A fresh look at export training and qualifications
By Gerald Bratley MCIEx
A customer places an export order. The price has been agreed and production can meet the requested shipment date. Can the order go straight to the factory? Before releasing it, someone needs to check the destination’s requirements, whether an export licence or independent inspection is needed, and whether the proposed packing is acceptable. If payment is by documentary credit, someone must check that the credit calls for documents the exporter can actually obtain and present on time. An inspection certificate that cannot be issued after shipment is a problem to catch when checking the order. By the time the goods have sailed, it may be too late.
That is the sort of judgement I want an export qualification to develop and test. I have spent nearly six decades in international trade and have been a full member of the Institute of Export since 1973. This enquiry began with a practical idea. Could we retain the expertise of retired practitioners and make it available to smaller manufacturers and service businesses looking to export for the first time or enter new markets? When I approached the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, I wanted help identifying members who had done that work. The Institute was unable to identify for me which members had held hands-on practitioner roles and which had worked in supporting roles. Both kinds of experience have value. A business that needs help choosing a market, pricing an order or putting together a documentary credit presentation needs to know which of those jobs an adviser has actually done.
That prompted a second question. How does the Institute establish the practical expertise of the people who develop, teach and review its courses, and what must learners demonstrate before they pass?
What the regulators told me
Amtivo, 29 October 2026. The certification body explained that ISO 9001 applies across industries and contains no specific requirements for education or training content. Certification bodies assess the organisation’s quality management system. Amtivo declined to disclose the Institute’s internal responsibilities or competence arrangements. Its reply therefore gives us no independent verdict on the accuracy, depth or practical usefulness of an individual course.
Ofqual, 2 November 2026. Ofqual explained that awarding organisations are generally responsible for designing, reviewing and maintaining vocational qualification content. Ofqual monitors their systems, controls and processes, and expects the people involved in design and review to have relevant expertise and experience. It does not ordinarily determine or approve detailed technical content. It may consider specific concerns about a regulated qualification as part of its regulatory work. Its recognition does not extend to unregulated short courses, webinars or other training products.
CCEA Regulation, 4–5 November 2026. CCEA confirmed that it recognised the Institute as an awarding organisation on 2 July 2022 and identified nine qualifications on the shared register. It said that awarding organisations are responsible for the technical accuracy and occupational relevance of their specifications and must submit qualifications for accreditation before offering them in Northern Ireland. CCEA directed me to the register and the Institute for the specifications and invited me to raise any specific regulatory concerns. Its remit covers regulated qualifications offered in Northern Ireland.
These replies identify who is responsible for the content and what the regulators oversee. The evidence needed to judge the quality of an individual course is more specific. A reference to NATO, the United Nations or any other organisation may be relevant to a particular activity. To tell us anything about a training module, the reference needs to show what that organisation reviewed, against which criteria and with what findings.
What the published courses show
The Institute’s published material covers more than the qualification titles alone suggest. Its Level 3 Certificate describes the export order process from enquiry to payment collection and covers quotations, invoices, transport documents and payment methods. The Level 4 Diploma includes market research, culture in selling, Incoterms and packing, and describes written assessments for each module. The Level 5 Diploma includes market selection and a project in which learners investigate a trade issue and write a report with managerial recommendations. The Finance Award explicitly covers letters of credit, documentary collections and discrepancies. Level 3 Certificate · Level 4 Diploma · Level 5 Diploma · Finance Award
What I cannot tell from those pages is whether learners must process a complete export order themselves. Do they have to check an incoming order against the quotation, choose the right packing and transport, check destination requirements, prepare the documents, and catch discrepancies before presenting them for payment? How much detail do they receive on patents, registered designs, trade marks and copyright when considering a new market? A specimen assignment and its marking criteria would let us see which decisions the learner actually has to make.
I asked the Institute for the current specifications, sample teaching materials and specimen assessments for the three international trade qualifications and the Finance Award. I also asked how it establishes the relevant occupational expertise of the people who develop, review and approve the content. As of Wednesday 11 November 2026, I had received no response from the Institute to that request.
There is a separate question of how the teaching material was developed. In December 2022, I supplied the Institute with a replacement manuscript for Open to Export, and Kevin Shakespeare acknowledged receipt on 28 December. Some subjects in the published course outlines also appear in my manuscript, as one would expect in material covering the same profession. The outlines give me no basis to say that the Institute drew on my work. Only a comparison of the actual teaching material, including dated versions, could take that question further.
What a practical qualification should require
Accountancy and solicitor training offer a useful comparison. Routes into both professions combine formal study with experience of doing the work under supervision. An accountant has to apply rules to real records and filings. A solicitor has to apply the law to a client’s circumstances. In exporting, the learner likewise has to apply rules to a particular product, customer, contract and destination, often while coordinating people in several organisations.
A realistic assessment could start with an enquiry and end with a complete set of documents presented for payment. Give the learner an order that differs from the quotation, a documentary credit with an inconsistent weight, and a shipment that needs an inspection certificate. Ask them to decide what must be corrected, who needs to act and when. A practitioner can explain how one unresolved detail can hold up the shipment or delay payment, and can assess whether the learner has spotted it in time.
In my work with export consultancies and training companies, I have seen how much importance they attach to verifying what their trainers have done in practice. I would apply the same standard here. A tutor assessing documentary credit work should be able to show relevant experience of preparing or checking presentations. A tutor assessing market entry should be able to demonstrate relevant experience of evaluating and developing overseas markets.In my view, a programme intended to prepare someone to take responsibility for an export order is fit for that purpose only if it teaches and assesses the work as a whole. The Institute’s published information shows a breadth of subjects, but it leaves that practical standard unverified. The specifications, teaching samples and assessments would allow the Institute to demonstrate how it meets it.
Setting a practical standard for export training is a job for the international trade profession as a whole. Training providers, colleges and awarding organisations should develop it with experienced practitioners who have taken responsibility for export orders themselves. The standard should make clear what learners must be able to do and what practical experience their tutors and assessors must bring. For a small business taking on its first export order, the test is whether the person handling it can spot the problems, get the goods delivered and secure payment.