The Government wants to ban degrees that would be structured like the national certificate of educational achievement (NCEA).
But industry training organisations say it is a protectionist move that will stop them developing degrees for industries they represent.
The Government has proposed a law change to prevent the creation of degrees based on unit standards which break down a qualification into small parts much like the achievement standards used in NCEA.
Although no one has used them yet to build into a degree, at least one is under development.
The Government has the support of universities and most polytechnics, which say unit standards are not suited to degrees.
The Industry Training Federation says that is not true and the change will stop industries from developing degrees that can be offered consistently throughout New Zealand.
