Thai Delegation visit paves the way for future collaboration
A high-level delegation from Thailand consisting of former ministers and high-ranking government officials visited Wintec last week to discuss future avenues of collaboration between Wintec and Thailand.
The Senate Standing Committee on Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, chaired by ACM Prajin Juntong, and the Senate Standing Committee on Labour, chaired by Pol Gen Adul Sangsingkeo, were briefed by Huia Haeata, Wintec Executive Director, and Girish Nair, Wintec International Director, as well as other Wintec staff members.
Vee Chansangavej, Counsellor at the Royal Thai Embassy, Wellington said the visit was “successful in paving the way towards future collaborations in academic and applied research, as well as to foster ties that could lead to the increase of Thai students at Wintec”.
Nair said it was a great opportunity for the delegation to learn about the New Zealand vocational education sector.
“We gave them an overview on Wintec’s history, programmes, global footprint and our past engagement with the Thai market in areas of teacher training, student exchanges and research projects with organisations such as Rajamangala University of Technology, Office of Vocational Education Commission, Praboromarajchanok Institute (PBRI) for Health Workforce - Development Ministry of Public Health Thailand, and Suankularb Wittayalai Rangsit School. The delegation also had an opportunity to engage with some of our Thai students on campus.”
Nair said it was a great opportunity for Wintec to showcase New Zealand's vocational education system, given they had visited a university the previous day.
“The delegates were fascinated to learn how modern and advanced New Zealand’s vocational sector was in comparison to some other countries, where polytechnics are often not highly regarded because of the perception of being lower quality or only offering lower-level qualifications. Our Polytech’s focus on work-integrated learning and ability to produce work-ready graduates, highly appealed to the delegates.
“They were also intrigued by our work in China over the past decade in helping the Chinese vocational institutes to lift their quality of vocational education in areas of teacher training, curriculum development, assessments, certifications etc. Furthermore, they were impressed by our research activities and focus as, again, this sort of work is often associated with universities.
