Luis Toranzo

Peruvian student Luis Toranzo was determined to come to New Zealand for his postgraduate engineering studies, knowing Canterbury to be one of the world leaders in civil and earthquake engineering research.

Luis is from Arequipa in Peru and completed his Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) at San Agustin University. He began a Master of Engineering degree at the University of Canterbury last year, has completed his course work and is now working on his thesis.

He is investigating alternative systems of stabilising masonry to prevent damage to infills during an earthquake, research that he hopes will be of use to the building industry, particularly in his home country.

Luis has high praise for the support he has received from his colleagues at the Engineering School. They "engineered" the surprise arrival of his fiancée, Tatiana, from Peru last year and several colleagues attended his wedding in Christchurch earlier this year.

"The staff and supervisors are very supportive. They have been welcoming and not made us feel like strangers. It has been a very warm experience. The International Student Centre is also really great."

The research environment is very encouraging, Luis says. "In New Zealand you are always looking for alternatives, for new solutions, instead of just building on the old ways."

Tatiana, a lawyer, is studying for a Postgraduate Diploma in Management at Canterbury this year. They intend returning to Peru where Luis would like to teach at university level, but first he wants to complete a PhD here. To do that, he will have to find scholarship money to cover the cost, but he is hopeful he can achieve that.

"In my previous studies I was learning from textbooks. Here, I am learning from the people who wrote the textbooks."