New Zealand School of Export

The New Zealand School of Export is the country's leading provider of professional education for exporters. This is delivered through the distance-education Diploma of International Trade, which is the learning component required for the Global Trade Professional (GTP) designation. We were founded with support from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise during Export Year 2007 and eligible companies can now get 50% of their course fees paid via the NZTE Management Capability Development Voucher Scheme. For those companies who are not eligible, we offer a range of scholarships to help with costs. In 2008, the School was granted Institutional Status by the International Association of Trade Training Organisations (IATTO), the global accrediting body which oversees international trade training and certification across all continents. The School is now able to award its own qualifications which are offered via work-based, supported distance learning with no requirement to attend courses off-site. Course content has been written by experienced New Zealand international trade professionals, aimed at rapidly developing practical skills and knowledge to a point where our graduates can identify and successfully export to profitable markets. The courses offered are supported by the Export Library & Information Service (ELIS) which is unique in New Zealand. ELIS is the only library and information service focusing on the needs of the international trade community and is now being copied by other countries. Alumni of the School include staff from New Zealand's largest to smallest (sole-trader) companies including Fonterra, New Zealand Steel, Atradius, Atrax, Red Seal, Cowell's Pavlova's, Encircle, Van Dyck Fine Foods, Forrest Wines, Sacred Hill Wines, and NZ Liquor Resources. In addition, NZTE also puts its own staff through the Diploma programme so that they are more aware of the practical realtities of what it takes to export from New Zealand. The School does not take international students (except Kiwis working overseas) or members of the general public as, because of the practical nature of the programme, course participants are required to be working in, or with, a New Zealand exporter so as to be able to undertake the in-company reports which are the course assessments, as the formal exams have now been replaced by a better way of showing how the learning has been applied.