Courses

A full-time course load at Victoria University of Wellington is defined by Arcadia University as 12-16 U.S. credits per semester, typically divided over three to four courses.

• Please review your courses with your academic or study abroad advisor to ensure they will transfer back to your home school and that you are following your home school’s policies.
• We unfortunately can’t guarantee specific courses. If your participation in the program depends on a particular course, be sure to make a note on your online course form.
• On your academic preferences form please indicate 8-10 courses, including alternates, that you are pre-approved for and can take while abroad. In the event of scheduling changes, time conflicts, prerequisites or cancellations, this ensures that you will be prepared to finalize your courses once overseas.

Academic Structure with Victoria University of Wellington

A full-time course load at Victoria University of Wellington is made up of three to four courses.

Prerequisites and Restrictions

• Carefully review the list of course restrictions to see what courses are not available to study abroad students.
• Some FILM and THEA courses are defined as Limited Entry and/or require additional application materials, which must be submitted by December 1 of the year prior to enrollment. Please view the list of course restrictions linked above to see which courses in particular are Limited Entry.
• CREW and WRIT courses are highly competitive and require a writing sample. Please note that CREW courses are not graded. You should ensure that this is acceptable with your home university before selecting CREW courses. Arcadia does not recommend students take more than one CREW course per term.
• There may be additional fees for courses that include laboratory work, field excursions or theater trips. Many fine art or production courses will include a supplemental fee for the materials used in the class. 

Selecting Your Courses

You can view the Victoria University of Wellington course catalog here.

• Choose a subject from the drop-down menu or use the search function with a keyword.
• In the "Filter Results" column, be sure to select the relevant trimester, year and course level.
• Spring students should look at Trimester 1 
• Fall students should look at Trimester 2 courses (labeled ⅔ in the course catalog)
• 100, 200 and 300 levels are undergraduate courses and open to study abroad students. 100 level courses are introductory while 200 and 300 level courses are advanced and often suitable for upper division credit transfer.
• 400 level and above are not open to study abroad students.
• Make sure that your form includes all of the courses you are interested in or have been approved to take by your homeschool.

Enrollment Process

After you apply, Victoria University of Wellington will send you an Offer of Place along with a personalized link to apply for course pre-approval. Victoria University of Wellington faculty will review your transcript for pre-requisites to determine your course approvals. Once your courses have been reviewed you will receive an email directly from VUW asking you to enrol in your approved courses online.

Course enrollments will not be finalized until students are on campus. The academic preferences form submitted to Arcadia prior to departure does not guarantee approval or enrollment in those courses. There is an add/drop period at the beginning of each semester that allows students to make changes to course enrollments. If you make any changes, it is your responsibility to inform your home institution.

Grade Scale

The following information is vetted and provided by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) on the Electronic Database for Global Education (EDGE).

Intellectual property copyright AACRAO EDGE.