Experience report
New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington
ANR: 283287
Name: Karen Thümmel
E-mail: k.d.thummel@tilburguniversity.edu
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
Academic year: 2015/2016
Host University: Victoria University of Wellington
Country: New Zealand
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE CITY AND SCHOOL
Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is a lively little city right at the sea. The city is full of hills,
people walk everywhere and houses are often only reached over long stairs. Wellington`s centre is
along the waterfront and offers all kind of shopping possibilities, museums, bars, restaurants etc. The
city is renowned for their coffee and Wellingtonians spend a lot of time in the cute coffee places which
are open until late at night. Best places to go out are along Cuba street and a personal favourite of
mine is Rogue and Vagabond where they have live music, craft beer and bean bags. The lighthouse
is a small movie theatre where you enjoy movies on couches. Generally Wellington is a very cosy but
lively city full of hills, wind and possibilities to go out.
The university consists of several campuses, with the main one being located on top of a hill and the
law and business campus (currently under construction) is down in the city centre. If you have classes
on both campuses in one day you receive a free bus ticket, walking between them takes around 25
minutes. The university main campus is very well equipped, with a big beautiful library looking over
the city and great services. The international office is right at the main campus and very well
organised and helpful. You can expect a higher standard than in Tilburg regarding the facilities and
services e.g. the library is very spacious with and in the week before exams the university offers free
breakfast and lunch for all students. Many associations and sports clubs exists, the sports centre at
the university is comparably cheap but not as well equipped as the new centre in Tilburg. Around
22000 students study at Victoria, around 200 are exchange students. There is no association
specifically for exchange students (as ESN in Europe) but most exchange students are living and
connecting through University Hall accommodation service. The study period is from July to end of
November. This includes two weeks midterm break, and exam preparation (no classes) from
November on, so the time is shorter and more intense than in Tilburg.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
The information before I left was not to good because it is very unclear what at TIU is done by the
International office and what is done by the faculty exchange advisor. TIU recommended not booking
your flight ticket before you are officially accepted, this is bad advice as prices rise immensely.
Looking back I should have contacted the faculty advisor way more often until they send my
information to Victoria, once Victoria received your nomination they will do their part really quick. The
acceptance by Victoria never got forwarded to me once TIU received it. Again, calling or email will
speed up the process greatly, especially at TIU. The chance that Victoria will deny you is very small,
so I would always book a ticket and maybe just pay few Euros more for insurance. A ticket which you
can rebook your return should be taken as often your travel plans change once you are there. The
Visa takes around two weeks and costs 200 Euro, if you add a letter that you want to travel afterwards
including a date (e.g. February 1) they will put it until that day.
At arrival I was picked up by the university hall accommodation service, despite a confirmation I was
not on their list so it is better to not arrive at nightime. A taxi from the airport to the city would cost
around 20 Euro. The administration is well prepared and will give you all information at arrival. The
introduction days are more to organize a student card than to really get to know others, it is not
comparable to TOP week. You can sign up for a buddy at university, which I would highly
1
recommend. The buddy programme was my only real connection to Kiwis and I met one of my best
friends through it, so make sure to describe what kind of buddy you are looking for.
Housing was very important for me to meet people because the courses were too big to really get to
know others. I cannot emphasise enough how good the University Hall accommodation is, they
organize events, you have a Kiwi mate (a local) who lives close to you and answers any question and
the people working there are incredibly nice. Internationals who decided to organize housing
themselves often faced problems and regretted it later. You apply for University Hall housing
beforehand and you should clearly indicate in your application what kind of roommates you want (e.g.
rather a few than a big party house etc), they really put a lot of thought into the placement. Keep in
mind that you will mostly live with internationals, however, you can ask to be put with a Kiwi. The
houses are all poorly insulated, heaters turn off every hour but the University Hall houses are fully
equipped. I lived in Aro street (Te Kotahinga) and could not have loved it more, my roommates and
neighbours were my family and we had the most amazing time.
New Zealand is expensive, there is no way around it. I financed my exchange with the Holland
scholarship, money from my parents and savings from the lasts years. Living expenses are a lot
higher than in Tilburg, especially food is much more mostly due to too few supermarkets in the city.
The rent is very expensive too, especially for what you get, but that is standard almost all over New
Zealand. I would say you will have around 500 Euro living costs (excluding travel and housing) a
month if you live on a small budget but still do some activities. Vegetables and fruits are crazy
expensive in the supermarket so I recommend to go to the farmers market on Saturdays, where
prices are a lot less! I did not pay any transport as I walked everywhere and I did not buy any books
as you can simply borrow them at the library. Travelling cost me around 1500 Euro a month, which
was on a small budget mostly sleeping in the car.
I promoted Tilburg University mainly by making people aware of that it is a good option to study in
English abroad. Moreover, I spoke highly of the activities I*ESN organizes as I missed such an
association in Wellington. My buddy put TIU down as a choice for her own exchange after I told her
about such things as the weekly Mentor dinners of I*ESN and the good English level.
New Zealand is stunning. I have travelled a lot in my life but it is the most beautiful country I have
been by far. It is all about nature and I would recommend bringing a good pair of sneakers, hiking
boots and outdoor jacket. Around every corner, you will have a beautiful view so make sure to do
some weekend trips and plan enough time to see the two islands after your semester in summer.
Travel partners are easy to meet along the internationals as everyone wants to see the country. I
would recommend three weeks for each island at least and travelling by car is the only real way to
see the country. Because of the focus on nature, also, the exchange students in Wellington are
generally speaking a bit less party and more outdoorsy people compared to other exchange
destinations. The culture is very similar to the Dutch culture, no culture shock should be expected.
The only difference I could notice is that Kiwis are somewhat more relaxed about time and generally a
bit more laid back. The university puts great emphasis on the Maori culture and I think it is essential to
learn about them when in New Zealand. As Kiwis are very friendly and nice, the best way to learn
about the country is to ask them questions. The language was very easy for me to understand, one
will quickly get used to the accent. For school work it is good to have a native read over your papers
in order to avoid mistakes which might be okay in the Netherlands but not so much in a native
country.
Regarding my personal development it has once again taught me to be more open to people and
accepting of differences. I think many personal experiences that students have who go on exchange
have not been present for me as I have been in Sweden and the Netherlands as an international
student at university before. However, I met so many wonderful and very different people that it has
been a very unique experience. I realized that I want to surround myself with positive and open
minded people in the future to develop myself further. My best experience was the memories with my
Aro street friends group whom I will never forget. Also, I have learned that I rather stay a longer time
in one place and really get to know it and its people (as Wellington) than changing location every night
and meeting new people each day (hostel travelling). If I would have to change something, I would
have chosen smaller courses and not travelled Australia but see more of New Zealand. The most
important lesson is probably that you can have a home anywhere in the world, and New Zealand is an
extraordinary beautiful one.
2
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
All courses are fully taught in English and the level is comparable to TIU. The level of English is
obviously higher and the semester is much more intense because it is so much shorter. Many
exchange students said their courses were very easy, I took second year Bachelor courses and would
say they are on a similar level. The courses mostly consists of one lecture and one seminar per week,
seminars are led by older students. Often, some sort of group work takes place, all very similar to TIU
and of course different for each course. If you put effort in your courses it is fairly easy to get good
grades, also because the conversion to Dutch grades is beneficial. I was very happy with my
academic achievements during the exchange.
Examinations differ per course, often there are more smaller components which make up the final
grade, such as, seminar participation or a presentation. I had to sit midterm exams, final exams and
up to two papers per course, as said there is more to do in less time compared to TIU. I did not do the
reading, open questions in the exam were generally easy while multiple choice often was challenging.
There are course outlines online for each course which tell you exactly what the content of a course is
and what kind of examination will be done. These outlines should be read carefully before choosing a
course. It is possible to still change a course on arrival, however, sometime courses are full. When
applying for courses, I would recommend applying for more than necessary in case you get rejected
for some.
The courses that I have taken are:
nd
IBUS 212 – International Management (2 year Bachelor) 7.5 ECTS, minor
A quite basic course about all aspects in international management with the focus on culture. It
somehow fits as you will think a lot about different cultures while on exchange but the lectures are
unfortunately quite boring. I enjoyed the final work in which one had to give practical advice on how to
overcome specific cultural differences.
nd
MARK 202 – Consumer Behaviour (2 year Bachelor) 7.5 ECTS, minor
A marketing course with many practical examples explaining when, why and how people buy and use
things. The topic is very applicable to own experiences and you learn to apply the theory in a paper
on holiday consumption as e.g. Christmas. Both, this course and IBUS212 are quite large scale and I
found it very hard to get in contact with any class mates.
rd
PUBL 302 – Public Management (3 year Bachelor) 10 ECTS, minor
Michael Macaulay is an entertaining and smart teacher who made this dry topic extremely interesting.
This by far has been my favourite course. The teacher challenges the students and teaches in a
critical and interactive way. I would recommend to visit each class/seminar but not read any literature.
For the paper one has to choose his own topic and assess it thoroughly.
nd
WRIT 202 –Business English (2 year Bachelor, elective) 10 ECTS
This is an extra course I took to improve my English. Such a course is good if you want more specific
feedback on your writing. The content deals with different work situation and how to adequately
respond to those in a written format. I changed to this course from Academic English as a Second
language, which was too basic.
As indicated above, it is essential to read the outlines of each course before applying.
3
IV TO THE FUTURE STUDENT:
New Zealand is beautiful. The University is perfectly equipped and offers a lot of extra activities. The
people are very friendly and nice. Wellington is right next to the sea and has the cosiest
coffeehouses. The internationals are a fun and crazy little bunch of people one only has to love. Did I
mention that New Zealand is beautiful?
You will have the time of your life, just go.
The view from the library on Wellington
Travelling the country
Contact details:
Yes, the International Relations Office can share my e-mail address with prospective exchange
students.
4