Twenty-five thousand financial advisors in New Zealand will need to upgrade their qualifications in 2021, and Massey Business School has partnered with Australia’s Kaplan Professional to help them meet the new standards.
In March 2021, all financial advisors in New Zealand will need to achieve a minimum qualification in the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) [Version 2]. This qualification aligns with the Certificate in Business Studies (Financial Services Pathway), which will now be delivered by Massey Business School in partnership with Kaplan Professional.
This new qualification doesn’t just benefit from the collective knowledge of two leading education providers — those studying will also receive one year’s access to Ontrack, Kaplan Professional’s renowned continuing education platform, which has over 85% market share in Australia.
Ontrack provides a flexible, digital platform where learners can follow their own personalised, role-specific course, according to their educational needs. It also allows administrators to have access to their tracking and reporting tools, as well as being able to create their learning material.
Dr Jeff Stangl, Massey Business School International and Strategic Partnerships Director was pleased with the new partnership saying, “As New Zealand’s largest business school and internationally ranked university, we look forward to combining with an equally strong Australian brand, Kaplan Professional, in delivering a top-quality financial services programme.”
“The programme combines the academic rigour of a Massey qualification with the professional education expertise provided by Kaplan Professional. The resultant offering aspires to raise the bar for New Zealand’s financial services education, to benefit financial practitioners and to strengthen New Zealand’s financial markets alike.”
According to Kaplan Professional Chief Executive Officer Brian Knight, the partnership meshed well given common ground found in Australia in the financial services industry.
“We are also in a similar situation in Australia where over 20,000 advisers have to increase their credentials and level of education to a postgraduate qualification, in addition to meeting 40 hours of continuing education every year. Kaplan Professional is currently supporting the majority of Australia’s licensees and advisers to successfully meet these requirements, so we are confident we can leverage what we have learned to the benefit of the New Zealand market,” he said.
Enrolments for the qualification will be available from 1 January 2021. The program can be completed within 12 months on a part-time basis, and new students are enrolled monthly.
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
