NZIDRS scholarship students attend valuable workshop

Apart from being a great opportunity for these students to get to know one another, and see a bit more of New Zealand, it was also a valuable opportunity for us to learn more about what motivated them to come to New Zealand and how the experience has matched up to their expectations. We also were able to provide them with answers to some of their questions, such as work rights and visa queries.

The feedback is being collated and will be available through Universities New Zealand.

ENZ has also unearthed some marketing gold amongst the group and will be keeping in touch with them so that they can tell their great personal stories about our education system in promotional material and at events.

It was a productive and enjoyable day. One of the students surprised everyone with his impromptu viola performance of Bach and then invited all to watch him play in a jazz band in Wellington on Sunday night. Many took the opportunity to stay on for the weekend and some new friendships were made.

ENZ plans to hold similar events every three years or so to ensure each student is contacted once during their tenure in New Zealand.

Above: The group of international PhD students that participated in the NZDRS workshop (absent Justin Horn)