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

In this issue, we introduce you to an Applied Management student who has just taken on a role advocating for female international students. We also introduce three of our newest lecturers and fill you in on what our Employability Team has been up to so far this year to get our learners ready for the world of work.

Upcoming Events

Talk of the Campus

NZISA role for OPAIC student

Applied Management student Ann Ivy Roselle Cabanero is looking forward to her new role on the Executive Committee of the New Zealand International Students'​ Association (NZISA). NZISA is a student-led body promoting equality among all students, giving a voice to international students and making sure their rights are upheld. Her new role is Women’s Officer, advocating for female and female identifying international students. Read about Ann and her new role here.

Staying the Course

It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were welcoming our new ākonga (learners) at Orientation and already we are gearing up for the first round of assessments. This can be an overwhelming time for both new and returning ākonga so if you are feeling stressed, don’t worry, you are not alone. Read Academic & Quality Lead/Te Kaihāpai Sean Bell’s advice to ākonga here.

New learners begin their study journey

We welcomed our first intake of new students for the year to the Auckland International Campus recently. Orientations were held over two days and included presentations, a campus tour, and sessions about our academic and employability offerings. Read more here.

Keeping injury-free

A number of AIC students have reported back, neck, and leg injuries in the first few weeks back on campus.

Taking a week or two off classes to recover from an injury can seriously impact on a student’s success in their course of study, and many injuries are preventable.

Please take a look at this helpful advice from ACC to help keep yourself and others safe at home, work and play this summer.

If you do experience an injury, please make sure you contact the Student Success team (studentsuccessaic@op.ac.nz) and provide a medical certificate. The team will be able to give you additional guidance and support to help you keep your studies on track.

Employability Corner

Alumni Mentor Coffee Connect: A Stepping Stone to Career Success

On Saturday 10 February, the AIC Employability Centre, in alignment with the OPAIC vision of nurturing New Zealand's most employable graduates, leveraged the beautiful campus facility to host an enriching Alumni Mentor Coffee Connect. Read all about it here.

Green Office Toitū Green Skills and Green Careers Workshop led by new Volunteers and GOT Graduates

We’ve welcomed our new students by providing them with valuable knowledge about green skills in demand in New Zealand. The student-led workshop aimed to introduce the concept of sustainability and highlight its importance. Read more here.

Empowering Student-Led Initiatives: Green Office Toitū 

Under the guiding philosophy of taking career development into their own hands, a group of proactive Applied Management learners has formed a working committee to lead Green Office Toitū in sustainability and networking. Read more here.

Work Ready workshops are seeing the engagement of new faces in Study Block 1

The Employability Centre, with its unwavering commitment to student success, hosted an engaging workshop focused on harnessing the full potential of LinkedIn for professional development. The session was designed to empower students with the knowledge to effectively utilise LinkedIn to carve out a robust professional online presence. Read more here.

Establish your pathway to career success workshop!

More than 30 learners secured their spots for the Establish Your Pathway to Career Success workshop, which is the third event of our newly launched Work Ready Graduate programme for Business Analyst Career pathways. Our industry partners designed this hands-on, in-person session to equip our learners with strategic career-planning techniques that will set them apart in the competitive BA landscape.

New Staff

Muhammad Saqib

Muhammad has joined the team as a Lecturer in the Construction Department. He is proud to be from Karachi, Pakistan, a city renowned for its vibrant energy and often referred to as the City of Lights. He arrived in New Zealand last August and has been actively immersing himself in the culture and society of the country.

Muhammad holds a degree in Civil Engineering from NED University, Karachi, a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Karachi, a Master's in Information Technology from PIMSAT, Karachi, and a Master's in Engineering Management from NED University.

With over two decades of professional, academic, and research experience, Muhammad served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, NED University. Throughout his career, he has actively participated in various academic and industrial research projects focusing on construction project management, advanced project planning and scheduling, computer-aided project planning, scheduling, and control, building information modelling, management of construction organisations, project monitoring and control, and sustainable and green construction in both Pakistan and the USA.

His leadership roles include heading the Sustainable Green Society, contributing to the transformation of NED University into a Carbon Neutral Campus, serving as a member of the Steering Committee for Green Campus Initiatives, and being a member of DICE Energy and Innovative Centre. Additionally, Muhammad has supervised the Building Information Modeling (BIM) Centre, the Postgraduate Computer Lab, the Undergraduate Computer Lab, and the NED Smart Classroom.

He has authored over 40 journal and conference papers, actively participated in numerous funded research projects, and guided over 40 graduate and undergraduate theses at NED University. Additionally, he has successfully organised more than 40 conferences, workshops, and seminars.

Outside of work, Muhammad enjoys spending quality time with his family and children, exploring various places together and engaging in activities and games.

Mandy Lacy 

Mandy is a new Sessional Lecturer in the Applied Management team teaching Managing for Sustainability.

Born in New Zealand, Mandy loves teaching, especially teaching international students.

Mandy contracts to various organisations doing transformation, benefits realisation management, and learning and training assignments along with business cases, NZ Treasury gateway reviews, quality assurance, evaluations, and post-implementation reviews.

Outside of work, she loves spending time with family, being at the beach, swimming, acrylic painting, playing the ukulele, gardening, reading, walking, and the gym.

William Liu

William is a new sessional lecturer in the Information Technology department here at OPAIC. In Study Block 1 he will co-teach Introduction to Networks and Devices and Platforms with colleague and friend Dr Barry Dowdeswell.

William came to New Zealand from Beijing in 2002 and completed his master’s and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Canterbury in 2005, and 2010 respectively. 

He worked as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the Auckland University of Technology from 2010 up until last year, mainly teaching networking and cybersecurity courses.

Along with his OPAIC work, he works some casual hours with Unitec and also MIT, teaching network administration, cloud application design and development, big data analysis and business intelligence. 

Outside of work, William loves to play badminton and do Tai Chi. He’s also a big fan of acupuncture and has self-studied and practised it. This year, he will start studying for a Bachelor of Health Science (majoring in Acupuncture) part-time at the New Zealand College of Chinese Medicine.