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.
These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.
Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.
Updated 4 October 2026