A kiwi is treated at Massey University’s veterinary teaching hospital.
BEFORE any international students can settle in after moving to New Zealand (NZ) for higher education, there is likely to be culture shock.
For 21-year-old Tun Muhammad Amar Tun Rafaee, now doing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Waikato, his lecturers’ accents were something he found really hard to handle.
“The Kiwi accent is difficult enough — then I found myself facing lecturers from many other countries. It was really hard for me in the beginning. However, once past that stage, things got so much better and I now thoroughly enjoy myself here,” he said.
Tun Muhammad said not all culture shocks were negative, adding that some were actually pleasant discoveries.
“The people I met here — local or foreigners — are very friendly and helpful. They are not shy to greet you with a smile. I was ‘shocked’ by their friendliness and eagerness to help. After a while, their friendliness made me feel I am not a stranger here. And I also started greeting everyone with a smile. Their friendliness is contagious,” he said enthusiastically.
He also noted that most Kiwi drivers are very polite.
“They give way to pedestrians instead of the other way round. The police are strict but very helpful and efficient. What has impressed me most is the cleanliness here. Most places are so clean that people can go barefoot everywhere – something they do a lot of during summer on campus and other recreational places such as the beach.”
A Mara-sponsored student, Tun Muhammad has been allocated NZ$1,100 per week for living expenses. However, as the cost of living in Waikato is one of the cheapest in NZ, he only has to pay NZ$70 for rental.
He has been saving his weekly allowance for a flight ticket back to Malaysia every long holiday. During the university term, he goes shopping for groceries, among other necessities, and visiting friends on weekends.
Since coming to NZ, this outdoors-loving Malaysian student has taken up hiking and fishing, going to the beach and skiing. Life has been good with the pristine mountains being only three hours away and the beach, even nearer.
It is, thus, quite understandable that he now plans to stay on to do his Master’s at the same university.
Malaysian students’ associations in NZ
For fellowship and help, Malaysian students such as Tun Muhammad can always turn to the Malaysian students’ associations across New Zealand – apart from university staff.
When the Education New Zealand (ENZ) media team was invited to attend Orientation Day organised by the Otago Malaysian Students’ Association (Omsa), on March 7, it was quite a surprise to see the big hall packed with hundreds of Malaysians.
It was even more impressive that Omsa was able to prepare some authentic Malaysian dishes and drinks — Sarawak laksa and roti canai to go with either teh tarik or yam jelly.
Omsa president Cheah Seng Wei, 24, a fourth-year Pharmacy student, said the association was set up in 1963.
The purpose was to bring Malaysian students together, help new Malaysian students adapt and organise activities not only to make student-life in NZ more interesting but also to introduce Malaysian culture to non-Malaysians.
Activities for the rest of the year include Malam Malaysia showcasing the diverse cultures of Malaysia, Malaysian Carnival and a trip to Quarantine Island.
“We’re doing all this for one main purpose — to bring home closer to Malaysians studying in NZ,” Cheah said.
Khor Sze Yuin, a third-year marketing student at the University of Canterbury, shared that when she first landed in Christchurch at 5am, it was members of the Christchurch Malaysian Students’ Association who came to meet her and help her settle in.
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) student Samantha Hiew, who is cultural officer of the Auckland Malaysian Students’ Association, said there are seven such associations in the eight NZ universities.
Meetings have been held for the biggest Malaysian event in NZ — the Bersatu Games, an annual sports event where various competitions such as rugby, badminton, tennis, table tennis, football and futsal are held. For this year, there will also be a debating contest.
Hiew, a third year law student, said through these games, Malaysians in NZ could come together to have a good time, and many Malaysian students actually flew to the game’s venue to participate.
With a strong theme statement — ‘Sail to Glory’ — it is not surprising the Bersatu Games sees tough competition and a strong spirit among the participants.
As a green country, NZ’s bins separate recyclables and organic waste.
University of Waikato
Located in the river city of Hamilton, the university is known for its beautiful 65ha campus with three ornamental lakes.
Established in 1964, it is well-known as a modern and innovative university. Its academic success has placed it among the top 2 per cent of the 17,000 universities in the world, according to the European Universities’ Association — with more than 90 per cent of its academic staff being research-active.
In terms of subjects, it now has five ranked in the top 150 in the world. Its education programme has been ranked 46th in the world by the QS Subject Rankings last year while its modern languages, economics and econometrics, law and computer science and info systems were all ranked between 101 and 150.
In view of growing global demand for skilled cyber security professionals at 3.5 times the pace of the overall job market, the university is the first in New Zealand to offer a Master’s degree in cyber security that trains new security professionals as well as retrains existing computer science and IT professionals to be cyber security specialists.
The Master of Cyber Security course covers the technical, legal and management aspects of cyber security and addresses new topics as they emerge in cyberspace.
Cyber Security Lab senior lecturer and head Dr Ryan Ko explained that the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Faculty and US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) started Internet connection in New Zealand on the campus in 1989.
“Our Machine Learning-Data Mining groups are world-renowned. A prominent tool used worldwide is Weka with more than three million downloads. Then, there’s the world-renowned Digital Library research group whose Greenstone Digital Library software is used in more than 60 countries,” said Ko of several of the faculty’s achievements.
With alumni including big names such as Google engineering director Dr Graig Nevill-Manning and Academy Award winner John Allitt (special effects for ‘The Lord of The Rings’, ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Avatar’) and a long history of winning student competitions, the faculty which has a strong applied research culture and entrepreneurial mindset is the platform for students serious about exploring cyber space.
As a cyber security expert with full awareness that the skills learnt may be abused, Ko has a clear idea of where to start the cyber programmes.
“We start our courses with the teaching of ethics to lay a good foundation for our students.”
Believing strongly the world needs a software that returns control of data back to the users in view of easy data excess to hackers, apart from adopting ‘Return Control’ as the lab’s motto, Ko is also in the midst of developing software to allow individuals to tighten their own cyber security.
Victoria University
Known for its scenic hills, deep blue sea and safety, the city of Wellington is compact with every part of the city centre reachable on foot. It is a city free of traffic jams, pollution and population pressures. Though the capital city of NZ, Wellington comes across as affordable and convenient.
Victoria University was chosen by the NZ government as the top university for research in 2013.
Its law faculty has been named the leading law school in the country. Other specialities include foreign languages and linguistics, human geography, pure and applied mathematics, Maori knowledge and development, molecular, cellular and whole organism biology, philosophy and statistics.
Globally, Victoria has been ranked among the world’s top 150 universities by the QS Subject Rankings last year in 11 subjects, including law, arts and social sciences, psychology, earth sciences and information technology. Its Business School is among the global elite group of 60 given the triple crown of international commerce accreditations.
Of its total 22,000 students, 14 per cent are international students, and Victoria Business School (VBS), situated close to crucial government buildings, including the Beehive, the executive arm of NZ’s parliament, is one of the most popular in attracting foreign students.
Prof John Davies said VBS’ location is self-explanatory in terms of relevance as close proximity to decision-making government departments means the school’s strength lies in the fact that it is recognised and accredited by international academic bodies or business professional associations.
One-sixth of VBS students are international students with Malaysians being the third largest group after Chinese nationals and Vietnamese.
Next year VBS will welcome another batch of 150 Malaysian students mainly from Kolej Yayasan Saad. The young Malaysians have just finished their foundation year at the University of Auckland and the University of Canterbury.
“VBS’ partnership with overseas counterparts has not only helped enrich the cultures of NZ students but at the same time, the school is able to help produce significant numbers of qualified accountants for overseas countries such as Malaysia,” Davies said.
Ko (centre) is seen at the Cyber Security Lab.
Massey University
Massey University started off as Massey Agriculture College in 1927, and was upgraded to university status in 1964. With its roots in agriculture and food, the university has over the years earned its place as an authority in this field.
In terms of agriculture, it is ranked the top in the country and 19th in the world.
This state-funded university with its 80 years of tradition has also proven itself through academic excellence and outstanding performance.
Housing 32,449 students, of whom some 15,000 are long distance learners and about 4,000 international students, the university has consistently been placed by QS World University Ranking in the top 3 per cent of universities in the world.
Apart from agriculture, it leads the world in courses such as food technology, veterinary medicine, aviation, biotechnology, volcanology, communication and media studies, defence, accounting and finance.
It is the only NZ university with a veterinary teaching hospital and the only university offering a degree in aviation.
Renowned for its world-class research and achievements as the world leader in distance education, the university has international collaboration with tertiary institutions globally with 218 active international partnership agreements.
Vice-chancellor Steve Maharey said the university has embraced change both from within and in the wider world to meet new needs.
While continuing to build up its traditional strengths, the university also initiates new and diverse efforts to address upcoming issues such as food security.
“Last century, the world faced the issue of producing more food. This has become more pressing now as food security is at the top on the agenda for most governments worldwide.
“On top of that, there is the issue of food safety, which was not so much of an issue in the last century. Sustainability of production and environmental issues have become extremely important. There are now issues of traceability and use of IT to support the food industry,” said Maharey, who is a former education minister.
With agriculture and food being the university’s forte, Maharey said Massey University has much to contribute to the world in these areas as any research outcomes or new findings would not only benefit NZ but also other countries.
He also highlighted the university’s efforts to find new business and economic approaches, given that the present economic model, built by the west, has been suffering from economic crises every 10 years.
The university is also pushing the boundary in scientific research, and endeavouring to maintain its leading position in areas such as communications, engineering and advanced technology.
To cater for the needs of Muslim students across the world, Massey University has set up an Islamic Centre by the lakeside on its main campus at Palmerston North.
The project built with the grants sponsored by the Sabahan government, was initiated by a Malaysian — Associate Prof Alex Chu — who was also a former Massey lecturer.
Conclusion
Elijah Wood, the lead actor of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy once said: “There’s a real purity in New Zealand that does not exist in the US. It is actually not an easy thing to find in our world any more. It’s a unique place because it is so far away from the rest of the world. There is a sense of isolation and also being protected.”
Wood was quite right.
Situated in the far south, away from the rest of the world, NZ has been well protected by the Pacific Ocean and has grown into a mature country with style, personality and its own way of doing things.
The country can be strange in the eyes of those familiar with other parts of the world but to those preferring natural beauty, simplicity and traditional values, it is a paradise. NZ may be isolated physically but it’s not alone academically with all its universities establishing partnerships with different educational institutions across the globe.
Powered by traditional values of upholding truth, kindness and beauty, there is a general spirit of seeking excellence, which has put all its universities on the list of world-renowned tertiary institutions.
For students seeking a unique experience as residents and a world-class qualification, NZ is a country that can offer both.
International students will enjoy NZ’s many scenic gems.