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BDM (Births)/MoE Student Birth Confirmation
• Annual Report
• Technical information
• System description
• Historical activity
Annual Report
Purpose: To improve the quality and integrity of data held on the National Student Index (NSI) and reduce compliance costs for students by verifying their details for tertiary education organisations.
Year commenced: 2004
Features: Data is transferred on request on an encrypted compact disc.
BDM disclose to MoE: Births, Deaths and Marriages provides an extract of records of New Zealand born citizens, born during the period requested. The records include full name, date of birth, and gender.
Activity: No batches of birth records were matched during 2007/08 or 2008/09 due to high staff turnover in the MoE.
Technical information
| Information matching provision | Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act 1995, s.78A |
| Year authorised/commenced | 2002/2004 |
| Programme type | Confirming eligibility Updating data |
MoE are working through historical data as resources permit. They limit their request for data by specifying a date range. Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) extract the data from the Births Register of New Zealand births. The file is provided to MoE on an encrypted compact disc.
Matching of the data is performed using the NSI system. A matching run passes BDM data through a series of four progressively looser matching algorithms. For each BDM record received, the matching process can have one of the following four possible outcomes:
1. no match - no NSI records match with the BDM record;
2. unique and exact match - one NSI record exactly matches with the BDM record;
3. unique and non-exact match - one NSI record matches with almost all components of the BDM record (eg. name and gender exactly match but date of birth is different); or
4. multiple results returned - more than one NSI record matches exactly, or almost exactly, with the BDM record.
Where a match is exact and unique, these records are automatically updated into the NSI database. Where a match is not exact, or more than one match has been found for a particular record, manual verification processes are used to determine whether a partial match can be accepted and updated into the NSI database. Any birth records that remain unmatched at the completion of this process are deleted.
This match does not result in any adverse action against individuals. Records that are verified by this process are flagged as ‘verified' in the NSI and no further action is taken. Records that are not verified by this process are flagged as ‘partial' in the NSI and educational institutions will need to complete the verification if claiming full domestic funding for that student.
MoE have provided forms online for individuals to request their NSI details from the MoE and to request correction of any errors.
To ensure continued integrity of the NSI, no name held on the NSI and verified by matching with a BDM file entry may be changed unless a formal challenge is submitted to MoE for validation. An audit trail is maintained within the NSI system that shows all changes to records, including the change to the verification status, the source of the verification, the date the match took place and the level of match the algorithm achieved.
MoE's website and student publications notify students that they may check their details held on the NSI and whether the information has been verified by matching with a BDM file entry. They do this by either accessing the NSI via the MoE website or through their Tertiary Education Provider.
Historical activity
2004/05 2006/07
| Brith records from the period | 01/01/1970-31/12/1986 | 01/01/1987-31/12/1991 |
| Received for matching | 947,221 | 292,360 |
| Matched exactly with NSI record (automatically) | 478,625 | 187,932 |
| Matched after manual intervention | 5,430 | 2,145 |
| Total birth records matched | 486,231 | 190,077 |
| Total birth records not matched | 435,076 | 102,283 |
| Percentage matched | 51% | 65% |