Academic difficulties

Your Student Success Adviser can help you get back on track with your studies. Find out when we might restrict or suspend your enrolment, and how to appeal.

Studying at university isn’t always easy, and you may find that you struggle in your courses at times. We can help you through these difficulties and help you to achieve your full potential.

Get help

If you’re worried about your academic progress, the first thing you should do is talk to your Student Success Adviser—they’re here to help. You can find your individual adviser through Pūaha.

You can also get help from other services, such as:

Student Learning for help learning how to learn.
Mauri Ora—Student Health and Counselling if your health or mental health condition is having an impact on your studies.
Manawa ora—Student Wellbeing for workshops and resources.
Student Finance (Hardship Fund) if financial concerns are having an impact on your studies.
Check out the Services and support section for more options.

You might also want to contact services for your student community, for example:

Progress reviews

If we’re concerned about your progress during the trimester—based on the available engagement and achievement information—your Student Success Adviser will be in touch to find out how we can help you.

Your adviser will work with you to develop an academic success plan, including appropriate learning support and other services listed above. You may be advised to withdraw from one or more courses to reduce your workload. If you are experiencing significant illness or exceptional personal circumstances, it may be possible to negotiate extensions or re-weighting of assessments.

Enrolment restriction

If you’re really struggling or we think that you’re no longer engaged with your studies, we may also place an ‘academic hold’ on your record and manage your enrolment by one or both of:

Restricting the number of courses that you can enrol in.
Requiring you to meet certain conditions such as the development of an academic success plan

These restrictions will then be eased or removed when you’re making better progress, for example, if you pass at least half of the courses you’ve undertaken in a trimester.

If you have had restrictions on your enrolment for your last two (or more) trimesters, the Associate Dean of your faculty may recommend that your enrolment be suspended, normally for three trimesters.

If you’ve failed the same course on two occasions, we won’t normally allow you to enrol again in that course. You can request permission from the Associate Dean of the relevant faculty, for example, if you had failed the course due to serious personal circumstances or if you need to pass that course to complete your degree.

The full details about restrictions and conditions can be found in the Academic Progress for Continued Registration Procedure.

Appealing an academic restriction

If you believe that an enrolment restriction or an academic condition is unfair or unnecessary, you can request a meeting with the Associate Dean of your faculty. We recommend that you talk to your Student Success Adviser first.

If you’re appealing an academic restriction, required conditions, or suspension, you can seek independent advice and support from the students’ association. Email the VUWSA Advocate at advocate@vuwsa.org.nz.

Ngā ākonga

Current students