Stuart Mealor National Business Development Manager Certifications Offered Microsoft Office Specialist Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook   Employer New Zealand School of Travel and Tourism Location New Zealand

In his own words: "Our primary objective is to produce skilled people for employment in the travel and tourism industry; however, all industries share the same business processes like accounting, administration, and correspondence. Our company stands out because our students are computer literate."

Over 300 New Zealand School of Travel and Tourism Students and Staff Earn Microsoft Office Specialist Certifications Each Year
Microsoft Office Specialist certification validates computing skills, increases efficiency, and prepares students for future careers in travel and tourism industry

Over 300 students and staff at the New Zealand School of Travel and Tourism (NZSTT) certify their knowledge and skills of the Microsoft® Office system of business-productivity programs each year. For the past two years, students have had the valuable option of earning Microsoft Office Specialist certifications in Microsoft Word and Excel at no personal cost. In addition, the school requires its staff to earn at least two Office Specialist certifications. Now NZSTT staff has the tools needed to teach and administer school business productively, and students graduate with global certifications that validate their knowledge and ability to use Information Technology (IT).

BACKGROUND
Not only was New Zealand recently voted the world's top travel destination for the second consecutive year by Lonely Planet, a publisher of travel guidebooks, but it is also the home of NZSTT, a premier travel, tourism, and business school. Established in 1997 with campuses in Auckland and Christchurch, NZSTT provides travel, tourism, business, and hospitality management training to national and international students and features both on-site and distance-learning programs.

Two years ago, NZSTT aligned with Microsoft Office Specialist New Zealand, a Certiport Authorized Distributor, to identify a way to ensure NZSTT students are knowledgeable, skilled users of technology. “We want our students to be competent with IT applications, specifically with those programs in Microsoft Office,” said Stuart Mealor, National Business Development Manager at NZSTT. “Offering Office Specialist certification enhances student employment opportunities.”

Mealor said although NZSTT’s domestic students generally seek employment after graduation, the institution’s international students usually pursue university education in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. “To the latter, Office Specialist certification enhances their opportunity to get into a university. It shows students are serious, and they took an opportunity given them. It definitely helps with the university recruitment process.”

NZSTT chose Office Specialist because it is a Microsoft certification that verifies relevant skills. “I’m familiar with other certifications, but because we are looking for employable skills—not just generic skills—Office Specialist was the best option for us,” Mealor explained. “Employers use Microsoft Office in the workplace; they understand straightaway what this certification represents. It’s specific, and the certificate has the Microsoft logo on it.”

PROCESS
Students at both NZSTT campuses are required to complete 40 hours of classroom, tutor-led instruction in Microsoft Word and Excel. Following preparation with practice tests, students have the option to take certification exams. “We allocate course fees to pay for their Word and Excel exams,” Mealor added. “It’s a very productive use of our cash.” Students may use personal funds to study for and take other Office Specialist exams such as PowerPoint® and Outlook® as well.

NZSTT staff is expected to have two Office Specialist certifications. “It’s a requirement they have fulfilled enthusiastically,” Mealor reported. “We provide training days during semester breaks using the same text and e-learning courseware the students use.”

CERTIFICATION
Ninety-five percent of NZSTT students choose to take Office Specialist exams, representing over 300 exams per year. NZSTT students have also claimed nine of the ten top exam scores in New Zealand for the past two years. All 70 of NZSTT’s staff have at least one Office Specialist certification; many have two.

RESULT
“On one level, Office Specialist certification differentiates us from our competitors by offering something well known,” Mealor said. “On another level, when students are competent with Word and Excel, it reflects throughout the whole of their coursework. They study Microsoft Word and take the certification exam during their first semester. They are then able to use their skills straightaway in other assignments, reports, and coursework.”

Mealor said NZSTT staff appreciates other benefits. “Our sales and marketing staff travel all over the world. They are now able to produce PowerPoint presentations or make changes to them on the fly rather than sending them back to our technical staff,” he said. “In addition, staff lecturing in the classroom benefit from PowerPoint skills. They also download and export student data from our system into Excel spreadsheets for easy querying and filtering.”

Office Specialist certification has helped NZSTT meet its goal to produce IT-competent students. “Our primary objective is to produce skilled people for employment in the travel and tourism industry; however, all industries share the same business processes like accounting, administration, and correspondence. Our company stands out because our students are computer literate,” Mealor said.

In the future, NZSTT plans to work with its international students to emphasize the value of Office Specialist certification. “Currently our uptake is more with domestic students,” Mealor explained. “We plan to push international students to pursue certification more. A major, defining characteristic of Office Specialist is that it is an international certification. Travel and tourism is the global industry. It’s important to have a certification or qualification that is transferable globally. Nothing else can provide the same benefit at the same cost.”