Supporting student success

Victoria University of Wellington’s teaching staff can provide pastoral care for students as well as academic support.

Academic support

Students have a lot of people to turn to if they need academic help at Victoria University of Wellington. This includes lecturers, tutors, Student Success Advisers, and student service staff, among others. No matter which member of staff they turn to, students will be treated with respect.

If the first staff member can’t help, they will point the student to someone else in the University community who can.

Pastoral care

Sometimes, non-academic factors get in the way of student success—money, social issues, stress, culture, family, work, home life. No matter what the problem is, the University has someone students can talk to.

Sometimes, the people students feel most comfortable talking to are their teachers and tutors. That’s okay—academic staff want to see their students do well and will try to be helpful.

In those situations, it’s important that teachers and tutors feel confident about the help they can give and their personal limits.

If you’re a new academic staff member, you’ll be briefly introduced to the various support services available to students during the two-day Orientation to Academic Life programme at the University. You’ll get advice and resources about where to refer students if you don’t feel able to help them yourself.

What students can expect

Students approaching any member of staff for help or advice can expect respect and a helpful attitude. Staff will be supportive and do their best to give good advice.

If a student shares personal information, it will be treated as private and confidential. The only exception is when there are immediate and serious concerns about someone's safety.

Resources for staff

If you work at the University, you can go to the supporting students section of the staff intranet for advice and resources on helping students find success at the University.