Otago tauira Izzy Fyfe is experiencing a different city, academic environment, and student community while on exchange at Victoria University. Seen here outside Victoria University's iconic Hunter Building.
Izzy Fyfe turned stepping outside her comfort zone into one of the most rewarding chapters of her university journey.
Bachelor of Arts tauira Izzy is part of the inaugural cohort of Uni Exchange Aotearoa, an exchange programme for second-year domestic undergraduate students, offering the chance to spend a semester at another New Zealand university without interrupting their degree. The programme is the result of a unique collaboration between Victoria University of Wellington, Auckland University of Technology, and the University of Otago.
For Dunedin local Izzy, this meant moving to Wellington for a semester of study at Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington.
“I’ve lived in Dunedin almost all of my life, so I wanted to see other cities, especially Wellington. I was inspired by the chance to live in a city that I hadn’t before.”
Victoria University was an easy choice, Izzy says.
“Victoria was one of the universities I was considering when I decided to go to university.
“I had also heard good things about the Anthropology department at Victoria and when I switched from a Music major to a double major it was the perfect timing to go to Vic and study some anthropology.”
Studying at Victoria has been fantastic, Izzy says.
“The papers I’m doing are pretty different from the ones I had set out for semester two at Otago.
“I’m really enjoying them, particularly ANTH208 on human rights, humanitarianism, and development, which is one of the best anthropology papers I’ve done in my degree.
“The structure of courses at Vic is pretty different to Otago in a way that I like – in particular, I will miss the lack of exams when I go back.”
The most memorable part of the exchange, though, has been outside the lecture halls.
“The highlight of my exchange has been getting the chance to explore a new city on my own.
“I knew hardly anyone living here when I came up, so I had this amazing opportunity to make friends and experience everything on my own terms.”
Izzy reckons this is probably the reason a lot of students consider exchange, and it is a good one, she says.
“There aren’t many other ways that I would have been able to live in Wellington for a short while and get to do all the things I have without the domestic exchange program.
“I would encourage every Otago student who is considering exchange to apply.”
While she was in an ideal situation to apply – in between jobs and with a stable flat group she could come back to – she still would have applied if this wasn’t the case.
“The experience you get on exchange is unlike anything else. So, if there are things in life that hold you back from seriously considering it, but you can drop them, then I highly recommend doing that.
“It’s the kind of thing that comes up very rarely in your life and in my opinion, is worth quitting your job for if you get given the chance to do an exchange trip.”
Her advice to students considering an exchange is to apply asap and move fast.
“Sort out your accommodation as soon as you can. Ideally, when you get options for where you can stay, make a decision pretty fast.”
Also, lean on the support available, she says.
“The help I got from both universities was excellent.
“I found all the admin to be pretty stressful, so having such helpful people to guide me through the process and work out the kinks was amazing.”
~ Kōrero by Sandra French, Adviser, Internal Communications
Uni Exchange Aotearoa
Swap cities. Study somewhere new. Stay in Aotearoa. Applications are now open for Semester 2 2027.
Apply now