Consultation - 2025 Hospitality Qualifications Review Food & Beverage and Hospitality Management

Consultation has now closed on the reviewed Food and Beverage, and Hospitality Management, qualifications, and the reviewed qualifications have been submitted to NZQA for evaluation.

Ringa Hora Services Workforce Development Council invited your feedback on the proposed changes to the reviewed Level 3 and 4 Food and Beverage and Level 5 and 6 Hospitality Management qualifications by 3 October 2025.  

The proposed changes generally retain the intent of the current versions of the qualifications. The changes made were to ensure they remain current, relevant, inclusive, and aligned with industry needs. 

All four qualifications have also had technical adjustments to the qualification specifications, including additions to the general conditions for programmes such as the incorporation of sustainability, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori values; and for the Level 3 and 4 food and beverage qualifications the inclusion of financial literacy and digital technology skills. 

Below are links to the draft reviewed qualifications and a summary of the major proposed changes.  

New Zealand Certificate in Food and Beverage Service (Level 3) with strands in Barista, Bar Services, Café Services, Quick Service Restaurant Services, and Restaurant Services (2104 v3 – draft for consultation Sep 25)  

• Title change – Buffet Services and Functions services strands are proposed to be discontinued, and intent incorporated into the Restaurant Services strand. 

• Strategic Purpose statement – changes made to remove duplication. 

• Graduate Profile Outcomes (GPOs) 1 and 3 have been merged into GPO1 (and credits combined – 15 credits). 

• GPO2, GPO3 (Barista), GPO4 (Bar) and GPO7 (Restaurant service) have been adjusted, whilst retaining similar intent.   

 New Zealand Certificate in Food and Beverage Service (Level 4) with strands in Hospitality Service Operations, and Quick Service Restaurant Services (2105 v3 – draft for consultation Sep 25) 

• Title change – Restaurant Services strand replaced by Hospitality Service Operations. 

• Strategic purpose statement has been rewritten.  

• GPO 1 and 3 have been merged into GPO1 (and combined credits)  

• GPO2, GPO4 and GPO5 have been rewritten to improve clarity, currency and to better align with industry needs, whilst retaining similar intent.   

• Credits have changed for some GPOs – increasing GPO2 from 5 to 10, redistributed by decreasing GPO5 and GPO6 by 5 credits each 

New Zealand Diploma in Hospitality Management (Level 5) (2539 v3 – draft for consultation Sep 25)  

• Hospitality ‘sectors’ was replaced by ‘operations’, and ‘junior hospitality managers’ was removed from the strategic purpose statement.  

• All GPOs have retained intent but been rewritten to improve clarity, currency and to better align with industry needs.  

• Credits for all GPOs adjusted to better reflect their relative weightings. GPOs with credits reduced were GPO 1 (from 20 to 15 credits) and GPO 4 (from 60 to 40 credits); with increases proposed to GPO 2 (from 10 to 15 credits), GPO 3 (from 10 to 20 credits), and GPO 5 (from 20 to 30 credits).  

• The Education pathway has been updated to remove reference to the NZ Certificate in Hospitality (Advanced) (Level 5), which is proposed to expire. 

New Zealand Diploma in Hospitality Management (Level 6) (2540 v3 – draft for consultation Sep 25) 

• Hospitality ‘sectors’ was replaced by ‘operations’, and reference to management roles was removed from the strategic purpose statement.  

• All GPOs have retained intent but been rewritten to improve clarity, currency and to better align with industry needs.  

• Credits have changed for some GPOs – increasing GPO1 from 10 to 20, and decreasing GPOs 4 and 5 by 5 credits to 35 credits each.  
• Education pathway includes examples of higher-level qualifications.  

We invited industry professionals, educators, and stakeholders to share thoughts, suggestions, concerns and feedback on the proposed changes. We welcome your feedback – your insights are valuable in shaping qualifications that meet the needs of learners and the sector. 

We welcomed your feedback on the proposed changes to the reviewed qualifications, and some further minor updates were made to the reviewed qualifications where relevant. See 2025 Hospitality Qualifications Review – Home – Ringa Hora stage 3 for the versions of the qualifications submitted to NZQA for evaluation.   

Many thanks to everyone who contributed. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].