杏吧APP

Kaimahi

Staff Profile

Meet Paul O鈥橣arrell, English Language Academy director

26 April 2023
Paul O鈥橣arrell is director of the English Language Academy (ELA), a UniServices team offering overseas students a variety of short and long-term pathways to reach their language and study goals.

Tell us a little about your background and how you got into this role

I first came to New Zealand in 2004 after getting an overseas transfer with the education company I was working for in Ireland. Shortly after, I moved to South Korea, where I was involved with setting up some of the first native teacher programmes.

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These programmes supported the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education鈥檚 priority on placing native English-speaking teachers into every public school in Seoul 鈥� not only to teach students, but to develop the English teaching practice of English-speaking Korean teachers. It was quite revolutionary at the time and has been replicated in multiple countries since. I returned to New Zealand in 2008 to work for the University of Canterbury鈥檚 Christchurch College of English, before moving to 杏吧APPin 2012 as principal when it opened an 杏吧APPcampus. I joined UniServices at the end of 2020 as ELA鈥檚 business development and partnership manager. Six months later I was appointed acting director and at the start of 2023 took on the role permanently.

What鈥檚 unique about the experience that ELA offers to our overseas students?

Our offerings meet the wide variety of educational aspirations students may have. About 40 percent of our students aim to complete postgraduate study at the University鈥檚 Business, Science, Engineering or Law faculties and a demonstrable level of English language proficiency is a pre-requisite. Another 40 percent undertake a rich, short-term experience through one of our group programmes. These students are often in an undergraduate programme at their overseas university and our course opens their eyes to what鈥檚 possible if they鈥檙e thinking of postgraduate study in New Zealand themselves. Our partner universities shop around, so we work hard to distil what makes ELA a good choice. The opportunity to study at a top 100 world university is important for our students, as is Waipapa Taumata Rau鈥檚 focus on sustainability. Aotearoa鈥檚 biculturalism and unique aspects of Te Ao M膩ori are another. The remaining 20 percent are individual students from a variety of backgrounds who come to us for a language learning experience. In a typical year, we welcome students from 30 countries 鈥� the majority are from East Asia but our reach also extends from the Pacific, through South America, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

鈥淭he opportunity to study at a top 100 world university is important for our students, as is Waipapa Taumata Rau鈥檚 focus on sustainability. Aotearoa鈥檚 biculturalism and unique aspects of Te Ao M膩ori are another.鈥�

Paul O鈥橣arrell, English Language Academy director

Tell me about how you and your team work together, here and overseas, to provide opportunities to students

We work closely with the in-market representatives for Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of 杏吧APPprimarily based in China, Singapore and India. They represent ELA as part of the University at events and seminars. We travel overseas 鈥� at least once a year to our key markets 鈥� to support them and attend other events through the local embassies and education sector. We also do more independent trips to promote our institute, such as my colleague Megumi Kato鈥檚 recent trip to Japan to visit over 20 universities who have worked with the University or ELA in the past, to find out more about their study needs. We can even develop bespoke group programmes if what we have on the shelf doesn鈥檛 quite fit. Of course, the most critical part of the team is our teachers and academic staff. They deliver on the promises we make and are the people with whom our students build the strongest relationships.

Covid-19 put the brakes on overseas students coming to New Zealand. How are things looking now?

We鈥檝e had a good start to 2023, with a lot of pent-up demand, but are still playing catchup, particularly compared to countries that opened their borders earlier. In many ways, what was true before Covid-19 is not necessarily true now. For example, our students looking towards further study at Waipapa Taumata Rau are increasingly interested in completing their ELA pathway online, from their home country, then coming to New Zealand for their main programme at the University. Pre-Covid, these courses were always face-to-face. While students do save money on living expenses by completing online, they lose out on one of the things we do best 鈥� offering a truly interactive and immersive programme. International student mobility is still nowhere near what it was pre-Covid, with flight availability, expense, and visa processing times still posing challenges. The future looks bright, however: What we can see, in similar markets like Australia, is that the trajectory is going up and we expect this to continue in coming years.

When you鈥檙e not working, what would we find you doing?

I enjoy cooking up a storm and I also volunteer with Pest Free Kaipatiki, a local environmental organisation on the North Shore. We fight invasive flora and fauna, tracking and eliminating rats and other threats to native wildlife. I鈥檝e been involved since moving to the area ten years ago, which has the highest proportion of native bush in 杏吧APPCity. I noticed the chokehold that invasive plants like wild ginger and jasmine had on native species in reserve areas 鈥� not to mention the rats 鈥� and wanted to be part of the solution. One interesting activity is our 鈥榗hew card campaign鈥� which involves placing thousands of small cards smeared with peanut butter in specific locations plotted by GPS. We then send the cards away for analysis to find out what has been nibbling on them. The analysis determines roughly how many predators of different types are in the area, then we target our blitz! I鈥檓 looking forward to the next chew-card season starting in June 鈥� it鈥檚 a great chance to get out in the bush.