Wintec extends its educational reach

The worldwide head of the Sikh community visits Hamilton tomorrow to sign an educational agreement with Wintec.

The agreement signifies a new partnership between Wintec and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that will give SGPC students the opportunity to complete their engineering, business studies and information technology programmes at Wintec.

SGPC is the statutory body of elected Sikhs which represents more than six million Sikhs world-wide and is presided over by the head of the supreme religious body of Sikhs – Avtar Singh Makkar. The SGPC is also a charitable and humanitarian organisation that runs 36 institutions of higher education throughout India.

Wintec’s Director of Internationalisation, Stewart Brougham, says: “Through this agreement, SGPC students have the opportunity to continue their study at Wintec and, in doing so, experience living in a different country. It means that students can be confident of pathway and academic opportunities available to them at Wintec. Additionally, Wintec staff and students will also benefit through increased numbers of international students in Hamilton, enriching campus life.”

Students can undertake their first two years of a Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Civil) or Bachelor of Business Studies at an SGPC run educational institution in India before coming to Wintec to complete their final two years of study.

SGPC students will also be able to transition into the graduate diploma in business or information technology at Wintec after completing the corresponding three year degree at a SGPC educational institute. The agreement will also encourage teacher exchange, teacher training and student exchange programmes between Wintec and SGPC.

The first SGPC students will arrive at Wintec at the end of this year.

“This new partnership is the result of months of work by Dr Surya Pandey, our International Research Relations Director, and Pathways New Zealand to build our relationship with SGPC,” added Mr Brougham.

Dr Pandey said that the visit was a real step forward for Wintec’s partnerships in India and is looking forward to developing the partnership in the future.