Students return from experience of a lifetime

A group of Hamilton students who recently returned home from studying in China say it was the experience of a lifetime.

The six Wintec students were among 160 students across New Zealand selected to take part in the exchange as part of the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia.

Joshua King, Simon Young, Ezra Hirawani, Kristie Dawson-Smith, Francis Fox and Ben Gomas, who study business at Wintec’s Centre for Business, Information Technology and Enterprise, spent a semester at Shandong University of Technology where they studied Mandarin and Chinese culture. 

The group attended 20 hours of classes per week, with students from a variety of different countries including Kazakhstan, South Korea, Russia and Pakistan. The classes were all taught in Mandarin, adding to both the experience and the challenge. 

The students recently gave a presentation to Wintec staff and students about their time in China and encouraged other students to take the opportunity should it arise. 

Simon, who was joined on the trip by his wife and their two young children, said it was great to experience different living conditions.

Simon said they did their best to completely immerse themselves in the language.

“Everyone was so helpful that the language barrier didn’t matter.”

He said that while the experience was challenging at times with a young family, overall it was well worth the effort.

Ben loved getting to know the culture and said they received a warm reception at the university. 

“We were actually treated like minor celebrities on campus,” he said.

His highlights including visiting the Great Wall of China and attending a Chinese wedding.

Josh enjoyed the facilities that came with the sheer population.

With around 20,000 people living on campus, he said everything was super-sized, including giant basketball courts and plenty of table tennis tables.

Ezra said he had gained an experience he would never trade, including a strong foundation in Chinese and the ability to do business with China.