Study Abroad at AUT University in New Zealand

The Study Abroad Program at AUT was just an amazing experience. I felt very welcome from the first day and the staff provided great support. The social events and especially the Noho Marae weekend offered at AUT were perfect opportunities to meet many new people and make a lot of friends. Besides, it was interesting to learn something about the Maori culture such as the Haka. Although I studied at the North Shore Campus, I wouldn't recommend living at the North Shore because public transportation to and from the city in the evenings or at weekends is not very good. So a flat in the city is more comfortable!
All in all, the Study Abroad experience was a good way to meet people and see an amazing country!! New Zealand offers so many beautiful places both on North and South Island!!

The program offered a great way to see a beautiful country and make awesome friends doing it! The program encouraged us to get out and experience new things and helped us meet new people to do it with! I loved my experience and would recommend it to anyone wanting to study abroad

The engineering program at AUT is amazing. Very hands-on approach with practical curriculum taught by excellent professors who were very accommodating and really knew their stuff. There were a few very interesting group projects where we were tasked with formulating solutions to real world problems The on-campus bar made working in groups very enjoyable with a relaxed atmosphere and was an easy central location for everyone to meet.
AUT staff are awesome and always helpful and know how to show you a good time. They always made me feel very welcome and made every effort to make sure I had a good experience. They set up a very fun cultural weekend where we learned about New Zealand's history and Maori customs.
I made a ton of good friends from all over the world. We traveled the entire country together and formed very tight, lasting friendships. I still talk to many of them on a regular basis and plan to visit each other. We went bungy jumping, mountain climbing, backpacking, skydiving, surfing, mountain biking, snowboarding, kayaking, glacier hiking, just name a few activities. There is something for everyone. The wine and beer are out of this world! There are so many interesting sights to see and small towns to big cities to explore. Great nightlife. By the end of our trip we were hostel aficionados and masters of traveling on a very tight budget. There was never a dull moment. I could spend hours talking about all there is to see and do!
This was an unforgettable experience that I literally think about every single day, even 5 years later. Do yourself the biggest favor you ever could, and GO! You will never regret it. I will definitely be back someday :)

Every week, I would attend my four papers. My Maori papers were definitely the most fun; moreover, I would encourage any study abroad student to take at least one Maori paper. Learning about Maori and mainstream New Zealand culture really allowed me to surround myself fully with the experience. I not only lived in New Zealand, I was able to learn about its history and modernization in a classroom setting.

AUT was a great place for me to experience my first study abroad on my own. New Zealand was an awesome place for me to study and learn about the culture as well. My University in the states is in the middle of nowhere and I have never lived in a big city and it was amazing to experience what all there was to see. I loved being able to walk to class and see all that the city had to give me.

I chose to take my fifth semester of uni at AUT due to the following:
- The available courses fit well with my studies in Denmark
- I had always wanted to see New Zealand
- I had heard good things about the effort done by the student support staff to make the international students feel at home and welcome at AUT.

Fortunately, all of my expectations were met completely. Not only did it give me a new and different perspective and experience regarding my studies, but it also gave me the opportunity to create friendships with people from everywhere around the globe, and to have fun experiences and memories with through the travels we did around the country. People that I still often keep in touch with.
Travelling around New Zealand was a dream come true for me, to witness some of the great landscapes taken out of an adventure book.
Only problem with studying in New Zealand is that afterwards, you can't help missing it a lot.

The faculty were so welcoming to study abroad students. I felt comfortable interacting with fellow students and the teachers were so accommodating to our differences. The atomosphere at AUT was outstanding and I made the best lifelong friendships!

I studied abroad three times in the UK (London), Spain (Sevilla), and New Zealand on this program with AUT and this was by far my favorite. The staff was insanely helpful during orientation with everything from throwing welcome events (at bars, not in America anymore!) to helping change class schedules - and they were only ever an email away.

Auckland is a great city as well and if you stay at the school accommodation you'll be right in the heart of it. Less than a 15 minute walk from the harbor, 10 to center of downtown and 5 to classes. There's also a great public transport system that can get you around easily. In addition there are so many other great things to see in New Zealand that Auckland is great because of the airport. Short (and cheap) flights leave all the time to other parts of the country and to Australia, Fiji, etc.

Since they speak English in New Zealand, I didn't think there would be a language barrier. But you'd be surprised. Slang is very different and common words often have slightly different connotations - but you get used to it quick!