New Zealand Police support Wintec | Te Pūkenga international students in full force

Tuesday, 25 July 2023

Around 75 new Wintec | Te Pūkenga international students got a great insight into the support and community spirit of the New Zealand Police force in Hamilton.

Wintec | Te Pūkenga held the third of six international student orientation sessions for this semester, welcoming new students from all over the world. The students had a fun, interactive and information-packed day, with the highlight being getting to know two members of our New Zealand Police force, ethnic liaison officer Sean Choi and his colleague Elia Tagaloa.

Unmesha Veetil, International Student Services Advisor, said “it was such a wonderful surprise for our ākonga to have the New Zealand Police come along and spend some time with the group.

“As well as helping make the students feel comfortable to reach out to the police here in Aotearoa, they got to learn how to contact the Police and how they can support them in the community.

“Most importantly though, they got to see the inside of the police car, and have a go at turning on the siren. They loved taking selfies with the Police and the police car!”

This latest orientation brings the total number of international students to have completed the programme this semester to 108, with another three orientation sessions scheduled over the next month to make sure all late-arriving students receive the same warm welcome and information.

Our international ākonga have joined Wintec | Te Pūkenga from all corners of the globe. They are from 38 different countries including Austria, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Kenya, Kiribati, Mauritius, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Russia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the USA.

Aged from 17 right through to 55, our ākonga are a diverse group who all come with unique goals and expectations and a wealth of life experience, knowledge and skills. Many of them are here as a result of a range of initiatives including Wintec’s Manaaki Scholarship, Student Exchange programmes and partnership with Chengdu University in China.

Unmesha said the orientation was a great success, “they are all such a brilliant, vibrant and lovely bunch of students who are excited to be here and keen to learn about New Zealand. We had such a great time with them in the orientation.”

As well as the Police visit, students enjoyed a wide variety of fun interactive and engaging games and activities including student bingo and learning Te Reo Māori. The Kiwi quiz was another favourite, bringing lots of laughter and energy to the group. The shared lunch of Chinese dumplings, Indian samosas and pizza provided an opportunity for the students to relax and take some time to get to know each other.

Unmesha said, “students also got to find out all about how the various teams at Wintec |Te Pūkenga can support them on their journey like our Library, Manaaki Pūkenga, Student Enrolment, ITS, and Wintec Health Centre support services. A big and special thank you to our Library, Manaaki Pūkenga and ITS teams for running the afternoon learning session for international students covering things like Moodle, online resources and online support available.

Karen Kemsley, International Student Services Manager said, “it takes a lot of thought and planning to successfully connect with a diverse range of international learners throughout their student journey, from delivering online pre-arrival sessions, greeting ākonga on arrival and getting them into the orientation sessions.

“Manaakitanga is one of the things that facilitates connection and aids in their settling in, and this is something Wintec teams do superbly. Feedback from the International Student Orientation sessions to date indicate 100% satisfaction from all new ākonga, which makes the weeks of planning and huge effort by our small team of four, really rewarding!"