This article outlines some of the major factors leading to the introduction of the New Zealand National Qualifications Framework (NQF). It also describes the NQF's design, outlines changes that were introduced following its introduction in 1991, and explores its impact to date. The New Zealand case is interesting, as the agency responsible for the implementation of the NQF, the NZQA, attempted to introduce a unified qualifications framework. Most other countries who have adopted NQFs have not been so ambitious and have instead attempted to develop either communications frameworks (which take the existing education and training system and aims to make it more transparent and easier to understand) or reforming frameworks (which take the existing education and training system but aims to improve it in specific ways). The aim in New Zealand was to transform the education and training system such that all forms of education and training that were funded by the state (and some of those that were not) would adopt a common system of measuring and recording learning. It was argued that this would create a seamless system of education and training. Accordingly, learners would be able to move with ease between different providers of education and training as they built their human capital. However, as described more fully throughout this article, a number of factors conspired against the NZQA as it attempted to implement its original vision, including resistance from universities and from other groups and individuals. It is also reasonable to assert that the NQF gained political traction for its more ambitious proposal during a period when New Zealand was undertaking widespread and rapid reform of many different aspects of public policy. Subsequent administrations, which had different objectives, were less supportive of the NZQA's original vision.