International News
Indonesian lecturers go back to school in NZ
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Sixteen senior lecturers from Indonesia have gone back to class at Massey University’s Wellington campus.
(via Massey University) The lecturers work at Brawijiya University in Malang Province, Indonesia. The university has 30,000 students and 2000 lecturers. They are attending three months of training at Massey University’s Wellington-based Centre for University Preparation and English Language Studies (CUPELS).
The lecturers all have PhDs and work in a wide range of fields including economics, law, management, and agriculture. Dr Djamhur Hamid, the group’s leader, says Massey Wellington is a small but beautiful campus, and student numbers in lectures are much smaller, with up to 70 in a class at Brawijiya.
He says children start learning English at age 12 in Indonesia but putting it into practice in everyday situations was a new experience.
None of the visiting lecturers has been to New Zealand before, though some have studied overseas including in France and Australia. Many in the group were finding Wellington cold with average temperatures in Brawijiya in August about 28 degrees Celsius.
CUPELS will also facilitate speech-writing training for officials from the Commission on Higher Education in Thailand in October.
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