Lincoln University students win Jade Software prize

Christchurch is being lauded as a 'hotspot for IT' by a Lincoln University graduate who has jointly won a Jade Software prize.

Kazunori Hashikuchi, originally from Nagoya in Japan, was working for a Japanese IT company until last year, but says he decided to come to New Zealand to further his education in the subject.

"The industry is great here and Christchurch in particular is considered an excellent place to find IT jobs," says Hashikuchi.

Hashikuchi, along with Ewan Dickie, jointly received the 2015 Jade Prize after gaining top marks in their Lincoln University Software Engineering class this year.

The students will share the $2000 prize, which the Jade Software Corporation has awarded annually since 1999.

"It's a really big honour to win this," says Hashikuchi, who began his studies at Lincoln in May last year.

Hashikuchi says he enjoyed completing his Graduate Diploma in Software and IT, as it gave him the opportunity to learn a number of new skills in computer simulation and networking development.

"It has also been great to make a lot of new Kiwi friends," says Hashikuchi.

"I really like it in Christchurch and will definitely be staying here to look for a job.

Likewise, Dickie says it is 'really awesome' to have won the Jade Prize along with Hashikuchi, and hopes to move into the GIS field after finishing his Bachelor of Software and Information Technology.

"I really like the way you can portray and create something physical out of a whole lot of data," Dickie says.

"I would like to eventually move into a council role, perhaps something involving waterway management.

Jade Software Corporation chief innovation officer John Ascroft, who came to Lincoln University to present the winners with their prizes, says the education sector is important to the company.

"We hire a lot of graduates. Jade and Lincoln have always worked well together and it's nice to have an industry relationship," says Ascroft.