VicStart

With VicStart, senior secondary students can take university courses while still at school. Find out what’s involved, and what courses you could take.

Taking an entry-level university course (100-level) while you’re still at school—typically in Year 13—can help you get a head start on your university journey. You can explore your academic interests, earn credits towards your future degree at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, and better prepare yourself for university study.

How it works

VicStart is an opportunity to do a normal university course, with other first-year university students. University courses run across a ‘trimester’ which typically includes 12 weeks of lectures. As a general rule, one course requires around 10 hours per week—this could be attending lectures (online or in-person), tutorials, and labs, as well as working on assignments and preparing for exams.

VicStart runs alongside your secondary school learning programme, while you work towards meeting University Entrance.

Eligibility

You can apply for VicStart if you:

• are 16 years or older by the time your course begins
• have met the literacy and numeracy requirements for University Entrance and have a high level of achievement at NCEA Level 2
• have approval from your secondary school.

Planning VicStart study

We’ve put together a selection of courses that are suitable for secondary school students. Some courses are available to be taken by distance, online, while others are designed to be experienced in person, on campus.

You can take up to two courses in the academic year—typically one course per trimester. Taking a 100-level course can give you a head start on your studies and help you decide which degree would work best for you.

Our number one goal is for you to successfully achieve University Entrance, so consider your school exam timetable in Term 4 and how you’ll balance your schoolwork and university assessments. We recommend getting involved in the VicStart programme in Trimester 1, which will start in your school Term 1. This way you have a sense of the workload and can make a decision on whether you would like to take another course in Trimester 2.

Recommended courses

ACCY 130—Accounting for Accountability and Decision Making

This course introduces students to accounting, accountability and decision-making. It focuses on the use and impact of internal and external accounting information on economic and social outcomes.

ANTH 101—Foundations of Culture and Society

This course introduces students to the subject by focusing on how anthropologists understand and explain social and cultural differences.

ARTH 101—Art, Creativity and Identity

How do humans use art to express our diverse social, cultural, collective and individual identities? Through a series of case studies, this course examines the way visual art and culture is used to express identity and its relation to changing notions of creativity and selfhood.

COMP 102—Introduction to Computer Program Design

This course serves as an introduction to the foundational principles of programming utilising the high-level object-oriented programming language Java.

COMP 103—Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms

This course focuses on the techniques for designing, building and analysing computer programs that deal with large collections of data.

CYBR 171—Cybersecurity Fundamentals

Hacker—hero or villain? Explore the world of cyber criminals, state-sponsored hackers, and commercial and government defenders.

FHSS 103—Great Ideas

Great Ideas is a course reflecting on some of the most exciting, important and revolutionary ideas that have shaped society and culture as it is today.

GEOG 114—Sustainability: People and Environment

This course brings together the social and physical sciences to help understand key environmental issues and work towards possible solutions.

GLBL 101—Introduction to Global Studies: Collaboration in Global Contexts

Big, complex global challenges require creative and ethical interdisciplinary solutions.

INFO 101—Introduction to Information Systems

An examination of the role of information systems in the business operations, managerial decision making and strategy of modern organisations.

LCCM 171—The Art of Writing: Literary and Creative Communication

Even in a modern world dominated by visual and digital media, written communication remains the most essential and powerful tool in all social and professional contexts.

LCCM171 is delivered as a primarily on campus course and requires attendance for some activities, for which there are no online alternatives. This course will be taught as a combination of 1-hour lectures (one per week) and 2-hour workshops (one per week).

One weekly workshop has been scheduled outside of school hours so that VicStart students can attend and engage fully with the broader student cohort.

LSCI 101—Language and Society

Students will learn to understand key connections between language, society, the mind, and education, amongst other areas. Students will also learn how linguists research language and contribute to knowledge and society.

LSCI 111—Introduction to Language Sciences​

Students will gain core skills in analysing the sounds (phonetics), sound systems (phonology), word structures (morphology) and sentence structures (syntax) used across human languages.

MATH 161—Discrete Mathematics and Logic

Logic underlies all of mathematics. This course introduces the basic notions of logic and discusses what makes some arguments good or valid, and others invalid.

For VicStart students, NCEA Level 3 Mathematics (or equivalent) is a co-requisite for MATH161. If you will be taking NCEA Level 3 Mathematics concurrently with MATH161, you are eligible to enrol in this course.

PHYS 101—Introduction to Physics

This course is designed for students who want a university level introduction to physics. It will serve students majoring in physics without requiring prior knowledge in physics.

PHYS 142—Calculus-based Physics

This course covers topics in electrostatics and will also cover mechanics (circular and harmonic motion) and required math concepts (differential equations and integration).

PSYC 121—Foundations in Psychology 1

This course introduces core concepts in psychology with a focus on research methods, social psychology, social development, and mental health.

RELI 113 - How to Think About Religion

This course investigates diverse religious traditions and communities to better understand how religion shapes our contemporary world, including here in Aotearoa.

RELI 108 - The World's Religions

This course introduces the stories, rituals, beliefs, and spiritualities that shape diverse traditions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. We will also consider fascinating and less prominent traditions – from Vodou and Indigenous spiritualities to modern “cults”.

SCIS 101—Your Body, Your Data, Your World: Science in Everyday Life

How does science materialise in our day to day lives? How does it interact with culture, political context, and economies?

SOCS 111—Sociology: Foundations and Concepts

This course explores key sociological concepts and debates, such as inequality, social movements, ideology, colonisation and decolonisation, everyday life, and identity.

SOSC 102—Doing Sociology

SOSC 102 introduces students to sociology in action. Lectures cover a number of broad issues treated by the discipline: theorising, collecting and analysing data, ethics, structures and institutions, social divisions, everyday life, and social change.

STAT 193—Statistics in Practice

Topics we will cover include data display and inference, estimation, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, comparison of means, linear regression and correlation, and analysis of variance.

On campus or online

If you’re studying from outside Wellington, our online courses will be more suitable for you. For online courses, you don’t have to attend University in person—not even for tests, assessments, or end-of-trimester exams.

For Wellington based students, you can take any course—however, if you’d like more information about the in-person requirements for courses, make an appointment with one of our Future Student Advisors. Lecturers may be prepared to waive some of the in-person requirements on a case-by-case basis.

Other 100-level courses

You can take any other 100-level course as part of the VicStart programme, however many courses have in-person attendance requirements. Search or browse our courses to find courses that can be completed remotely.

VicStart Scholarship

You may also be eligible for a VicStart Scholarship, which covers up to 40 points’ worth of course fees. When you apply for VicStart, you’ll automatically be considered for a scholarship.

To be eligible for a VicStart Scholarship, you need to:

• have NCEA Level 2 Certificate or above endorsed with Merit or Excellence
• be a domestic student
• provide evidence of support from your school to confirm that you’re capable of undertaking university-level study while still at school.

Scholarships will be awarded after your NCEA Level 2 results have been released.  If you do not qualify for a VicStart scholarship, we will be in touch with you and your school to see how you would like to fund your VicStart study.

Information for schools

International Students

If you have an international student who would like to apply to study a course under VicStart, get in contact with us as the application process is different than the one outlined above.

Further information

For any queries you may have, get in contact with our Schools Partnership Manager, Monique Warder.