Kia ora and welcome to the May edition of We are OPAIC

This month you can read about a number of interesting events our Construction lecturers and learners have taken part in. We’ll also share some social events our learners and Student Success Team have put together for us. Finally, we’ll share the latest news out of the Employability Centre and introduce our newest colleagues.

Talk of the Campus

Learning about the Sri Lankan culture

We celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil New Year at our international campus recently. The event was organised by the Sri Lankan Student Community who taught us all about Sri Lanka, its culture, and the meaning of the celebration. Sinhalese and Tamil communities celebrate New Year when the Sun enters the zodiac of Aries. Students and staff dressed in traditional attire for the event and we all enjoyed learning some new games and sharing some traditional foods. Check out the photos here.

Informative industry event for construction students

We hosted an engaging industry event for our construction students this month, featuring Robert Brown, the Specification Manager from Steel & Tube. Steel & Tube has been operating in New Zealand for the last 70 years. They are the largest supplier, distributor of steel products in New Zealand. Robert shared his extensive knowledge of steel and composite flooring manufacturing and their applications in construction, particularly in earthquake-resistant buildings. Read all about the event here.

Learners to compete in national challenge

Our Construction students Mandi Lobar and Jacky Lu have been selected for the ArchEngBuild2024 Challenge. This is a three-day competition, which will this year be held in Christchurch from Tuesday 2 July to Thursday 4 July. Thirty of the country’s best architecture, engineering and construction management students take part in this intensive 3-day real-life client brief competition. The students will work in teams to deliver a concept design. They will utilise their existing knowledge and work with the professional advice and resources made available to them at the event. The students are given the opportunity to work alongside students from other disciplines, and this nurtures collaboration and innovation for our participants at the outset of their careers. Read more about the challenge here.

Celebrating diversity and kindness

We wore pink last week to get behind an anti-bullying initiative. Pink Shirt Day is about working together to stop bullying by celebrating diversity and promoting kindness and inclusiveness. Staff and students came together for some pink snacks and games to mark the occasion. 

Have your say at our Student Forum

The next Student Forum will take place on Thursday 23 May at 12pm on Level 1. Come along to a confidential discussion with the Student Success team and let us know how things are going for you at OPAIC. Your feedback is important to help us improve our services. Lunch will be provided. 

NZ Institute of Building Next Gen Awards

What's your big idea to shake up the building industry? Let the NZ Institute of Building know and you could be in to win up to $4,000. The Next Gen Awards are for students and graduates in the industry. They’re free to enter.  Read more about the competition here.

Senior Lecturer presents in Japan

Senior Construction Lecturer, Omer Altaf, presented his groundbreaking research titled "Liquefaction Vulnerability of Puketoka Formation Soil Deposits Using Effective Stress Analysis" at the 8th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering in Osaka, Japan. This esteemed conference brought together leading experts and innovators worldwide, providing an invaluable platform for learning and networking. Omer’s participation highlights our institute’s commitment to advancing knowledge and research in earthquake geotechnical engineering.

Lecturers attend climate change seminar 

All teaching staff in the Construction department attended a seminar on Housing for our Changing Climate organised by BRANZ recently. The seminar was very insightful and was a good opportunity for all of us to network and get updated information on housing and its construction due to the changing climate. The topic was well aligned with our programme in Construction and so lecturers found it very useful and enjoyed the event. 

Practicing collaboration in the classroom

Our Applied Management students had a good time engaging in immersive classroom activities recently. Students in our Managing Projects and Improving Organisational Performance courses have been undertaking hands-on group activities geared towards bolstering planning and communication within their respective teams.

New Staff

Jason Singh

Jason is working full-time as IT Helpdesk Support. He completed his Bachelor of Computing and Information Sciences at AUT.

Jason has been working in the IT industry for over five years as an IT Support Analyst with ANZ. While at AUT he was the project manager for developing a dashboard hosted on Azure Cloud, using C#, HTML, JavaScript and MySQL databases with the agile methodology – Scrum.

Jason’s goal is to support learners the best he can and help them to succeed in their studies.

Outside of work, he likes playing golf on the weekends.

Nikita Mogilevskii 

Nikita is working part-time as IT Helpdesk Support. He is a second-year Bachelor of Information Technology student with us. Originally from Russia, Nikita has been a part of the team since the end of Study Block One on a part-time basis. Some of you may already be familiar with Nikita as he has been an IT Peer Tutor on Level 8 since 2023. He was really excited to quit his job at the Fish n Chip store in Commercial Bay and free up his weekends.

Mazhar Feizi

Mazhar is an IT Helpdesk Support intern. He is a first-year Bachelor of Information Technology student from Iran. He’s joined the team to develop his skills and discover which area of IT he would like to specialise in after graduation. You can feel safe with Mazhar because he is the 2022 Kickboxing National Champion back home.

Raminder Kaur 

Raminder Kaur completed her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at Delhi University.

She has 17 years of experience in the overseas education industry. Her expertise includes sales leadership, team development, market positioning, compliance, and visa processing.

Raminder’s goal for each learner is to provide personalised guidance and support that empowers them to navigate the complexities of studying abroad with confidence.

She aims to help students not only achieve their academic goals but also develop valuable life skills and cultural awareness that will benefit them long after their education is complete. She strives to ensure that each learner's experience is enriching, fulfilling, and conducive to their future success.

Raminder excels in dynamic environments that foster collaboration and idea exchange. Her passion for travel and exploration fuels her desire to immerse herself in diverse cultures and new experiences.
 

Employability Corner

A morning of inspiration and insight 

The Employability Centre was thrilled to host our Study Block 2 Alumni Mentor Coffee Connect last week. The event is designed to bridge the gap between our accomplished alumni and our eager new students. The morning buzzed with the energy of roundtable discussions and one-on-one Q&A sessions, where mentors generously shared their personal journeys from job hunting to career growth. Read all about it here.

Employability research recognised 

OPAIC Employability and Industry Engagement Manager Dani was honoured to have presented at the 10th International Conference on Education, where she had the opportunity to share insights from OPAIC's latest alumni project on the educational and career journeys of mature international female graduates in New Zealand. The project highlighted our remarkable female graduates’ profound resilience and determination.

The presentation, "Challenges and Adaptive Strategies of Mature International Female Graduates in New Zealand – Insights from the Fearless Dreams Project”. was awarded Best Presentation of Innovative Inclusion Transforms Education Policy at the conference. This recognition is not just an academic honour but a testament to the importance of our ongoing work in promoting diversity and inclusion in international education.

Good attendance at Employability workshops 

We’ve seen a steady increase in students attending our Wednesday Employability workshops since Imogene joined the team in mid-April. Imogene has run comprehensive workshops on CV and cover letters, and how to build your network. Our next workshop is about succeeding in interviews. From these, students have approached her and are coming forward to ask for feedback and help. Imogene has decided to re-format and edit the workshop content to make it more engaging and current for students. She has noted we may be missing some students who are not on campus on Wednesdays, so she has opted to run additional workshops on Tuesdays.

Students and professionals mingle at industry event

An epic selfie from the successful inaugural event co-hosted by BA Career Meetup and OPAIC Employability Centre. It's truly amazing that more than 80 people attended the event.
The event was also the final session of our first Work Ready Graduate Business Analytics Career Pathway programme. The goals and objectives of the four sessions of the pathway programme are:

•  Understanding BA/DA Roles and Skill Requirements
• Insights from Hiring Managers
•  Connecting with Recruiters
• Networking Event

We are so pleased to see the Networking Event as the last session to provide our OPAIC participating learners with this opportunity to mingle with professionals. Their takeaways are:

• Everyone can become a BA, whether you're a student, admin, developer, or stay-at-home mum.
• Lacking industry knowledge won't stop you from working as a BA. Sometimes, you can leverage your naive eyes to unlock more organisational value.
• Stakeholder management is the top critical skill for success as a BA.