A group of 25 students from two South Korean universities, Andong National University and Kangwon National University are experiencing life in Invercargill.
The students arrived in the city last week as part of a 2-week program facilitated by Southern Lakes English College (SLEC), an entity owned by SIT.
Their programme, which is run for the first time in partnership with ILT, sees the students studying English language at SLEC followed by observational internships at various ILT businesses.
The universities have run similar programmes in different countries, but this one exceeded expectations for university staff accompanying the students.
“I have been impressed with many things about Invercargill, friendly locals, safe environment, nice hotels, and good opportunities,” said Mr Woongkyu Lee, Andong National University.
“Everything turned out so well that the university plans to send another group of students later this year,” he said.
These students are all on the South Korean government sponsorship programme studying a range of areas including hospitality, IT, multi-media and marketing.
Neil Riley, principal of SLEC said, “this programme is a great opportunity for the students to improve their conversational English and experience living and working in regional New Zealand.”
“It has been so successful that some of the students are thinking about returning to Invercargill to study at SIT or to work in the future,” said Mr Riley, Chris Ramsay, ILT chief executive agrees, it has been a positive collaboration.
“We’re delighted to be part of this partnership with SIT and SLEC to showcase our wonderful city and facilities to this group,” he said.
“This initiative feeds into our long term recruitment strategy to address the significant workforce challenges we are currently facing. We are also working with SIT to identify international students who may be looking for work whilst studying, or looking for career pathways after completing their studies,” said Mr Ramsay.
The students will enjoy a closing ceremony on today before heading on to Auckland for the remainder of their programme.