New Zealand School of Export

New Zealand School of Export (NZSOE)
Location
Palmerston North, New Zealand, Manawatu
New Zealand
Information
Type Charitable Trust (Not-For-Profit)
Established 2007 (2007)
Director Dr Romuald E. J. Rudzki
Campus Formerly at Aokautere Business Park, and from 2012 moved entirely onto a virtual campus.
Website www.export.ac.nz

The New Zealand School of Export (NZSOE) is the leading provider of professional education for exporters within the country. It was founded as an wholly independent Charitable Trust in 2007 by Dr Romuald Rudzki, a recipient of the 1996 David Thomas Award from the Financial Times for his pioneering work in education for all forms of entrepreneurship.

Its primary purpose (as stated in its Trust Deed) is to "promote the professional education of New Zealand exporters and those who support them in their role as exporters." [1] This includes New Zealand exporters based in the country, those expatriate Kiwis working overseas for New Zealand companies and staff of NZTE and other agencies working with exporters.

The School achieves this purpose by providing a 12-month distance education (e-learning) exporter growth programme which is undertaken part-time. Each exporter has an Individualised Learning Plan (ILP) [2] specific to their own industry, target market and stage of business development (from start-up to mature exporter) which takes them step-by-step through the export process from identifying personal and company goals, to the final stage of exit strategy from a market. The outcome of the programme is a detailed Export Development Plan.

The Diploma is the knowledge content required to be awarded Global Trade Professional (GTP) status.

The School was established as an independent Charitable Trust No CC11246 [3] during Export Year 2007 [4] [5] as one of the special initiatives supported by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) [6]. The School‘s Advisory Council consisted of representatives from NZTE, Export New Zealand [7] (the industry body) and individual exporters.

The School is renowned for its export niche focus, relentless continuous improvement culture, and innovation, including the Export Library & Information Service (ELIS) [8] which is listed as ‘PEX’ by the National Library of New Zealand [9].

ELIS was designed professional librarian Graeme Siddle, the School’s Head of Library & Information Services, to be a one-stop portal for all matters relating to the practice of exporting, including essential tools such as currency exchange rates and market information. It is now regarded as world-leading and used by exporters from other countries. Graeme is also the personal adviser for two of the eight modules including International Trade Research.

The School is the only New Zealand member of the global body IATTO (International Association of Trade Training Organisations) [10].

History

Foundation

The idea for creating a new way of growing exporters in response to government and industry demands, was developed by Dr Romuald Rudzki and Dr Robin W. N. Smith who were both teaching international business at a New Zealand university. They founded a company in 2005 to pursue accreditation by the global body IATTO. Following Dr Smith’s premature death from liver cancer in 2006, it was decided in conjunction with Dr Smith’s family that the commercial approach be replaced by a Not-For-Profit one.

Accordingly, the School was founded as Charitable Trust by Dr Smith’s widow and Dr Romuald Rudzki. Dr Rudzki had previously been awarded the Financial Times’ [11] David Thomas Award [12] in 1996 for his pioneering work on education for all forms of entrepreneurship – including business, creative and social entrepreneurship.

Rudzki is a reclusive entrepreneur, educator, philosopher, writer, artist and poet, whose groundbreaking work includes the 21st century management theory of Fractal Process Management [13], and the co-founding of Farbist Art [14] as a new way of painting. He also writes a regular column for Exporter magazine [15] and sits on the Editorial Board of the journal Philosophy of Management. [16]

The School is notable for not being linked with any political ideology, multi-national corporation, or other interest group, as it provides wholly impartial and independent advice to those undertaking their professional development with it and values its free-thinking unrestrained by outside forces.

The year of foundation is significant because it had been designated as Export Year 2007 as part of the 2005 Confidence-and-Supply Agreement between New Zealand First and the then Labour Government. As part of the year, project funding from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) was allocated to several new initiatives of which the School was one.

The School's Advisory Council includes staff from Export New Zealand and NZTE, as well as exporters, and since 2009 alumni, some of whom have gone onto become Adjunct Faculty members.

Previously Export New Zealand (when it was known as the 'Export Institute') had offered export courses but these had gradually declined and ended. The idea for a new institution therefore came from both Export New Zealand and NZTE, after attending the 2004 Conference of the International Association of Trade Training Organisations (IATTO), of which the School is the only New Zealand member.

The School focuses entirely on working exporters and excludes the general public and overseas students as all programme assessment is now by in-company reports which show how the knowledge has been applied to an exporter's own business. Eligible companies can have 50% of their fees paid by the NZTE Management Capability Development Voucher Scheme.

2007-2012

The first 5 years of the School's existence were notable for a number of factors including the Global Financial Crisis, the School's move into its own building at Aokautere Business Park, and the 2008 IATTO Accreditation. This Accreditation allowed the School to stop using overseas licensed materials and to develop New Zealand based materials, as well as to award its own Certificate and Diploma in International Trade. This also signified a shift from assessment by written exams, to assessment wholly by in-company reports.

In addition, the creation of ELIS (the Export Library & Information Service) by Graeme Siddle, the School's Head of Library & Information Services, as an online information portal for export information, was a major shift in how exporters are supported, with ELIS now being used by individuals and organisations overseas.

The first alumni of the School (as opposed to its overseas licensing partner) were in 2008 with Belinda Andal of Red Seal in Auckland being the very first graduate and also the recipient of the Inaugural Founder's Award.

In 2009, the School entered the VERO Excellence in Business Support Awards and was a Finalist in the Education category, which was won by the University of Auckland, which also went on to win the overall award.

The School also has a publishing house which publishes a variety of titles as listed on the National Library's catalogue.

2012-2017

2012 saw the School moving out of a physical location to an entirely virtual one, as its staff and adjunct faculty are widely spread across both New Zealand and the world. This is entirely in keeping with the School's innovative use of e-learning teaching methodologies to overcome time and distance meaning that its exporters can study at work, at home or while travelling.

2017 has been designated as the year in which the School will consolidate after its first 10 years and start major new initiatives in response to demand including export apps and online sales of key export tools. The annual roadshow is also set to continue whereby staff from the School run seminars and workshops across the country in collaboration with Economic Development Agencies (EDAs), local government and Chambers of Commerce.

Programs

The School's main programme is the Diploma of International Trade (DIT), currently this is an eight module programme covering:

The School does not recruit international students or members of the public due to the programme being wholly assessed through in-company reports, showing how the learning has been applied. Successful completion of the programme leads to the award of the Diploma in International Trade [17].

The Diploma in turn is the knowledge component required to achieve Global Trade Professional (GTP) status [18], along with three other components: (1) a minimum of 2 years current full-time experience working in an export environment; (2) adherence to a Code of Professional Conduct; and (3) a commitment to ongoing Continuous Professional Development (CPD) as identified by the exporters themselves.

Staff

The School has a core of 14 staff and adjunct faculty [19] [20] spread across the world, all of whom are expert practitioners in their specialist fields. Additional expertise is brought in as required.

Students

Those undertaking the programme are not known as ‘students’ but ‘exporters’ to remind staff that all course participants are working full-time. They also have a variety of academic qualifications from School-Leaving Certificate to PhDs.

The exporters come from across the breadth of New Zealand from the largest company Fonterra [21], through well-known food brands such as Cowell’s Pavlovas [22] and Van Dyck Fine Foods [23], to start-ups and sole traders such as New Zealand Liquor Resources [24].

NZTE staff also undertake the programme in order for them to better understand the daily practicalities of exporting from New Zealand, and by way of preparation for posting to its overseas offices.

The School makes annual awards in a number of categories on the basis of merit in addition to the award of the Diploma of International Trade.

Alumni

The NZSOE has a number of notable graduates, including Ziena Jalil, the former NZTE Trade Commissioner to Singapore.

Campus

The School moved out of its building at Aokautere Business Park in 2012 and now operates as a totally virtual entity linking staff and exporters through a variety of information technologies. It is now engaged in further development of technology applications for export.

Awards

The School was a Finalist in 2009 when it entered the VERO Excellence in Business Support Awards [25], which were won that year by The University of Auckland IceHouse Incubator. The School currently holds the highest 5-star customer rating on the NZTE Regional Business Partner Network marketplace website [26].

References

Categories

Categories: Export, School of Export, School of Business, Palmerston North, Export Library, ELIS, Educational institutions established in 2007, Charities established in 2007, Export Year 07, professional education, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise

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