Academic Learning Support

Expectations of International Tertiary

Students studying in New Zealand from
Private Training Establishments (PTEs)

Rajbinder Kaur Pannu & Farhad Mohammad Bashar

UUNZ Institute of Business
 Overview
• Purpose of the Study
• Significance
• Trends & Factors
• Research Strategy
– Pre-Test Model
– Intervention
– Post-Test Model
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
 Purpose of the Study
To understand the expectations of
geographically and culturally diverse
international tertiary students, attending a
Private Training Establishment (PTE) in New
Zealand.
 Significance
• Gather insights into the complex and evolving
learning support expectations of international
tertiary students in New Zealand.
• An understanding of the factors that contribute
towards the learner’s expectations is crucial for
the PTE.
• Create a pathway for sound student experiences
and an all-around academic growth and
professional development of the key stakeholder.
 Trends & Factors
• Trends observed from the existing academic learning
support programme offered by the PTE reveal that
expectations of tertiary students vary from year to year.

• Possible Factors:
– Academic curriculum
– Duration of study
– Cultural background
– Approach to formal learning
– Length of stay in New Zealand
– Long-term goals (upon completion of studies)
– Proficiency in English language
 Research Strategy
This research will take the form of pre-test,
intervention, and post-test to gather self-
reported student expectations about both
traditional learning environments (TLE) and
virtual learning environments (VLE).
 Pre-Test Model
Our goal would be to pre-test our research
process in-person, so that we can gather
experiences from a small group of international
tertiary students.
At this stage, we will not be looking at the actual
answers, but whether the students are able to
answer the questions as we intended.
 Sample Questionnaire
1. What is Harvard AGPS referencing?
2. How do you link e-databases to word?
 Intervention
A brief session will be conducted about manually
creating a citation. For example for a book or journal
(in-text and reference list).
Also, a brief session will be initiated as to how
EndNote can be used to create a citation for a book
or journal and importing it into a word file.
The above can be achieved by using:
• Oral lecture
• E-Database of resources or a book
• Linking tool (EndNote software in this case)
• Harvard AGPS referencing guide
 Post-Test Model
The strength of the intervention conducted and
the degree of change occurred will be tested
during the post-test model.
 Sample Questionnaire
1. What is Harvard AGPS referencing?
2. How do you link e-databases to word?
3. What is the most important thing that you
have learnt from this intervention?
 Expectation Measurement
Rank your Expectation Level:
1. What is Harvard AGPS referencing?
a) Expectation met
b) Somewhat met
c) Not at all met

2. How do you link e-databases to word?

a) Extremely helpful
b) Somewhat helpful
c) Not at all helpful
Conclusion

?
 Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Dr. Kay Fielden, Dr. Graeme
Sterne, Susan Warring, Cathy Zhang & Sarah
Chen of UUNZ Institute of Business (Auckland)
without whom we would not have been able to
attend this conference.
 References
• Summers, J & Smith, B 2014, Communication skills handbook,
4th edn, John Wiley and Sons Australia Ltd, Milton Qld.

• Harvard AGPS Referencing Guide 2017, Referencing Guide,

University of Southern Queensland, viewed 28 November
2018, <
https://www.usq.edu.au/-/media/USQ/Library/Referencing/U
SQ-Library---Harvard-Referencing-Guide-November-
2017.ashx>.
 Contact Information

Rajbinder Kaur Pannu Farhad Mohammad Bashar

UUNZ Institute of Business UUNZ Institute of Business
76-78 Symonds St, 76-78 Symonds St,
Grafton, Auckland 1010 Grafton, Auckland 1010
rajbinder.kaur@uunz.ac.nz farhad@uunz.ac.nz
QUESTION & ANSWER
THANK YOU