Engineering – it’s a profession we have all heard of, we may even personally know an engineer, but what exactly does the career entail?
“Engineers are the creatives of the professional world – we have all the major developments of our society to thank them for,” says Cesar Vargas, an international student from Mexico, enrolled in the NZ Diploma in Engineering (Electrical Engineering) (Level 6) at NZSE College.
Jeanelle Aman, from the Philippines, says engineers are inventors, builders, and designers: “What we use daily, like transportation and our phones, are all thanks to the efforts of engineers. We live a comfortable life because of them.”
Jeanelle and Cesar, alongside 13 other students, make up the very first cohort to study the diploma in engineering at NZSE. The inaugural programme, tutored by Zhijia Wang, focuses on the design, development, and maintenance of electronic circuitry used in equipment.
Jeanelle and Cesar love the programme so far – especially the laboratory at the Auckland CBD campus. “We get to use all the equipment here in the lab, creating circuits and recording our experiment results. It’s interesting to see how our lessons go beyond theory, and we get to see the physical outcomes,” says Jeanelle.
However, the programme isn’t all about intricate experiments. Classroom discussion is a massive component of the diploma, with tutor Zhijia Wang fostering a warm, inclusive environment that encourages collaborative conversation from even the most reserved students.
“I’ve always been shy, and I never used to talk in class, but at NZSE, I have slowly started to express myself by participating in class topics. Zhijia never shuts down any questions from students. He encourages us to participate and he thinks each student has their unique point of view,” says Jeanelle.
