Fostering international relations is the core business of Dunedin woman Clare Dorking in her work as international co-ordinator at the International Business Academy in Kolding, Denmark.
Mrs Dorking, who has spent eight months of every year in Denmark since taking on the IBA role in 2002, has been enjoying a break at home in Dunedin for the past few weeks. She flies out today to return to her work with business students from across Europe.
''I am very fortunate to be able to divide my time between Denmark and home here in Dunedin - four months is about as long as I can handle [in Denmark] at one time,'' she said.
''While I'm away, I miss my family, the trees, the hills, my garden and especially other Kiwis - their attitude and their friendliness,'' she said.
She paid tribute to her husband, Dunedin lawyer Barry Dorking, for his support and ''generosity of spirit'' in taking her long absences on the other side of the world in his stride.
The IBA is a relatively large business academy with about 600 students, which offers free tuition to its students as they train to be international business people.
''We have a very interesting mix of students and many different languages, so it is important that they are able to speak adequate English.''
Part of her role is to help assess the English fluency of applicants to the college as well as with recruitment and helping to organise student activities outside the classroom - from sports events to visiting speakers.
''I take a holistic approach - the students get finance and marketing knowledge from the college, so I try to give them cultural experiences as well.''
With a large part of the students' course work focused on case studies and practical business examples, another part of Mrs Dorking's role is to arrange internships for IBA students at businesses.
This includes businesses in New Zealand, including Dunedin, although the expense of coming to this side of the world tends to keep numbers down.
''So far, we only have four students booked in to come to New Zealand next year, and they will be going to Queenstown, Clyde and Wellington.
''Bringing students to New Zealand is a wonderful part of my job - I take huge joy in telling students about New Zealand and then in seeing the benefits for business here.''
