There are several reputable gyms/organisations in a Austraila and New Zealand that run a grading system.
Mark Castigani who is the general manager for International Kickboxer Magazine (which in my opinion is one of the best martial arts mags in the south pacfic) runs his gyms using a grading system, and has done for sometime.
In fact in the latest issue of the mag he writes an article supporting the more structured line system ( similar to karate) approach to training which he uses to teach muay thai .
Mark is a Muay Thai practitoner through and through but has been influenced by many great kyokushin instructors he's encountered over the years and has adopted some of kyokushin's teaching methods.
The Bob Jones corporation which pioneered kickboxing and Muay Thai in Australia also uses a grading system.
Both these schools and others I've encountered do not use a belt system (as they do not wear a gi) but have a singlet sytem, where different coloured singlets are awarded for different levels, black being the highest in the schools that I trained at.
Their syllabus consists of punching and kicking skils , footwork and defence, partner drills pad & bag work and sparing and fitness testing. Their students even have to be able to adapt their kickboxing technique from a ring sport to the street for self defence.
I have also trained at kyokushin dojo's which teach KB as well and they run a similar system and turn out good kickboxers.
Hope that sheds a little light on things.
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