Southland based Southern Institute of Technology plays an important role in building skill capacity in a range of areas in one of New Zealand’s most sparsely populated regions.
Higher numbers of skilled people living and working in the region are vital for its economic growth. Over the years, SIT has been casting its net far and wide across the world to bring a wide range of students through its portals, many of whom settle down in the region after obtaining qualifications in their desired fields, becoming productive contributors to the region’s economy.
SIT has a large contingent of students from India from across its courses and several students Indian Weekender spoke to love the experience of living and studying in Invercargill and Queenstown – where SIT has its campuses besides Christchurch. Many of these students come from rural India and find the easy going and close knit nature of SIT’s campuses comfortably familiar.
“We are a very safe and family oriented community here in Southland,” says Penny Simmonds, SIT’s chief executive. “Having recently travelled to India, I’ve seen how important family is to Indians. We have a strong family focus here at SIT and that’s a good natural fit for people from India.”
As well as the family orientation and the more relaxed and easygoing pace of life than one you would find in campuses in bigger cities, SIT’s sheer range of courses are a magnet for Indians for most of whom education is only the route to leading a better life.
“We have a good range of programmes at SIT, which are sought after by Indians: computing, business, commerce, digital media and many more are all attractive to Indian students.
Ms Simmonds says SIT is aware that many institutions around the country offer those courses. What differentiates SIT from others as regards Indian students is the total package that SIT offers.
“It is more than just offering courses. It is important to have more than that. For instance, how you try to integrate students from India into the local community, the importance of a family oriented community, the ability to preserve and celebrate the culture back from home,” says Ms Simmonds. “I realised how important family values and culture are to Indians when I visited India.”
SIT works closely with Immigration New Zealand to assist students to study at the institute in Southland. “We welcome new migrants in the region. We need to build our population and have more skilled people to grow the economy here.”
Ms Simmonds says SIT has been attracting older students from India, many of them who come there with families. These are serious students intent with qualifying themselves and then settling down with a new start in life in a new region and a new country.
“With India, there is a natural fit – everyone speaks good English, we share a love of similar sporting activities and of course family orientation is something that is so important to Indians and we also have similar work habits,” says Ms Simmonds.
This situation works well for everyone – the student, the institute and the region’s economy, as the students often choose to live and work in Southland after gaining qualifications.
Ms Simmonds says Immigration New Zealand has successfully addressed the visa bottlenecks for students at its New Delhi High Commission and has considerably speeded up processes over the past 18 months.
“Obviously a lot more apply for various reasons than we can get here. But it is important not to mislead potential students; it’s a matter of being transparent and telling students what to expect out of their living and studying experience here.”
SIT realises that Southland is not a destination with an appeal for everybody. It doesn’t have the trappings of big city life like casinos and neon-lit busy streets. But it does appeal to a growing number of people who are looking for an easier pace, family oriented environment to study, live and work.
And that’s not just the students. “We attract staff from the UK, South Africa, Australia, India and many other countries,” says Ms Simmonds. “Most come here for the wholesome lifestyle and the family orientation that SIT and Southland offer.”
Though India is an important market and ever greater numbers from India are taking up SIT’s wide range of courses, the institute is also looking at other markets around the world.
“We are looking at China and Vietnam in Asia as well as at Europe and South America,” Ms Simmonds says of SIT’s plans to cast its net wider in coming months and years.
“We are quite focused on growing student numbers – we have always been upfront about that since I took over in 1997. It’s simply because we need a bigger population of skilled people for the economic growth of a beautiful region the size of Switzerland but with just about 100,000 people.