Kiwis lack Asia savvy: survey

New Zealand’s top trading partners are in Asia – but many young people still aren’t getting the message that knowledge of Asia will help their careers.

An Asia New Zealand Foundation survey of 584 people aged 16 to 25 showed that 65 per cent hadn’t received study or career advice related to Asia.

This builds on research from a year ago showing that most New Zealand students did not perceive the need to build Asia-related skills and knowledge.

‘‘The people who will be working in a world where Asia is so important really aren’t getting advice about the importance of that,’’ the foundation’s executive director, Simon Draper, said.

‘‘It joins a line of other surveys that we’ve done that really challenges the narrative that we’re Asia-savvy, and we’re not.’’

Growth in Asia accounts for two-thirds of all global growth, according to the International Monetary Fund’s regional economic outlook for the Asia-Pacific region, which is home to more than 4 billion people.

The No 1 rule in business is ‘‘know your customer’’, Draper said, and in an export-led economy that’s even more important.

‘‘I have met an exporter who is going to Korea and has said that he didn’t know much about Korea but he knew the Japanese really well. One of the most offensive things you can say in Korea is that they are like the Japanese.’’

Catherine Beard, executive director of ManufacturingNZ and ExportNZ said: ‘‘You’d be crazy to be in an exporting business and not look at Asia as a possible market . . . A big part of that is people who are culturally competent.’’

This meant people with Asianlanguage skills would be ‘‘quite highly sought after’’, she said. Catherine Beard, executive director of ExportNZ

The Asia NZ Foundation, which works to build knowledge and connections with Asia, agreed that cultural competency was highly important.

‘‘Just having an an Asian culture day [in schools] where we learn about these places would be helpful. Knowing a bit about the region and its cultures is going to be a life skill that they [young people] need,’’ Draper said.

The Ministry of Education said that while it doesn’t set guidelines about what languages might be offered, Asian languages are some of the most popular language offerings for New Zealand schools.

‘‘You’d be crazy to be in an exporting business and not look at Asia as a possible market . . . A big part of that is people who are culturally competent.’’