Gaining Real-World Engineering Skills | Study With New Zealand
Steven Danh was attracted to New Zealand by its natural beauty and abundance of hobbits, but has stayed because of the quality of its education.
Steven, from Viet Nam, is in the first year of a two-year New Zealand Diploma of Engineering at WelTec in Wellington.
“When I was deciding where to study, I was surfing the internet and I saw New Zealand. I’d seen the hobbit movies so I knew New Zealand was a beautiful country, and then I discovered more beautiful places like the Waitomo Caves and Tongariro National Park,” says Steven.
This has been a good place to study engineering. All the tutors help every student - if there’s something I don’t know, I just email them and they help me.
Steven is specialising in electrical engineering, and says he has enjoyed the course’s combination of theory and practical work. He might be in a classroom one day, and in the lab measuring signal voltage with an oscilloscope the next.
“I spend half my time with a tutor and half in the lab, which gives me experience of being at work. I work with a lab partner - it’s very useful for me to be able to practice what I’ve learned with another guy.”
To add to his work experience, Steven has a part-time job working with an electrician every Sunday.
He hopes to find a job in New Zealand after gaining his diploma, which would give him more time to explore the country’s stunning natural landscape - as well as its Lord of the Rings film locations.
About the contributors
Linley Boniface is a contract writer for Education New Zealand. She is based in Wellington, her favourite city in New Zealand. A former journalist, Linley spent a year in Montreal, Canada, as a secondary school student.