Annie Goh

Annie Goh came to the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology in 1996 to complete the third year of her Business degree (in conjunction with Kolej Aman in Malaysia, as part of a 2 + 1 study programme). However she decided to continue her studies for a further year to obtain a second major in Marketing. “This was the best decision I have ever made in my life! I’ve found something (marketing) that I am really interested in. As part of the course, I needed lots of confidence to approach local businesses to do the research for my assignments. It would have been much harder if the New Zealand tutors, and students in my class had not been so helpful.”

Upon graduation in 1997, Annie started working in Singapore. However, the lifestyle she’d experienced in New Zealand, and the friends she’d made, proved too compelling and she returned to Nelson in 1999. “New Zealand is very beautiful and the lifestyle is very relaxed. Nelson is the best place to be a student as it is small enough to be safe and friendly and it is big enough to be interesting and fun!”

Annie now works for the actual institution that she received her education from, marketing the organisation’s programmes to other prospective international students. For example, the first month in her job saw her promoting the Institute in China. “It was a great experience. As someone who could speak Mandarin and who has been a student here, I was able to reassure the Chinese parents that their children would be well supported in their studies if they chose Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.”

Annie feels her time at the Institute and her work experience in Singapore as a marketing executive has prepared her well for her current job. “This job gives me more experience in international marketing which is my passion…Selling education is a meaningful thing to do.”

‘My experience in New Zealand has totally changed my life! My study at NMIT not only gave me the skills to be good at what I am doing, it also gave me the confidence and faith in myself that I am as good as (perhaps better than) university graduates from other part of the world.”