Innovative Schooling Shines At Awards

Vic Goes To Vietnam, And Chile Comes To NZ Dairying – Innovative Schooling Shines At Awards

The last thing you may expect to find on the crowded streets of Ho Chi Minh City is a campus of Wellington’s Victoria University – but that’s exactly where the institution has decided to open their first offshore location. The new campus offers students opportunities to study English and Business, and after two years at the Vietnam campus students can complete their degrees in New Zealand. This kind of innovative thinking has won Victoria a share of this year’s “Innovation in an International Programme” award from Education New Zealand.

The other co-winner is the National Trade Academy, based in Christchurch. With the boom in New Zealand’s dairy industry, the Academy saw a need to train more workers from overseas. To fill this skills gap they have developed agriculture training programmes specifically for international students, which result in qualified workers for New Zealand dairy farms. So far they have been accepting mainly students from Chile, but they are also working closely with Uruguay and hope to invite students from that country to study in 2009.

An award was also presented to Macleans College in Auckland for “Excellence in Marketing” due to their very successful institution website. With close to 200,000 visitors per year to their site, it’s no surprise that international students are enrolling in large numbers. In fact, around 10 percent of the College’s student roll is made up of international students.

The “Excellence in Student Support” award went to the University of Otago. The University’s “culture of care” extends beyond the doors of their International Office, with the whole institution playing a role in looking after international students. Trained student mentors help newcomers to settle in, and “culture shock” presentations give international students some insight into their new Kiwi environment.

The awards are presented annually be Education New Zealand at their International Education Conference, and recognize institutions that go beyond the call of duty in promoting themselves offshore, offering innovative education options, and supporting their international students.

Education New Zealand is a not-for-profit charitable trust that is governed by the New Zealand export education industry.

ENDS

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