Program Reviews

Everyone told me coming here that New Zealanders are "out of this world nice" and super friendly. I didn't truly experience this until I was exploring the Bay of Islands and my friend and I were waiting for our fish n' chips (which is a whole other reason why Aotearoa is the best place on earth). A middle-aged man noticed our outlandish North American accents and started asking us questions: where we were from, why we were here, all the basics. Immediately I put my guard up and became skeptical as to why this strange man was interrogating two young adult women. Back home, people don't talk to one another unless they need something, and strangers making conversation for the sake of conversation is seen as "creepy," so I was inclined to be wary of the situation. It wasn't until this man so genuinely wished us the best on our studies, and the safest of travels back to Auckland that I realized his intentions were not malicious: he was simply being nice. It was so refreshing for a complete stranger to be so welcoming and friendly for no other reason other than he wanted to. His small action made my day and also reminded me how important it is to be kind to everyone no matter where you are in the world. New Zealand truly does breed a special kind of people and it is because of these warming hearts that this place has become my home.

Awesome uni, awesome location. Very good place to go to have a study abroad and collect experience. A lot of freedom in selecting courses so that you can create your personal timetable and travel around New Zealand. Interesting courses and nice people everywhere. No regret in doing this semester and would recommend it to EVERYONE. Accomodation provided right in the city so no car/bus/train needed to explore the CBD of Auckland. Connected to all other exchange friends so easy to find new friends/travel partner.

I didn't have any particular reason to come at AUT at first. I didn't know much about New Zealand and I just wanted to discover something new.

At the beginning it was a bit messy. I arrived to Auckland a bit late and i had to catch up with pretty much everything... but it was alright. Teachers, international managers, and pretty much everyone in new Zealand is kind and helpful. Other students and teachers are here to help you or just to have a nice talk about anything. Special mention to my math teacher who was trying to make us work together every week.

After a few months, i feel like AUT allow you to discover a different way of studying, while giving you the time to discover Auckland and New Zealand on your free time.

I still have one more week to go in Auckland and two more in New Zeland after that. And even if i still have to work for my finals, I'm a bit sad when I think that awesome journey will end soon. Starting another year in France in September is going to be a bit hard after a such amazing semester.

Thanks to AUT for all of that !

Kia Ora,

unfortunately, the semster is coming to an end right row. Once, I get used to the stress of studying, the fun of travelling and the beauty of New Zealand, I have to leave already. Too bad.
But I will keep this awesome adventure in my mind for a lifetime!
Therefore, I have to say "Thank you for a lifetime" to Kenneth, Sam and all the staff of AUT, who gave us a wide variaty of supports!
Furthermore, I am happy to have met the Maoris to get closer to their culture e.g. singing, eating (oh yes, I loved it) and of course, THE HAKA!
In my opinion, it´s a country of the infinite opportunities. Definitely, I was not able to see everthing of this winderful country. Maybe, I will come again......?
However, this semester was one of my most stressful I have had so far. The enormous range of assignments, presentations AND exams brought my capability to a maximum. I have really learned a lot and was able to further improve my English-skills.
Going back home to Germany is now to be considered as an double-edged sword. On the one hand, I am really looking forward coming home and see my family and my friends again... The other side I mentioned already.
Hopefully, I will come back to this wonderful country soon!
Thank You!

When I came here I had quite a stressful start. After our journey from the other side of the world, we only wanted to arrive in a foreign place, which should become our home for the semester abroad. But to find an accommodation was really hard and it seemed kind of hopeless to find an apartment in the near future. After one night in a hostel, we had luck and found a place to stay just 200 metres away from the city campus.

It was nice to experience the efforts of the AUT that we, the international students, have an easy start at our study abroad university.

Now the time here in Auckland is almost over, in less than 3 weeks I will leave the City of Sails & New Zealand, which makes me really sad. I am glad & thankful that I had the chance to study one semester in one of the most beautiful and amazing countries in the world. I met so many persons from all around the world, which became really good friends of mine. The most incredible experience was the exchange of the different cultures. Especially the course, Te Ara Pou - Leadership, a Māori course, helped me a lot to learn more about others and about myself.

Last but not least, I want to say, thank you, to my lectures here at AUT, who taught me new stuff and to the Māoris, who helped me to get to know myself much better. There are so many things I learned, which I will take back home. I will return back as a kind of another person, which is good, because opinions, meetings with new people and experiences changed me and my view of life.

I thank all my new friends for the time of my life I experienced together with them.
THANK YOU to the AUT and the international coordinators Kenneth & Sam to support me and all the other international students. You are part of our great experiences here in New Zealand.

If someone will ask me about my opinion and my estimation I will definitely recommend going here.

I will leave Auckland with mixed feelings. Of course, I am looking forward to my family and friends back home in Germany, but I will miss Auckland, my new friends and the Whānau a lot. Hope, I will ever come back to this beautiful and amazing country, which will always be in my heart!

Kia Ora!

Ki ora everybody,
The greeting at the begin of this text stands for the most incredible experience I had from New Zealand. Going abroad means that going somewhere you don't know a single one, you don't know the place, and you don't know what you will expect.
For me the most precious thing of this study her was the Maori Paper; Te Ara Pou- Leadership. That's a paper which changes my life. I had a personal change; it is incredible if you get to know the "way of thinking" of Maori culture. The have peculiar habits, and particular ways of thinking, greeting, and welcoming people to the Marae, showing respect and their loving way of sharing and spending time together. (singing, dancing, drinking.... :-)....)

All in all, for me it was a hard task to open myself to other cultures because I was a
closed person before. (Thought the way we do it at home is the best)
What I learned here is to respect deeply and appreciate the differences. And that's the thing if you go abroad, it's nearly impossible to stay the same, to act the same when you come home.
Because you change, step by step every day and each day and in the end, you have this kind of experience, the most of the people dream about. An open heart and open eyes, welcoming people all over the planet for their unique way of being.

The first days of my semester abroad were really really stressful. After an all in all 30-hour long journey, I finally arrived with two other study colleagues in Auckland's Airport. We drove by Taxi into the City and expected a nice, spacious Apartment, that should become our new home for the next half year, but often it comes out differently than expected because the apartment was everything else than nice and spacious. Even though we knew that it would be hard to find an accommodation, we decided to take the risk and searched for another apartment. How to imagine, after such a long journey, our mood was at a low point. We ran through whole Auckland with our half-year-luggage, to find an accommodation for the night. My future roommate already said that she regrets to travel to New Zealand. The start was definitely everything else than perfect. But in the same night, we got to know the kindness of the kiwis: A young woman, who was a national player for the New Zealand Volleyball team, picked us up and found a backpacker hostel for us. From there our journey seemed to get better again. In the next morning, we went through whole Auckland and asked about 20 different accommodations if they have any room left for a half year long stay and finally we found an apartment 2 minutes away from the university. Simply perfect. Now the next big thing was the start of the classes. How will the paper be? How will my new fellow students be? Can I cope the university? But all my worries became irrelevant after the first view days. I've never experienced such a warmly and heartily greeting. All the icebreaking games and information we got in the beginning, enabled an easy entry into the new life abroad. The university fascinated me like nothing before with its fusion of the Maori and the Kiwi culture. When I now look at the period of time from the first day to now, I can definitely say that this semester was the most enriching experience of my whole life. I joined a Te Ara Pou paper, which showed me the culture of the Maoris and brought my spirit closer to myself. I got more new friends than in the last 2 years of studying at home. And just yesterday, my roommate explained that she definitely will drop some tears, when the day of our return journey arrived.

Great place to study network engineering. You have great lectureres, and access to equipment in class. Classes are good, not as demanding as expected, but otherwise great. The campus is located in the middle of the city, which is great for a student studying abroad. AUT offers accommadation services that I would recommend. A bit expensive, but located 3 minutes from the campus, so you do not have to think about public transport

AUT is a great school to study at. My biggest mistake were to not find the silent part of the liberary before after the midt term break. Good and quiet to studie.

Also: Are you studying engineering get yourself a place in the city centre. I've stayed at the North Campus which was a bit of a drag having to travel to very lecture. But the inter-campus buses were really good! Really friendly drivers, love all of them!

16 weeks or better one amazing semester at the Auckland University of Technology was a great experience. The AUT offers a diverse paper programm selection for my computer science master degree and the lectures educate at a high level and support in each situation. The study room for only postgraduate students creates a perfect learning atmosphere.
One of my highlights was the Noho marae weekend with over 80 international students at the beginning of the semester. I learned about the Maori culture and language, take part in traditional Māori cultural and custom, activities including learning the Haka.
The accommodation search was a big challange, but the AUT helps me a lot and finally I found once in the city.a