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Tuesday, October 11, 2022 | News

New Zealand invests in people for the business events future

Tourism New Zealand is supporting the sustainable future of New Zealand’s business events industry by offering 10 new scholarships for the ICCASkills certification programme.

Tourism New Zealand announced the 10 new scholarships at this week’s BEIA (Business Events Industry Aotearoa) Annual Conference in Hawke’s Bay.

Established by ICCA (the International Congress & Convention Association), ICCASkills is the only globally recognised professional accreditation for every sector of the business events industry. The in-depth curriculum has been developed by industry experts, including business leaders, academics and ICCA members, and is delivered through on-site and online learning environments.

Tourism New Zealand General Manager NZ & Business Events Bjoern Spreitzer says: “New Zealand has invested in amazing new infrastructure and activities for the business events sector, and we need to recruit and retain the best talent to staff them. Business events are all about people – it makes sense to support the industry by investing in people.

“Encouraging professional development ensures the expertise of our people is recognised at a global level and helps to elevate New Zealand’s event standards.”

Tourism New Zealand will share costs with the scholarship recipient’s employer, offering five scholarships for the Certified International Convention Specialist (CICS) course for newcomers to the industry; and five scholarships for the Certified International Convention Executive (CICE) course, aimed at providing professional development to those with a minimum of three years in a management role.

ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath says: “ICCASkills is unique. It will harmonise new learnings and professional development in our industry. There is a genuine desire to do more in terms of the education and upskilling of our people, so learners across the world enjoy the best possible experiences when they attend an event. People absolutely expect the best and ‘the best’ is what ICCASkills is designed to do.

“By sharing learning, insight, and knowledge from many different areas, we have created something new, experiential, and worthwhile. We are extremely proud of ICCASkills and thoroughly delighted to be partnering with Tourism New Zealand to support the growth of New Zealand’s business events professionals.”

 

APPLICATION AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS

ICCASkills | New Zealand Scholarships 2023

ICCASkills offers practical professional development programmes, designed by global industry leaders & supported by ICCA (International Convention & Congress Association).

 Scholarships are available for New Zealand-based Business Events professionals to complete either:

  1. CICS: Certified International Convention Specialist – start date 17 January 2023  
  2. CICE: Certified International Convention Executive – start date 13 February 2023

For more information on the programmes please refer to: https://www.iccaskills.org

 Each programme will run for approximately 8 weeks and be a combination of self-study and online instructor-led sessions. Online support will be scheduled to ensure the time zone is appropriate for New Zealand participants (Asia Pacific time zone). Advice on who the industry instructor will be and the option to participate in a final face-to-face workshop will be confirmed soon.

 

Application Content

Please email Leonie Ashford leonie.ashford@tnz.govt.nz for the official application form.

Applicants are required to provide the following information: 

  • Business Events industry employment history: Employer, Dates, Key Achievements
  • Overview of recent Business Events experience and areas of interest
  • A personal statement on what you hope to gain from completing the ICCASkills programme 
  • A testimonial from your employer/manager (200 words max) Please supply as attachment, either email or letter

 

How to apply

Please email your applications to Leonie Ashford leonie.ashford@tnz.govt.nz

Applications will open on Wednesday 9th November 2022

Applications will close on Monday 19th December 2022

Confirmation of your acceptance will be advised by Thursday 23rd December 2023

 

Any questions at all, please email leonie.ashford@tnz.govt.nz

 

 

Terms & Conditions for your Application:

  • All applicants must be New Zealand citizens or eligible to work in New Zealand and currently employed by an organisation that provides services in the New Zealand Business Events industry
  • Tourism New Zealand will support 50% funding of the programme for each successful applicant
  • Each applicant must have a commitment from your employer to support this programme through a 50% funding of the programme 
  • All ICCA terms and conditions are applicable, please read carefully 

       https://iccaskills.org/iccaskills/terms-and-conditions with specific attention to these items: 

Your property: The teaching material received by mail remains the property of ICCA after completion of the course/training. The copyrights remain with ICCA. Use of the teaching material, other than for the study of the learner, as well as transfer to third parties, is not permitted. Nothing may be reproduced and/or made public from the teaching material, in any form or in any way, whether electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or any other way, without the prior written permission of ICCA.                                                                                            
Graduation Policy:
a. A pass rate of 75% for the overall final grade must be observed to pass the course. 
b. The learner must attend 50% of the live classes to pass the course.                                                                  
c. The learner will have up to three attempts to successfully pass the final CICS-level exam within a year, starting from the end date of the course, free of charge.