Diploma in Quality Assurance
Effective quality management requires an understanding of how work flows through an organisation and how variation affects results. The DipQA develops the knowledge and practical skills to evaluate processes, select appropriate methods and tools, and improve product or service delivery.
Develop practical quality capability
The DipQA is a two-year programme that builds practical capability in quality management, leadership, and strategy.
Year 1 consists of six papers covering quality and risk management. Students complete twelve assignments designed to develop and consolidate their knowledge across the programme.
The papers cover quality management principles, management systems, and methods and tools for developing, implementing, and improving organisational approaches to quality. The learning is relevant to specialist quality work, including auditing, evaluation, systems implementation, and improvement.
Year 2 builds on Year 1 through substantial workplace-based activities in quality and risk management. Students select projects that respond to needs within their workplace and apply their learning in practice.
The papers require students to plan and complete detailed quality and risk management projects. Through this work, students demonstrate project management skills and the application of appropriate quality methods in an organisational setting.
Learning outcomes
Frequently asked questions
Who is the DipQA designed for?
- Managers, team leaders, and supervisors responsible for quality processes, systems, or improvement.
- Project leaders involved in quality or risk initiatives.
- Technologists, operators, and process controllers involved in managing or monitoring processes.
- People working in service or manufacturing who want to develop their quality management knowledge.
What does this qualification cover?
The DipQA is a two-year part-time programme. Year 1 provides core knowledge and skills and Year 2 extends into advanced applications and leadership topics. You can enrol in Year 1 without committing to Year 2.
- Quality management principles, service quality models, quality costs, customer and supplier relationships, and teamwork.
- Workplace improvement methods, quality tools, decision-making, documentation, and improvement teams.
- Statistical thinking, variation, process capability, control charts, and sampling.
- Inspection, quality management system implementation, documented information, and relevant ISO 9001 requirements.
- Six Sigma tools, environmental management, occupational health and safety, risk assessment, and quality in design.
- Measurement systems, calibration, customer surveys, complaints, sensory testing, and non-destructive testing.
- Traceability, product withdrawal and recall, and an introduction to quality management system auditing.
Together, the six Year 1 papers provide a practical foundation in quality management and prepare students for the workplace-based learning in Year 2.
What happened to the Certificate in Quality Assurance?
NZOQ previously offered the Certificate in Quality Assurance (CQA) as a standalone programme. Year 1 of the DipQA now covers the former Certificate programme, and students may continue to Year 2 to complete the Diploma.
Previous CQA graduates may receive recognition of prior learning and enter the DipQA at Year 2, subject to current programme requirements.
Students whose CQA was awarded before 2009 must complete DipQA601 before continuing. Students whose CQA was awarded in or after 2009 progress directly to DipQA602 and DipQA603.
How can the DipQA support NZOQ professional certification?
Completion of the DipQA can satisfy the professional knowledge requirement for Certified Quality Practitioner certification. Applicants must also meet NZOQ membership, work experience, and other application requirements.
Make a training enquiry to discuss whether this course suits your role or organisational needs.
Training rates shown on this website are indicative and confirmed at the time of registration or enrolment. They apply to domestic participants in 2026 and may change in future years. Additional costs for learning materials or equipment may apply.
Flexible distance learning with tutor support
The DipQA is delivered by distance learning, with support from course tutors available by email, phone, and online video conferencing.
This format allows students to continue working while studying and to apply their learning within their workplace.
DipQA501: Quality Management
DipQA502: Quality Improvement
DipQA503: Variation
DipQA504: Implementing Quality
DipQA505: Quality Systems
DipQA506: Maintaining Quality
DipQA601: Quality & Risk Bridging Course (for Certificate in Quality Assurance graduates)
DipQA602a: Quality & Risk Auditing Training (Recognition of prior learning assessment or practical learning through Internal Auditor training)
DipQA602b: Quality & Risk Audit Project
DipQA603: Quality & Risk Improvement Project
DipQA604: Quality & Risk Learning Journal and Competency Interview
Choose your DipQA Year 1 pathway
Introduces quality management in service and manufacturing settings. Topics include customer-focused design, service quality models, the relationship between quality and cost, and different quality management approaches. Students also examine customer and supplier relationships and the role of teamwork in quality improvement.
Examines workplace improvement tools and business excellence approaches, including the Baldrige programme. Students apply PDCA, SDCA, Kaizen, Pareto analysis, and flowcharts, and consider the role of documentation, improvement teams, staff selection, induction, and training.
Develops practical understanding of variation and statistical process control without requiring an advanced mathematics or statistics background. Topics include population sampling, normal and special cause variation, process capability, control charts, CUSUM techniques, and the application of statistical thinking to improvement.
Examines random sampling and single, double, and multiple sampling plans, including operating characteristic curves, acceptance quality limit (AQL), and limiting quality (LQ). Students also consider quality cost analysis, ISO 9001 requirements, documented information, and implementation of quality management systems.
Extends quality management into environmental and occupational health and safety systems, supplier relationships, and product and service design. Topics include Six Sigma tools, risk assessment, Quality Function Deployment, specifications, investigation, and actions to prevent or minimise risk.
Examines measurement, inspection, control, and calibration across a range of settings. Topics include measurement systems, data analysis, customer surveys and complaints, sensory and non-destructive testing, product traceability and recall, and an introduction to quality management system auditing.
Enrol in the complete Year 1 programme or select individual papers to study at your own pace.
How the enrolment process works
Ask about programme content, study requirements, or available study options.
Submit your registration and choose the complete Year 1 programme or the individual papers you would like to study.
Learn from experienced quality practitioners
NZOQ tutors bring extensive professional and teaching experience in quality management, auditing, and organisational improvement.
Lynley Coburn
Lynley is an experienced quality manager, auditor, and adult educator. She has helped develop and deliver NZOQ programmes, including the Diploma in Quality Assurance and Internal Auditor training, and brings extensive experience in healthcare quality.
What graduates say
The biggest impact that I experienced was the follow-on effect of my internal audit project. The outcomes of the project not only benefited the site where I undertook the audit, but a similar audit was then undertaken at two other sites in the Northern Region and, as a result, improvements are being made nationally.
Melissa Graham
I will recommend this programme to all quality and risk management professionals. This course was beneficial to me. Course guides were always there to help me. A course like this is beneficial to any quality professional in their career in an existing organisation or to someone who is thinking of changing their current job.
Nandu Raut
I now have a greater knowledge and understanding of the industry I am employed in. I have gained investigative and networking tools and have competence and confidence in designing and implementing a full audit process.
R. Gedye
I selected the NZOQ DipQA programme as the practical content appealed to me, and an organisation devoted to quality seemed the most obvious choice. The first year gives a great foundation in quality assurance. For Year 2, being able to apply concepts to practical situations was most interesting.
Moya Appleby
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