Indian student success stories in the news

You can read summaries of the stories below, and follow the link to read the article in The Hindu. To read the Woman’s Weekly article, you’ll need to get hold of a copy of the magazine itself.

ENZ is keen to facilitate more of this sort of coverage at home and abroad, so please send your ideas for such stories to media@enz.govt.nz.

INDIA: Design in New Zealand

Aniket Ujjainkar, an Indian international student was profiled last week in a leading Indian newspaper, The Hindu, which has a daily circulation of more than 1.3 million. Anikat recently secured his dream job as a Creature Assistant Technical Director at Weta Digital. He credits his success to the practical, hands on teaching approach he experienced at Media Design School where he studied towards a Bachelor of Art and Design degree. Film and animation studies are niche courses that New Zealand has particular expertise in. Animation is an emerging market in India with good job prospects and is gaining popularity with students. It is through profile pieces like this that we are raising awareness about New Zealand’s offering in this area. One of New Zealand’s strengths is our focus on work-ready graduates and this first-hand student account powerfully demonstrates how students can apply their skills from study to the workforce. ENZ first met with Aniket when Media Design School kindly hosted an Indian journalist as part of ENZ’s media familiarisation programme.

NEW ZEALAND: Everest record breakers – Southland Sisters’ Double Joy

This month ten recipients of the Indian New Zealand Sports Scholarships completed their year-long scholarships at New Zealand institutions. Tashi and Nungshi Malik studied a graduate diploma in sport and recreation at the Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill and were featured in the 23 November issue of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly magazine.  In April the twins became the youngest in the world to complete the “Explorers Grand Slam” – having reached the North and South pole as well as climbing the seven highest peaks of the world including Mount Everest. They also champion women’s rights, using their mountaineering as a metaphor to demonstrate that women can achieve to the same heights as their male counterparts. The article highlights New Zealand’s reputation as a peaceful destination with friendly people and a great outdoor lifestyle.

After meeting the group of scholarship students. ENZ saw the human interest aspect in the twins’ story and contacted the magazine. Telling the story of international students and their contribution to New Zealand is a priority for ENZ.