Wintec business student heads to Poland

Wintec business student, Genima Riini, will head to Poland in September after being awarded a scholarship under the European Union’s Erasmus student exchange programme.

The Erasmus+ Scholarship, which is funded by the European Union, provides students, trainees, teachers and volunteers around the world with the opportunity to study at higher education institutes in Europe.

The four month stint will see Genima, 32, study business at Kozminski University in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Credits from her study will be transferred back to her Bachelor of Applied Management at Wintec.

She was chosen for her hard work, attitude and dedication.

The scholarship covers the cost of flights and living expenses and allows her to continue paying her current Wintec study fees while studying in Poland.

“The furthest I’ve been from home is Australia so it’s quite overwhelming especially being away from family, but at the same time it’s such a great opportunity and I’m excited to meet new people,” says Genima.

"Being Maori, culture is important to me so I’m looking forward to embracing a completely new one.”

Before enrolling at Wintec, Genima had a series of supermarket and liquor store jobs, but found the work repetitive and craved more of a challenge.

“Now that I’m here, I wish I’d done it sooner. I love it. The tutors are amazing and I’m learning so much. I’m so grateful to my family and friends. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have had the courage to apply and I wouldn’t be about to head to the other side of the world.”'

Genima juggles full time study, including a double major, with caring for her 10 year old daughter and working part time. She also coaches two basketball teams and is on the board of the Student Association of Wintec and the Centre for Business, IT and Enterprises Student Forum.

“We’re women, we are good at multi-tasking,” she jokes.

Wintec’s director of internationalisation, Sami Yaghi says although Wintec has around 15 international exchange partners, this is the first time they’ve been able to award a student scholarship under the Erasmus+ Scholarship through the partnership it has with Kozminski University.

“Having these types of exchange programmes are important as they open up all sorts of opportunities for our students, allowing them to participate in worldwide educational experiences for minimal cost,” says Sami.

“They get to experience a whole new culture and bring back to New Zealand a new international perspective and global connections.”

The Erasmus+ Scholarship will be open for applications again in September for the 2017 round.

Wintec staff members Aubrey Medwid and Reza Yaghoubi have also been given the opportunity to spend time at Kozminski University through the Erasmus+ Scholarship. Aubrey visited the university in May to take part in a workshop designed to get to know the university better while Reza will spend a week there teaching at the institute in October.