The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) cancelled the registration of eight poorly performing tertiary education providers in the 12 months to July.
The authority's annual report for 2013/14 says the eight privately owned institutions failed to meet one or more of their registration conditions.
Another 40 institutions cancelled their own registrations during the year.
The report said the authority published the audits of 153 tertiary providers, just four of whom were placed in its lowest performance category.
Eighty-five percent of the schools audited had good NCEA assessment practices - up from 80 percent the previous year.
