Victoria University of Wellington - VUW (reviews)

The curriculum is stale and lacking passion. Lecturers would often upload years-old recorded lectures instead of up-to-date lectures. The assignments and tasks were repetitive and lacked creativity. By the end of each course, I felt as if I hadn’t taken away any useful or valuable information.

I personally did not enjoy the courses I chose to take in my first year and I found most of the dull and uninteresting, the material seemed as if it was used year after year and the lecturers for the most part were alright but not amazing, apart from one of my psychology lecturers whom was amazing it was my favourite paper as he wrote the lectures the day of or the day prior to the lecture which meant they were always relevant to the current day. The overall university staff were not very helpful in regards to degree and career planning once you were done with your first year and a few of my friends were told that the career planning staff were just for new students and can not help them as they had finished their first year.

I want to acknowledge the cultural, learning, and environmental differences they recognize when conceding with learning throughout the year. VUW are inclusive and covers abilities and incapabilities that students have.

I believe Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University) is a well-educated tertiary school that has alot to offer. They have some very passionate lecturers, which highly contributes towards motivation to learn as a student. They also have many different pathway opportunities to earn a Bachelor’s degree and to find your passion. However, I will say from personal experience that due to the high volume of students needing medical assistance and counselling, the Student Health organisation needs improvement- as the waitlist can vary from weeks to months. Overall, I would highly recommend Victoria University of Wellington to anyone interested in the realm of Social Sciences and Faculties of Humanities.

The university is great. Victoria University has a lot of clubs and helps available if you needed it. However, the major I did was data science and it just started that year so there was a lot of issue with that major and some of the lecturer in that major wasn’t sure what they were doing.

VUW is an institution that knows what its students need and how to provide those services. With friendly and supportive staff, inclusive services, a welcoming atmosphere and courses that are both challenging and empowering, it has been an absolute pleasure to study at VUW. It is one of the few educational institutions that doesn’t just teach what you need to know to pass their classes but teaches you how to learn and continue to apply your skills and knowledge throughout your studies. Although no institute is ever perfect, VUW certainly sets a high standard for education in general and has left a positive and lasting impact on me.

An experienced and engaged teaching faculty are let down by an often disorganised administrative student service. Part of your course fees pay for student services, including administrative services, and thus some of those course fees are too high. For example, switching programs, getting advice on your degree, or knowing about the various clubs, wellbeing measures and other resources available through your student levy cost are not easily accessible and you often have to discover them through chance.
Most of the teaching was at a very high standard. I had two exceptions, which involved very poor quality course execution and are worth noting. One of these was in Public Policy (School of Government), the other in Maori Studies (Indigenous Science; School of Maori Studies).
Overall, I would recommend VUW as a tertiary institution but would make sure I understood the layout of student resources and what each potential course specifically involved, including career skills, before applying.

I greatly enjoy about the university the standard of lecturing of many of the lecturers- Maamari Stephens and Philip Fountain are great examples. What I dislike is that you can have a very poor course experience and there are little means of holding account to the institution even through VUWSA (the student justice body).