Tools for students
Manage your courses and timetable, update your details, make payments, and get help with our tools and systems for students.
Pūaha meaning
Meaning ‘mouth of a river’, Pūaha connects to the idea of a student journey through university.
Development of Pūaha
Find out more about development of Pūaha.
Your account and getting started
Get your student account ready before you start studying by:
- setting your password
- updating your personal details (including your myVUW email)
- downloading Office 365 software.
You can also use your Student Records account to change courses.
Update your details and add or drop courses
Student Records
Student Records is your main administrative hub while you study at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. It is used to:
- update your contact information
- view your grades and academic history
- add and drop courses and apply for graduation.
It is important to check this system regularly and to maintain your personal contact details.
You can also use Student Records to make changes to your enrolments within the withdrawal periods.
If you need to update your name details, read our guide to updating your preferred or legal name.
Course changes
Course additions and withdrawals
Course additions and withdrawals
When to add or drop courses
You can add or drop courses at the beginning of each trimester. If you drop a course before the withdrawal deadline, you won't be liable for the fees for that course. Jump to the list of course withdrawal dates for 2022.
We recommend that you complete your course changes by the end of the first week to avoid getting behind with your studies by missing too many lectures.
Adding a course
You can add or drop courses at the beginning of each trimester—see the course withdrawal dates for 2022. We recommend that you complete your course changes by the end of the first week to avoid getting behind in the lecture.
Add courses using the course Add/Drop tool in Student Records or email your Faculty office. Please include your full name, Student ID number, the course code(s) and CRN number(s).
The course Add/Drop tool is not available for some courses. You will need to email your Faculty office if this applies to you. Please include your full name, Student ID number, the course code(s) and CRN number(s).
Places on any given course are not guaranteed as the course may already be full.
Once you have added a course, payment is due the Friday before it starts. If the course has already commenced, payment will be due immediately.
Withdrawing from a course
Drop courses using the course Add/Drop tool in Student Records or email your Faculty office. Please include your full name, Student ID number, the course code(s) and CRN number(s).
The course Add/Drop tool is not available for some courses. You will need to email your Faculty office if this applies to you. Please include your full name, Student ID number, the course code(s) and CRN number(s).
There are different withdrawal options, depending on the time of withdrawal and the circumstances involved.
Keep in mind that withdrawing from courses may affect your student loan support (student loan living costs, student allowance, course related costs) if StudyLink no longer recognises you as a full-time student. If you are concerned about losing this support, contact student-finance@vuw.ac.nz before withdrawing to discuss your options first.
Full-time study is defined by StudyLink as being enrolled in at least 48 points in one trimester OR 96 points in two or more trimesters in the same loan period.
As StudyLink views late withdrawals as fail grades, withdrawing from courses may also affect your future student loan entitlements. StudyLink requires students to have passed more than half of their study in the past 5 years to be eligible for a student loan. If you are withdrawing due to exceptional circumstances affecting your ability to study, you can appeal to StudyLink to have this paper disregarded from their calculations.
Non-payment of fees
Non-payment of fees, ceasing to attend or verbally advising a member of staff will not be accepted as notice of withdrawal.
Student loans
Withdrawing from a course may impact your eligibility for a student loan and allowance (including retrospectively).
International students
If you are an international student, withdrawing from a course may impact your eligibility to hold a student visa, especially if you fall below the required course load for full time study.
Visit Wellington University International or contact student-visa@vuw.ac.nz before you withdraw from any courses.
Withdrawal with refund
You will no longer be liable for the applicable course fees if you withdraw before the dates below. The course will not appear on your academic transcript.
Refunds are not processed automatically. To request your refund, email student-refund@vuw.ac.nz and include your student ID number. If the credit is to be refunded to a bank account include the originating bank account information.
If your fees have been paid by Studylink, the credit from your course withdrawal will be refunded back to your loan.
If your course dates differ from those below, contact student-finance@vuw.ac.nz to confirm the withdrawal deadline dates.
A charge may be applicable if the credit has not resulted from a Fees-Free allocation or approved fees consideration.
In instances where the original payment was made via debit/credit card and incurred a convenience fee, the convenience fee will not be refunded.
2022 course withdrawal dates with refund
- Full year courses (commencing 28 February 2022) - Withdraw by 25 March 2022
- Trimester 1 courses (commencing 28 February 2022) - Withdraw by 11 March 2022
- Trimester 2 courses (commencing 11 July 2022) - Withdraw by 22 July 2022
- Trimester 3 2022 courses (from 14 November– 22 December 2022) - Withdraw by 17 November 2022
- Trimester 3 2022 courses (from 14 November 2022–24 February 2023) - Withdraw by 25 November 2022
- Trimester 3 2022 courses (from 9 January– 24 February 2023) - Withdraw by 13 January 2023
Withdrawing late from a course
Withdrawing late from a course after the dates above may impact your eligibility for a student loan and allowance (including retrospectively).
If you withdraw after the 2022 course withdrawal with refund dates but before the dates below, your fees will not be refunded (unless a fee reconsideration due to exceptional circumstances is approved) and you will receive a withdrawn grade (WD) for the course but the course will not appear on your academic transcript.
Studylink will treat this withdrawn grade as a fail grade unless relevant supporting documentation is provided to them.
- Full year courses–19 August 2022
- Trimester 1 courses–13 May 2022
- Trimester 2 courses–23 September 2022
- Trimester 3 courses–at the three quarter point of the teaching dates
Associate Dean late withdrawal
If you withdraw from a course after the late withdrawal dates above, you will be regarded as having failed the course unless the Associate Dean gives you approval to withdraw.
Associate Dean late withdrawals will only be approved if medical or exceptional personal circumstances have stopped you from continuing or completing your course.
Only in exceptional circumstances are withdrawals granted after the final examination or other assessment and in no case may a student withdraw after one trimester has elapsed since the course ended.
Complete the application form for an Associate Dean late withdrawal. Make sure you are logged in your student mail account to access the form.
If your application to withdraw late from a course is successful, you will not receive a fail grade on your academic record for that course.
A separate application needs to be submitted to Student Finance if you would like to apply for a (partial) reconsideration of your fees.
Supporting documents
Both the Associate Dean late withdrawal and fee reconsideration applications require you to provide dates and relevant supporting documents such as a medical certificate or letter from the Counselling Service (these must be originals or certified copies).
We will also check you were attending class and completing assignments before you withdrew.
Document list
Related policies
Access your myVUW student email and Office 365 applications
Office 365
Office 365 is a cloud based application which gives you access to use apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint while you study at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. You can also download Office 365 onto your personal device and use these applications offline. You can install Office 365 on a maximum of 5 devices.
When accessing Office 365, you will be directed to your student email account in Outlook. All official email communications sent by the University will go to your student email account.
If you want to use a different email account you should set up a email forwarding:
- Login to Office 365.
- Open settings (cogwheel icon on the top right of the page).
- Under 'Your app settings' click 'Mail'.
- Under Accounts in the left side menu, select 'Forwarding'.
- Select 'Start forwarding' and enter your preferred email address.
Download other software for your studies
Digital Solutions have made selection of additional software available to students for your learning and research needs.
Tools for during your studies
You can sort your admin online with tools for managing tutorials, timetables, files, and making payments to the University—including top-ups to your printing account.
Blackboard is a key system—it’s where you get information for each of your courses, including readings, assignment dates, and course activities.
Our inclusive technology suite includes Read&Write and EquatiO, which can be used to make online written and numerical information more accessible.
View your timetable and sign-up for tutorials, labs, and studios
We have two applications available to you in our timetable suite, myAllocator and myTimetable.
- myAllocator is used to sign-up to tutorials, labs, and studios for your various courses.
- myTimetable allows you to add additional events to your timetable and view your complete personal timetable.
Neither of these systems allow you to add or drop courses, see our course additions and withdrawals guide.
myAllocator–tutorial sign-up
myAllocator–tutorial sign-up
Sign up for tutorials
Sign up for tutorials by logging in to myAllocator using your Victoria University of Wellington username and password.
Sign-ups don't all open at once, so you may need to log in a number of times as your courses open.
We have added a guide below to help you using myAllocator.
MyAllocator is a tutorial and lab sign-up system, and it also displays your lecture timetable. It helps you plan your timetable and makes sure you don’t have any clashes with other courses.
Most tutorials will not be loaded into myAllocator until the start of the first trimester and tutorials that are loaded may not be available for sign up immediately. If you are concerned about your tutorial being unavailable, contact your course coordinator. You can find your course coordinators contact details by checking your course page using the course finder.
If you don’t find your courses in myAllocator, check Blackboard or ask your school administrator. Make a note of your tutorials on your timetable.
Tutorials, labs and studios
These are smaller group-teaching sessions led by a tutor or lecturer to provide opportunity for discussion, experiments, project work, and individual assistance.
Tutorials usually start two to three weeks into each trimester. Further information about tutorials, labs and studios are in your Course Outline.
Checklist for using myAllocator
Before you use myAllocator, check that:
- You have been enrolled in your course for 48 hours or more.
- You have got your University username and password.
- You know if your tutorials are available for sign-up.
While using myAllocator to select a tutorial:
- Tutorials will be automatically saved when you select them.
- There is no logout button, so remember to close your browser session if you are using a public computer.
myAllocator system guide
myTimetable–your personal timetable
How to read the timetable
Course Reference Number (CRN)
The CRN is a number unique to a course offered in any one year. It distinguishes between identical courses taught in different trimesters or different modes (for example, lecture and distance), or between different streams of the same course in a particular trimester.
Dates
Dates are named for the Monday of the first week to the Monday of the last week a course runs. For example, a course that is listed as running for “Wks of 11 Jul–15 Aug", will run from the week of Monday 11 July to the week of Monday 15 August.
Initials are used to show the days of the week: M = Monday, T = Tuesday, W = Wednesday, R = Thursday, F = Friday, S = Saturday, U = Sunday.
Type
This column indicates the type of teaching for each course—lectures and tutorials.
Academic timetables
The academic timetables contain the teaching schedule for the relevant academic year. Lectures times are set first, and tutorials, workshops, and studios are added as they are booked.
If your course does not appear on the timetable, contact your faculty office.
How to read the timetable
Course Reference Number (CRN)
The CRN is a number unique to a course offered in any one year. It distinguishes between identical courses taught in different trimesters or different modes (for example, lecture and distance), or between different streams of the same course in a particular trimester.
Dates
Dates are named for the Monday of the first week to the Monday of the last week a course runs. For example, a course that is listed as running for “Wks of 11 Jul–15 Aug", will run from the week of Monday 11 July to the week of Monday 15 August.
Initials are used to show the days of the week: M = Monday, T = Tuesday, W = Wednesday, R = Thursday, F = Friday, S = Saturday, U = Sunday.
Type
This column indicates the type of teaching for each course—lectures and tutorials.
Lectures
Kelburn campus
Lectures held on our Kelburn campus are normally 50 minutes long, so you'll have 10 minutes to get between lectures. Most courses have two or three lectures per week.
- Morning lectures start on the hour, with the last morning lecture starting at 12 noon.
- Afternoon lectures start at 10 minutes past the hour, with the first afternoon lecture starting at 1.10 pm.
- You will have at least a 20 minute break in the middle of the day (between 12.50 pm and 1.10 pm).
Pipitea and Te Aro campuses
Lectures held on our Pipitea and Te Aro campuses are timed to allow you to travel between campuses.
- Morning lectures start at 30 minutes after the hour.
- Afternoon lectures start at 40 minutes after the hour starting from 12.40pm each day.
Use Blackboard to view dates, resources, and assignments for all your courses
Blackboard
Blackboard acts as a website for your course, every course is curated with the learning material needed to be successful.
Blackboard is used to provide information, course outlines, learning material and grades to students.
Use myDegree to track your progress
myDegree
myDegree is a tool to help you plan your degree and see how far along you are. It’s available to all undergraduate and Honours programme students. It can be used to make the study path of your chosen degree clear—you can see the courses you have completed, how many points you have towards your degree, and what you need to complete your degree and graduate.
Using myDegree
myDegree is a planning tool—not an official audit of your qualification/s or an academic transcript. If you require either of these, contact your Faculty Student and Academic Services Office.
Changing your enrolled courses
You will need to use the online enrolment system, the Add/Drop function in Student Records, or contact your Faculty Student and Academic Services Office.
myDegree status circles
The requirements circles will only show 100% once all conditions are met and all grades are in.
If you are enrolled in your final courses this year, you won't change from 98% to 100% until those grades are in.
Asterisk against a course
An asterisk (*) against a course in the requirements fields indicates that course has a prerequisite.
Make payments for fees, transcripts, events, and student ID cards
How to pay
The Universities preferred method for payment is our secure payment portals. There are two payment portals, one is used to make fee payments, the other is used to make other payments to the University such as key deposits, field trips, course materials, and transcripts.
Fee Payments
Compulsory fees
In addition to tuition fees, all students are charged additional compulsory fees such as levies.
View our guide on fees and our fee policies.
When to make fee payment
Annual fees are due the Friday before your first course starts in the year. For most students this will be the Friday before Trimester 1.
If you are unable to pay your fees by the due date, contact student-finance@vuw.ac.nz.
How to pay
Online through the payment portal
Pay online using our Payment Portal.
Accepted online payment methods include Account2Account, Visa/MasterCard, and Western Union, including UnionPay.
Payments made to the University by credit card and debit card will incur a convenience fee of 1.9%.
This fee is applied to recover those charges that we incur for processing credit and debit card transactions. For all transactions, an alternative payment method will be available. The convenience fee will be applied to transactions for goods and services, including domestic and international tuition fees. See further details about this fee.
Payment by a third party
A third party, such as a family member or employer, can use the payment portal to pay your fees on your behalf. You must first use the payment portal to generate a payment request by selecting 'third party payment request' as your payment method, then send the payment request to the third party.
Internet banking
ANZ Bank New Zealand account number 06-0606-0100241-00. Use your Student ID number and name as reference.
Payment receipts
When you make a payment through one of our payment portals you will be sent an email which includes a link to the receipt for your payment. It is recommended to keep this email in case you require your receipt in the future.
If you have deleted the email receipt, contact the Student Finance team on student-finance@vuw.ac.nz so they can resend you a copy of your receipt.
Top up your printing balance
Printing on campus
You can print from any student computer or any personal device on campus.
Multi-Functional Device printers (MFDs) are situated across all campuses for you to print course materials and essays, and to scan and send documents.
Collecting your printing
When printing from student computers or using wireless printing, your print job will be uploaded and held on a server for 2 hours.
During this time you can collect your print job from any printer on campus with a card reader attached.
Swipe your student identity card then the print job will be released.
If you're printing from a personal device, go to the Student Printing Portal and follow the instructions.
Printing charges
Printing is charged per page and you will need to credit your printing account to use the service.
Printing charges for student printers are:
- black and white printing—10 cents per page, per side
- colour printing—20 cents per page, per side
- scanning and emailing—no charge.
Crediting and checking your printing account
You can top up your accounts by using the Printing funds portal which is accessible from any personal device, or onsite through the link on all student desktop computers.
Check the balance of your printing account in the Printing funds portal by logging onto a student computer and clicking on the 'student printing and balance' icon on the desktop.
Bulk printing services
For bulk and specialist copy, binding, laminating and print services contact the Fujifilm Document Service Centres located at the Kelburn and Pipitea campuses.
Download inclusive technology software
Inclusive learning software
Inclusive learning software is available for students to make learning and engaging more accessible in the modern digital world.
To download the software on your own personal computer, go to the student software download centre.
Support during your studies
There are many different services to help you while you’re studying at the University, including:
- student health and counselling
- academic and degree planning advice
- scholarships
- dispute resolution
- career planning
- disability services
- Digital Solutions IT support
- academic skills development.