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Tourism Hot-Spot Appreciates International Students
Friday, 22 August 2008
Rotorua is one of New Zealand's main centres for tourism, famous for its Maori cultural focus and geothermal attractions. International students are boosting Rotorua's economy by millions every year and a brand new batch have just arrived to study at the city's tertiary institute.
(via The Daily Post) Waiariki Institute of Technology and Rotorua mayor Kevin Winters officially welcomed about 100 new international students to the city last week. Mr Winters said international students were an important driver of the Rotorua economy and their numbers were expected to grow.They also helped fill gaps in Rotorua's workforce, he said.
Waiariki's international manager, Graeme Rennie, said Waiariki had been extending its boundaries in the past few years to increase its international student roll.
"We have been focusing on the Asian market and they are definitely up from last year."
He said Waiariki had about 350 international students last year and about 100 more were expected to enrol this year.
"We are attracting people to our key courses such as tourism and hospitality, business and computing, as well as our nursing competency training."
The main focus was on encouraging international students to take courses in areas of skill shortage in the New Zealand workforce.
"Essentially we are working with the community to provide skilled workers for areas with shortages." Mr Singh said most international students enrolled at Waiariki were from India and China, but there were also students from Korea, Japan and Brazil.
At yesterday's welcome, Mr Winters talked to the students about what they could expect during their time in Rotorua. Brazilian student Pollyana Nunes said she had been in Rotorua about four months and had recently enrolled in English courses at Waiariki.
"I came to New Zealand and came straight to Rotorua. It is such a nice place to live. I am looking forward to studying here."
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