Pii-Tuulia and Fred represent EIT at the NZ International Education Conference and Expo.

EIT senior lecturer, Dr Pii-Tuulia Nikula and Faculty of Commerce and Technology Dean, Fred Koenders were invited to speak at the New Zealand International Education Conference and Expo (NZIEC). The conference is held at the SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 August.

Last year, 738 delegates from 21 countries participated at the symposium making it the largest in its history. “It’s a privilege to be able to speak at the largest industry conference in New Zealand,” Fred and Pii-Tuulia say. “This is a reflection of the very high regard in which EIT is held by the sector.”

Pii-Tuulia who recently participated at Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training in Brisbane, will hold the workshop “Climate Change – your opportunity to act” where she addresses the responsibility of tertiary education providers in regards to the global climate crisis. “We intend to start a discussion about this important topic within the international education community. For instance, we will discuss international students’ travel-related carbon emissions and other ways in which New Zealand education providers can take climate action.” Her second presentation is about the effective monitoring of international education agents.

Fred was invited to represent the ITP sector on a panel about how to build effective partnerships with Chinese tertiary institutions. Recently EIT celebrated with 80 Chinese Qi Lu University of Technology’s students who graduated through a joint education programme with EIT. “There are a few lessons that we learned from our relations with our partner institutions in China, for instance that communication is challenging and that it all comes down to personal relationships. As a result of excellent cooperation we develop everlasting friendships, participate in joint research opportunities, and our lecturers broaden their perspective to better support our international students back at EIT”, Fred says.