Choosing your courses

Teaching and research takes place in eight faculties on five campuses at The University of Auckland.
Click on the faculty links on your right to go to the faculty websites.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your home university has approved the courses you plan to take at The University of Auckland. This is especially important if you have specific course requirements to complete your degree at home.

As a Study Abroad or Exchange student at The University of Auckland, you are required to be enrolled full-time.

Courses have a points value of 10, 15, 20 or 30. Most courses are worth 15 points. A normal, full-time course load is 60 points per semester, which usually is the equivalent of four courses per semester. The maximum full-time load is 60 points a semester. The minimum load to satisfy full-time status is 50 points per semester.

A standard semester course of 15 points represents 150 hours of study or ten hours a week for 15 weeks (taken as 12 teaching weeks and 3 weeks of study break and examinations). The student workload in the teaching weeks would comprise 120 hours made up of lectures, tutorials, seminars, laboratory classes, and other face-to face contact, plus independent study as is appropriate in the case of each faculty.

For points value for courses please see the Course Catalogue in Student Services Online.

For short course descriptions please see the Course Catalogue in Student Services Online. 

Course information can also be found on the relevant faculty websites.

Courses are taught in 4 campuses around Auckland with the City campus being the main university campus. Grafton campus is within walking distance from the City campus and there are free shuttle buses between the City and Tamaki campuses.

You can choose courses at any campus, but make sure you have enough time to get from one campus to another!

To check which campus a course is taught at, please see the Course Catalogue in Student Services Online.

Course availability and timetable schedules are available on Student Services Online for the next academic year after 1 November.

To find out whether a specific course is being offered in 2012, consult Student Services Online after 1 November 2011. Upper-level science courses are listed in December.

Alternatively, you can browse the online catalogue for the previous year.

The University of Auckland's course codes are shown by a subject abbreviation and a three-digit catalogue number. The first number of the catalogue number shows the level of the course (for example English 201 is a Stage 2 or 2nd year course).

Undergraduate courses
Undergraduate courses are offered at Stage 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 courses are taught in the Faculty of Arts, the Business School, the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Science.

Stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 courses are taught in the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries, the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Law.

Courses at Stage 3 and 4 are the most advanced and specialised in the undergraduate degree.

Postgraduate courses
Courses that begin with 6 or 7 are postgraduate level courses.

In most cases, you must have the equivalent of a New Zealand bachelors degree before you can be admitted to postgraduate and masters degree courses.

In addition to lectures many courses have ‘related classes’ (tutorials, labs, plenary sessions, field trips etc) that are a required part of the course. You must enrol in these related classes along with the lecture.

If you want to enrol in Stage 2, 3 or 4 courses, or if you are eligible to apply for postgraduate courses, be sure that you have met equivalent prerequisites at your home university and can supply certified outlines of these courses. Before you accept your offer of admission, be sure to upload:

• an up-to-date academic transcript, in English, that reflects the grade you earned for the course(s)
• an outline (syllabus), in English, of your home university's equivalent prerequisite course. This should include the number of hours per week the course was taught, how the course was assessed, texts that were used and the course objective and/or description.
   

In general, you may select courses from a wide range of programmes. However, in some subject areas limited enrolment may apply. Also, Study Abroad and Exchange students cannot take the following:

• Stage 1 Architecture and Planning courses,
• Stage 1 Fine Arts courses. For students interested in taking Stage 2 or 3 Fine Arts courses they need to submit a portfolio and a written statement. Please contact the Study Abroad and Exchange Office for more information,
• A and B courses (for example CHEM 350A and CHEM 350B) are full year courses and can only be taken by students enrolling for a fully year from February to November,
• Medicine, Pharmacy or Nursing courses,
• Business School courses for:
  1. the BBIM degree—any course with a “9” in the middle of the catalogue number (eg, ACCTG 291),
  2. the Graduate School of Enterprise in finance, information systems, marketing, and operations management—shown as “Graduate Programmes” in the Course Catalogue.Foundation certificate courses, shown by a 2-digit catalogue number followed by F or H(eg, ESOL 91F or MAORIHTH 14H).

The following subjects have limited enrolment. Please have a second choice option in mind for each course you want in these areas:

• General Education courses, shown in the course code with a G following the number; e.g., PHYSICS 107G
• Stage 2 and 3 Psychology and Biological Science courses.

Postgraduate applicants
Study Abroad and Exchange students are allowed to apply for postgraduate level courses, however, they must have the equivalent of NZ undergraduate degree in the subject area they wish to study. In general, the postgraduate courses are limited to coursework only and does not include thesis writing and supervision.