Program Reviews

New Zealand is a beautiful country with friendly people and many opportunities. I feel at home in Wellington, which is a small, creative city where it is easy to be queer and vegan. Victoria University is a much bigger and better structured school than what I am used to, with clubs and events for all kinds of students. Wellington is based in the middle of New Zealand, which makes it easy to travel and explore the rest of the country on weekends and holidays.

This study abroad experience has been the best experience of my life. I have always wanted to travel and this allowed for me to to travel out of the United States for the first time ever. I went to all of the places I wanted to go: Roy’s peak, Milford sound, mt cook, Abel Tasman and bay of islands. I even bungee jumped! This has truly been a life changing experience that I will never forget. I wish to come back some day

My study abroad experience has been amazing. There has been so much support from the moment I landed in New Zealand. The Kelburn campus is great and i love the unique view you get from the library. My modules have been well co-ordinated and enjoyable. I will be sad to leave the beautiful city of Wellington. This programme has allowed me to develop myself as a person by taking me out of my comfort zone and in tern my confidence has grown and allowed me to meet some wonderful people.

Coming to UVic was a stark contrast to my home university; I went from a small, suburban university to one 10x as big in the heart of one of New Zealand's biggest cities. I came here to study biology, and see the approaches to conservation in a country with so many challenges, and so many unique species at risk. Overall, I would say that the classroom was not where I learned the most during my time here. I was able to interact with so many people, whether local or international, who were all able to give me new perspectives on life around the globe. Although the classes I took greatly influenced my education, and were definitely worth waking up early for, the exposure to an entirely new set of cultures, values, and experiences is what makes coming to this small corner of the world such an incredible time.

Plus, Wellington is such a great city - seaside views, and enough going on to never be bored is a winning combination!

New Zealand is the most magical country, and if you love hiking and getting outdoors this is the place for you. Absolutely go to Wanaka and Queenstown. The Tararuas provide some really diverse hiking on the North Island. Wellington itself is a really lovely place to live. Some students who study abroad in places like Mexico or Thailand experience some strong culture shock, but living in New Zealand provided a really easy transition with just the right amount of challenge. It's similar to the U.S. in many ways, but there are also some significant differences. Couldn't be happier I studied abroad here.

I am from Italy and I had to opportunity to study one semester of my degree abroad. Among my possible choices, I picked Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, and after 4 months spent here I can say that I definitely made the right decision! In general the university's environment has been super friendly and very "international": the staff did everything to make us feel at ease. It's very easy to make new international friendships, especially if you decide to live in University Hall accommodations, who provides for you many occasions (parties and events) for meeting students coming from all over the world! The only problem I had consisted in adapting myself to the academic system and to the different examinations and classes methods, since the Italian-European system is much more different. However, VUW provides for a lot of workshops, where international students can learn how to write essays, make references etc. Wellington is very quiet and peaceful, like all the cities in NZ, that is why it is highly recommended to make new friends, otherwise it could become boring. In general, I can say that I will never forget my experience here and I highly recommend it to all students looking for challenging exchange semesters abroad!

My time in New Zealand was probably the best experience of my life, and I'm already dying to go back! Victoria was a great university, and I enjoyed the courses I took there, especially Plant Biology! I was lucky to live in Uni Hall, which was only a 5 minute walk from campus, and it was really nice to live independently in a flat (well, with flatmates of course) for the first time. I didn't quite participate in as many school activities as I would have liked, but I tried to explore as much of the campus as I could, such as trying the different little restaurants and exploring the art gallery. It was also really nice to have an entire two weeks of break, as I took that time to go on an amazing road trip in the South Island. I was also quite prone to injury, and student health and the physiotherapy center on campus were very helpful, as was the general healthcare policies of the country.

It was a really interesting and a new experience to study at a university that uses completely different teaching formats and contents. Everybody was very supportive and helped each other out whenever someone needed help. That was probably what I liked the most. I felt welcome here right from the start.
I wished that the Tutors would have had more experience. Most of the times they are just normal Bachelor or Master students that hardly know more about architecture than I do. So, when I had a question other students couldn't answer, the Tutor couldn't either. The projects of the students and their learning process would be improved a lot if working architects would Tutor them. Universities, which do that, are normally higher in ranking as well.

Studying abroad has been the best decision have made for both my academic and personal success. The reason that this experience has been so successful is because of the opportunities and experiences that I have had here in Wellington and at Victoria University. This city's atmosphere has allowed me to experience many new things and has helped me to become a more independent person. Also, at Victoria, I have been able to manage course while being able to travel and see New Zealand. I have had the fortune of meeting many wonderful people from all over the world and making life long friends!

I had a lot of fun during this trimester at Victoria University. The people are very kind and ready to offer help. I've never had any big problem, and in every case, the staff from the University has always been very nice. I loved my courses, and the teachers made everything interesting, I enjoyed them a lot. We did a lot of projects, but it was nice. Also, the University organizes a lot of activities throughout the trimester, which is very nice especially for exchange students. It is a great way to meet new friends and have fun. I've lived at the University Hall, and it was a great place. I was only 5 minutes away from Kelburn campus, and the University provided for everything, even for extra expenses when the dishwashing machine broke. I've enjoyed a lot my time here I'm going to miss it a lot, I suggest everyone come here for an exchange!