Our International students have chosen New Zealand as the place to study to create a better and brighter future for them and their whānau. They have travelled far from their homeland to our country to study in a second language, without their usual support networks – family and friends. They are highly engaged and motivated students, and have made a significant financial commitment to achieve their career goals. We need to ensure we support them through their journey, but our International Success team needs some help from our staff with their plans.
Each semester we welcome our new intake of international students with a pōwhiri at the Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae, followed by Orientation and information sessions to help them get familiar with their campus, and all the support services and resources that are available to them
There are currently two initiatives that need staff support, which are an important part of the International Success Strategy. We would like staff to participate in these as we know you have the expertise to help support our International students’ success.
Details on these two opportunities:
1. Supporting our staff to understand other cultures from an international student’s perspective
This involves continuing the journey we started last year with a series of International cultural awareness sessions, to be delivered by staff. This involves identifying and reaching out to staff who have a story to tell, and motivating and encouraging staff who want to hear these stories, with a specific focus on the student experience in New Zealand.
We are looking for staff who would like to share a slice of their own culture to help build our understanding of what makes us different.
We would also like to share this as an online resource for new staff inductions and for continuous learning.
Requirements:
- You are looking for an opportunity to build your capability to support priority group success
- You have a story to share about your culture that would give others the opportunity to learn and develop insights into how students experience the learning environment in New Zealand
- To be ok to share that story with our staff to improve their understanding and awareness of how to engage international students
- To be comfortable with your story being recorded and made available to all staff for ongoing professional development purposes
Here’s a couple of Nest posts that capture how we support our International students and the types of activity staff have led to support cultural awareness across the institution:
- ‘Get connected’ – New initiatives to support our International students
- Building the culture gap – Session 1: India
- Bridging the culture gap: Understanding Ramadan for non-Muslims
- Our Indian staff have initiated a student support mentoring group
2. International Reference group
Would you like to be part of an International reference group that ensures the support provided to our International students is the right support with the right actions and the right messaging?
To support this new initiative, International Success is looking for a mix of people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures to provide a measure that will guide the institute on how best to serve our international students.
For example, this reference group will allow us to test our ability to self-evaluate how we meet the International Code of Practice using the following NZQA criteria:
- How do we rate our performance? How does the group rate our performance?
- How effective are the contributing processes? How effective does the group see our contributing processes?
- Are there gaps or weaknesses? How does the group feel about gaps and weaknesses?
- How are the gaps or weaknesses managed including impact on learners? | How does the group feel about our management of these gaps and the impact on learners?
The group will also be key contributors to the development of an Internationalisation Charter for the Institute.
Requirements:
- You are looking for an opportunity to build your capability to support priority group success
- Able to give time and consideration to the International Success Strategy priority actions when required, and able to contribute advice and support from different cultural perspectives, and from an international perspective. We estimate the likely time commitment would be about two hours a month.
How to apply
If you’re interested in either of these opportunities:
- Email Tracy Chapman with any questions or to express your interest
- Please have a chat with your manager to ensure you’re able to incorporate this mahi into your ADEP plan