A new home away from home

Yusuf has a background in engineering and applied for the scholarship to learn more about the maritime industry.

Pam Wood, Curriculum Area Manager at NMIT was instrumental in designing a programme for the scholarship recipients that combines aquaculture and maritime courses. It includes numerous field trips to ensure the learners have an unforgettable experience seeing the sights of Te Tauihu (the Top of the South).

“When I found out I was accepted, my family was really proud and I was happy, but also a bit scared,” Yusuf says.

Yusuf’s trip to Nelson was the first time he had travelled on an aeroplane. He has never been abroad before but is making the most of every day in New Zealand.

“I have made new friends, and I would like to return to New Zealand again to work here,” he says.

Yusuf has many great memories to take back home to Surabaya, Indonesia, including learning how to drive a boat in Mapua, and celebrating Indonesian Independence Day on 17 August with tutors, locals, and classmates at Rabbit Island.

“Everyone has been really supportive here,” he says.

However, increased confidence is the most significant thing Yusuf will take back after this experience.

“I used to be a shy person,” he says. “I would never approach new people, but here I have had to.”

IISMA is centrally managed by Indonesia’s Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology (DGHERT) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (MoECRT).

It runs undergraduate and vocational programmes, with NMIT being the first education provider in New Zealand to offer study programmes to the vocational group of scholarship winners.