Information for Faculty and Staff

What is a reciprocal exchange?

A reciprocal exchange is where universities allow students to pay tuition fees to their home university and then study courses at the host university without paying tuition fees to the host. The goal is to have the same number of EFTS hosted by both partners over the duration of the exchange agreement.

How do staff refer to exchange students?

Students are either:

  • Inbound (being hosted by Victoria University of Wellington) or
  • Outbound (going overseas as part of their degree studies at Victoria University of Wellington).

What is the difference between Study Abroad and Exchange at Victoria University of Wellington?

Study Abroad involves international fee-paying students who may be associated with another university or specialised international study provider. Exchange involves students from universities with an established reciprocal student exchange agreement. Exchanges are for a maximum of one year and are always for course work.

What international universities are we exchange partners with?

Victoria University of Wellington has active exchange agreements with over 145 universities in 35 countries around the world. Please take a look at the full list on our Partner Universities web page.

How do new student exchange agreements get established?

Wellington University International (WUI) regularly receive requests for new exchange partnerships. As we already have over 145 exchange partnerships, it is important that we carefully consider these requests with regards to key principles including:

  • Ministry of Education (MoE)-imposed academic reciprocity: Due to MoE regulations, we need to maintain a balance of inbound and outbound exchange students. As such, if we are forming a new exchange partnership, we need to be confident that VUW students will want to go there.
  • VUW student experience: Many considerations are relevant here ranging from the destination itself to the university’s ranking and academic offerings.

Proposal process
Any proposed new student exchange agreement must gain approval by the Director, International. This involves the proposing Victoria University of Wellington School/Programme and Faculty completing the new agreement proposal form, and submitting it to student-exchange@vuw.ac.nz

Proposal review
The Wellington Global Exchange Office will review the proposal to check that all parts are complete. It will then be sent to the Associate Director, International Operations to form a recommendation for the Director, International.

Once approved
Once the Director, International approves the agreement, the Wellington Global Exchange Office will advise the academic parties involved and will liaise with the new exchange partner to draft and sign the agreement.

Finalising the agreement
Once the agreement has been approved by both parties (this can take months!), the Wellington Global Exchange Office will advise the academic parties involved.