Ms Jieyan (Mera) Tan1, Ms Melanie Jones-Leaning1, Ms Yoko Kishi1
1University of Waikato, Hillcrest, Hamilton, New Zealand
For those of us engaged in mentoring our students through to academic success, the journey can be perilous and fraught with unforeseen serendipities. Success itself is multi-faceted: is it a problem-free brief stay away in the host country to brush up on English over the school vacation? The smooth transition from one level of English proficiency to the next without any of the tribulations of youth or the completion of the pre-degree foundation programme which ushers students through the portals to degree study? Neither is success guaranteed. From our perspective, three areas in particular are exacting: the Generation Z students who have retained the Millennials’ sense of entitlement but who lack resilience; the truculent and unbending stance of staff who refuse to shift from entrenched ways of delivering the programme and managing students, and finally, the profit and loss market mentality which has commodified education. What is perhaps of more concern to us as advisers, is how we create an enriched collaborative framework which nurtures and enables those with whom we work and those working within the industry itself.
Within the parameters of the three differing student cohorts referred to above, the following presentation will focus on what success means to the students themselves, the various strategies we as staff adopt to enable the students to achieve their goals, and the overarching sense of collaboration of the student and staff learning community.
Biography:
Mera Tan is the Academic Student Advisor at Pathways College, the University of Waikato. Pathways College offers Academic English Language programmes and they are designed to improve the language skills of international students and prepare them for university study. Mera has more than 10 years experiences in working directly with international students, providing enrolment, academic learning support and pastoral care. Her work at the University has been an exciting and rewarding blend of intercultural communication, administration and advocacy.
Mera holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Communication and has been an active ISANA member since 2008. Mera is currently engaging in coaching and mentoring courses and is pursuing Master of Education in the University of Waikato.
Melanie works both as a student adviser and tutor within the Bridging Programmes at the University of Waikato Pathways College, New Zealand. She has been working with international and domestic students since 2008. Melanie holds a BA Political Science and Asian Studies, a BA (Hons) in International Relations, an MA in International Relations and Security Studies along with her teaching diploma – all from the University of Waikato.
Yoko is the International Groups Coordinator in the English Language Programmes at the University of Waikato Pathways College, New Zealand. She has been working with inbound and outbound tertiary students since 1997 in Japan and New Zealand. Yoko holds a BA in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University (Japan), and an MBus in International Tourism Management from the University of Queensland (Australia). She is a MLIT-Certified General Travel Services Manager in Japan.