We interviewed one student who had recently transferred to Victoria on 6 August 2015

Notes from interview with E

From the UK, emigrated when she was 12.

Went to secondary school in Hamilton.

Journalism was her first interest for uni - but she wasn’t sure, so she looked at a conjoint with something else. Did Comms with Business at AUT. But after 1 year decided Comms wasn’t for her and felt journalism was ‘a cut throat’ industry - also there were entry restrictions for this. So she decided to focus on business.

Moved to Wellington recently because her partner got a job here. ALSO: she really likes Wellington and her twin brother lives here.

Process for choosing a uni when transferring

Looked at Massey and Vic

Discarded Massey because their website is so hard to navigate.

Vic website was easier but “there’s lots going on: lots of clicking away from the home page”. Needed to find:

1. Dates - because transferring mid-year. Had to download a huge PDF calendar (Academic year dates 2015). (Semester 2 at Vic starts a week earlier than at AUT.)

2. Majors - wanted to check that HR and Management were both available.

Spoke to a ‘course planner’ at Vic and got everything sorted.

Speaking to someone worked for her because:

• It was a little urgent - she was starting this semester.
• She was transferring and needed to understand what could be cross-credited and so on.

Why HR? Has always had that interest. Thinks it’s a good fit for her personal characteristics.

Why Management? “Something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Also looked at Marketing. But was only interested in some of it, and didn’t want to study all parts of it.

Employment

Started thinking about a job in first year of uni. “For me it’s absolutely crucial.”

Considered earnings? Yes. But also considered the corporate world in general - “where you want to work in - fit with who you are”.

Recognises value of experience alongside education. “I just really want that practical experience now.”

Career plan - finish uni, get a job in HR.

What would be her ideal job? Said it would be ideal to go directly into a management role, but this was unlikely. So: “Something ideally where I was in a big environment where there were a lot of levels above me where I could watch and learn.”

Has she researched job availability and earnings?

1. Yes - mentioned a couple of vague sources, including guest speakers at AUT.
2. Checks TradeMe and Seek regularly - is looking for a part-time role in HR while studying. But they are few and far between.

Vic website: Would have looked at Careers info if it was there. Sees it as useful for 2nd and 3rd years - but recognises that Careers info can also be off-putting (eg: read something about it that doesn’t sound like them so change their mind).

Expectations of uni

AUT was pretty much what she expected. Especially the self-directed study. Lecturers: “if you don’t turn up they don’t care - it’s completely up to you”.

Vic experience - how has it been?

AUT is more modern.

Enjoys the content of papers here.

Doesn’t like the tutorial lecture system - having to sort out tutorials. “To be given a timetable at the start of the year then find I had things to add.” “Was one of the biggest disappointments.” Had to book tutorials on My Allocator. Had clashes, had to go and talk to people to ask to get in. AUT was bigger and it was easier there. It also offered business courses as night classes.

AUT was “flexible” while Victoria is “strict”. “You have to make this class or you can’t do it.”

Terminology

OK with university language and concepts as coming from another university environment.

Just the degree name - it’s called a BComm here, not a BBus.

Faculty

How much does she know about it?

“Not much at all.”

“Faculty is portrayed as a thing on a higher level than you. There’s you then there’s your lecturers and so on then there’s that higher thing.”

Does she know the name of her faculty? No. But turned out she did after all, but not the name of her school. (She’d got them muddled up when we asked the question.)

Social media

1. Facebook - “big user”
2. Dabbled in Twitter when at AUT but not very interested now
3. LinkedIn for business reasons.

Channels

Preferred/main are BB and F/bk.

1. BB - “definitely”. Two papers she does are weekly blog posts on BB “so it’s a bit different”. Used it at AUT. Can be a bit slow but apart from that it’s OK.
2. Facebook - thinks she follows the Vic page?

Other:

1. Email - misses a lot of Vic info. Perhaps because she doesn’t check her Vic email?
2. MyVic - has used it.

Hears about news and events:

1. Via BB
2. Occasionally on Facebook, maybe? As a secondary source.

Thinking about PG?

Thought about it early on because her sister did PG. But she’s more interested in skills than theory so doesn’t want to stay at uni longer than she absolutely has to. So her PG research was to check that she didn’t have to do it.

Victoria website

Used when enrolled. Wanted to know about majors; then papers (what were core, then what were electives). Also timeframe.

Subject/topic stuff? Wasn't interested in that.

Exploring Vic site:

Had difficulty, but didn’t use search.

(Sam's notes here)