Arpan Mandal
India
Master of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Arpan was awarded an NZi3 Master's Scholarship worth $30,000 by NZi3, the national ICT Innovation Institute based at the University of Canterbury , to complete his Master's project on an aspect of 4G (fourth-generation) mobile communications technology.
Arpan used the funds to conduct research on advancing high-speed wireless broadband technology known as WiMAX. "The technology is not yet fully developed and there are thousands of engineers working on this worldwide but to our knowledge we are the only academic institution in New Zealand working on this technology" Arpan said.
Arpan completed his undergraduate studies in Engineering Electronics and Communication at Bangalore University in India and returned to study his Masters after six years in industry. His advice to prospective engineering students from India is to "Start your undergraduate studies at the University of Canterbury as the practical work forms an important part of the BE(Hons) and prepares students for a postgraduate qualification and the workforce".
Since graduating with a Master of Engineering Arpan is now employed full time by a leading NZ communications company.