Anyone is studying in New zealand now or studied in NZ before?
Is it a beautiful place?
Is it a safety place to study?
How much is the living expenses per annum?
Is it easy to find a job there?( part time and full time)


Come on,Just share your experience HERE!!
You can talk whatever you want about New Zealand.
If you never study there, and thinking of studying there like me, you can ask any questions you want to know.

Looking forward to hearing from those who have experience or informations.
Thank you.

1. Currently doing Masters in NZ, University of Auckland. Bachelors from University of Otago.

2. Yes, but that depends of where you are. NZ is really very beautiful, some parts more than others (eg Queenstown), but generally you have to get out of the cities first. I've always thought that it's a pity there isn't a uni in Queenstown - would be the world's most beautiful uni if there is. South Island more beautiful than North Island.
Note that I use the term 'city' losely cos what the Kiwis call 'city' sould only qualify as a small town somewhere else.

3. Yes, quite safe. People are still quite honest and violent crime is rare.... though it's growing. But like anywhere else in the world, you need to be careful - lock your doors, don't leave valuable stuff lying around, don't walk in dark alleys by yourself etc.

4. Varies between places (Auckland the most expensive) and the type of lifestyle you want but you should budget around NZ$12,000 to be safe.

5. Part-time: shouldn't be much of a problem. The unis have a service called Student Job Search which helps students find part-time jobs. Minimum wage is around $10, minus 19% tax. Tax here is high and EVERY dollar is taxed, even interest from your savings account. International students are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week during term time.

Full-time: Depends on whether you mean summer job or 'real' graduate job. Summer job should be quite easy, just use SJS to look. If you're good/lucky, you might get a summer internships. Those pay quite well. International students can work full-time during the summer break.

Graduate job: Not too hard provided you have a decent CV - work experience (any job, doesn't have to be relevant, Kiwis have a part-time work culture), extra-curriculars, and decent grades. Most of my friends managed to find jobs relatively easily.... just need some time and patience.

NZ graduates are granted a 6 month work visa on application. This can be extended to a full work permit once you find a full-time job related to your degree. Makes it easier to find job cos employers don't have to worry about work permit applications. Once you get a job, getting a PR is an easy next step.
NZ PR is better than Australian cos it's indefinate - once you've stayed there under PR for 2 years, you can leave anytime you want and never come back. Almost as good as citizenship. Not like Aus where you have to stay for 2 out of 5 years to keep it. They might change their immigration laws in the future though.

6. Other basic info: NZ is a country of 4 million people and has a landmass is the size of Great Britian. Wellington is the capital, Auckland is the largest city. The native people are the Maori. The Maori name for NZ is Aoteroa - the Land of the Long White Cloud. Asian population is about 7%, congregrated mostly in Auckland.

There are 8 unis - University of Auckland, University of Otago, University of Canterbury, Victoria University of Wellington, Massey University, University of Waikato, Lincoln University and Auckland University of Technology. The first 4 are considered the better, more established ones. A couple of the others have their own specialist fields. All are public universities. Some Malaysian private colleges twin with NZ unis - Inti with Otago, and I dunno who with Vic and Lincoln.
There are also polytechnics, many of which have degree-granting powers in specific fields. Not sure if there is any twinning.

This is a rugby-mad country. If you like other sports, you're going to suffer deprivation.

Any course/uni in particular that you're looking at?

Ex-NZ'er here, so I'll just say what I experienced:

1) Beautiful? Thats a understatement. The place is amazing. Fresh air, green grass, cheap milk, plentiful honey. And thats just North Island. The rolling hills are amazing (through a pain to walk if youre in Auckland), the whole place is very laid back and peaceful. I miss the place sometimes...

2)By and large, NZ is a "saftey" place to study. Peaceful, people are usually nice and friendly. Sure, there is crime as any other place, but by and large, its safe. A "high" death toll over the weekend is 2 people dead! One tip: for those in Auckland, the south side (Manukau, Otara) isnt the best place to be. IMO, it should be avoided if possible.

3)Allocate $200/wk to live for the bare minimum. Note that heating costs in NZ can make up a significant part of your bills. Winters are freezing to say the least.

4)While there is Student Job Search in most uni's, as a international student finding jobs will be hard (they prefer PR's and citizens). As a Asian, you;ll have to fight a bit. In anycase, never expect working part-time to cover more than 40% of your expences.

Welcome to NZ!

Mostly I agree... but like you said, you're an ex-NZer. The govt recently introduced a new visa for new grads of NZ universities - a 6 month work visa. That's plenty of time to find a job and and once you have it, the visa gets extended to a full work permit. The process very simple so employers no longer have the no work permit excuse to employ you.

The Asian factor is a problem but then it's one even citizens (plenty of Asian citizens) and PRs have to overcome.

I do need some info here too.

wornbook, did you say that we need around NZ$12,000 per annual just for living? How about the fee?

I have some plan with my friend for further bachelor in IT course at there. Which University is skilled in IT field?

How about our grades to enroll in the University? Is it need more than 3.0 CGPA? Or any other qualifications?

Thanks a lots. Hope you can share more information on Studying in NZ with her. I bet there are lots of them wish to go there too.

Living expenses - like I said, it does vary quite a lot. Rent per week in Auckland is around $170. Dunedin (where Uni of Otago is) is about $100. But note that your lease in Dunedin will be for the whole year, ie 52 weeks, while you'll only stay for around 38-40 weeks. Auckland leases are more flexible. If you don't mind a really crappy place then it's cheaper. If you want to stay further away, it's also cheaper. Lots of things to consider: crappy flat = bad insulation so colder, more money on heating; further away you'll need to pay for transport.

For some estimates, see:
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/for/prospect...gcosts_home.cfm
http://www.otago.ac.nz/about/accommodation/budget.html

As an international student, you'll also have to budget for things like medical insurance, health checks for visa applications, phone calls home and of course, travel expenses.

Fees - unless you're doing something like medicine it's around $20,000 per year. Standard line, some unis are more expensive. In NZ, they charge you fees per paper. So the more papers you take, the higher the costs. But then maybe you can finish earlier and then save on living expenses.... Science papers or anything with labs will cost more cos of facillities needed. For exact fees, you'll have to check with the unis.

Ya, money money money... studying/living overseas is expensive.

I'd recommend staying in a hall of residence for the first year. Great for exposure, social life and just experiencing the Kiwi student life. I've noticed people who rent places by themselves tend to keep to their own groups without going out to mix. If you want to do that, might as well stay in Malaysia.

IT - I'm not sure if the unis offer IT. IT is quite a new sort of course - to be honest, I'm not sure exactly what is taght in IT. The more established ones tend to offer stuff like computer science and information science. Otago is excellant for computer science. As for IT, maybe AUT or one of the polys might.

Because there're so few unis in NZ, uni ranking isn't really important. Kiwis in general don't care too much about 'the best'. It's really all in 2 tiers (unofficially) - the first 4 and the next 4. Gaps between uni standards aren't big and the govt doesn't randomly hand out uni/uni college status like Malaysia does. The only exception is AUT.

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Grades - may I know what you're studying now? Pre-u or twinning?

Other results you'll need is either IELTS or TOEFL. Some unis want 6.0 for IELTS, some want higher. I don't know what TOEFL scores are required, better to check with the uni.

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I recommend you check out the universities' websites. Quite informative.
www.auckland.ac.nz
www.otago.ac.nz
www.canterbury.ac.nz
www.vuw.ac.nz

www.massey.ac.nz
www.waikato.ac.nz
www.lincoln.ac.nz
www.aut.ac.nz

I think that's enough info for now.

This post has been edited by wornbook: Jun 11 2007, 09:26 AM

I went to south island and its !@^#%$!@#&^%!@# gorgeous. LOL.

haih...finding room in around uoa, any1??

if you have at least an A2 for English in your SPM, you do not need any IELTS or TOEFL to get into NZ's Uni.

I'm going to VUW next Feb, hopefully I can meet some of you LYN forummers here.

(http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/467413)Maybe someone should merge this thread with the other thread? Mods?


I persume you mean the 111/9 bit? I don't think the normal A2 is enough for NZ, through probably enough to get in and use the English preperation class.

Wellington eh? Be prepared for crazy winds there!

I sent my SPM cert there where the 111/9 scores aren't published. That's what the agent told me by the way.

Yeap, I have also heard about the windy weather there, hence I'm preparing to bring quite a lot of winter clothings there.

refer to this (http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/467413) thread. Don't bother buying any "winter" clothing in M'sia. Nothing, absolutely nothing, i tell you, in M'sia, no matter how thick it is, will withstand NZ winters.

Things may have changed, but I doubt so.

thank you for sharing mate

They accept 1119 now? Didn't know that. Wish they had back when I applied, would have saved myself quite a bit on IELTS.

I find the problem with jackets bought from Malaysia is - i) They're not warm enough or don't have wind-protection (vital for Welly); or ii) They're so think they're more suitable for Canada or something.

Wellington's quite a nice place. Some people find it a bit drab but it's ok in my books. It's the cultural heart of the country so if you like that sort of stuff you're going to the right place. I read somewhere that it has more bars and cafes per capita than New York. But since there aren't that many people, it doesn't add up to that many. Still, it has a good number.

May I ask what you're planning to study?

I'm pursuing a Bachelors of Business Administration there. As for the 1119, I was ignorant too till one of the representatives came down. I went to meet her in through an agency as my uni's University Placement Office's staff wasn't helpful at all.

Guys, any idea how long would it take to get a visa to study there? I got all the necessary documents (acceptance letter, bank statements, etc), just wonder how long did / would it take?

Your posts make me wanna pack my bags n go to Otago

Bleh am stuck @ Cyberjaya

from wat i read in my visa application form,it stated there that it would take about 2 weeks... u shud check with ur agent/uni though

Hey guys. Since there are at least 4 people (plus one ex-NZ'er!) in this forum, how bout let's make this a "Study in NZ" thread, much like the "study in australia" thread?

I'll start the ball rolling. ASB cranked up their savings interest rate from 7.15% to 7.65%! Time to switch?

was ASB all the way