AUT, Vic, and Otago introduce domestic semester exchange trips for students in 2026

NEWS | TUAKIRI / IDENTITY

Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n | Associate Editor

As the global cost-of-living crisis shows no sign of slowing down, the dream for Aotearoa students to piss off for a semester and experience a “Call Me By Your Name” like summer fling in France or Italy has become inaccessible for students who live paycheck-to-paycheck and don’t have an endless bank of Mum and Dad. The majority of students have begun saving up to flee to Melbourne as soon as their degree ends, and the rest of us are stuck on our dingy corner of the world, trying to make the most of the motu as summer holidays are increasingly limited to Jetstar's domestic network. 

If you’re a student mourning your OE, craving a change of scenery, or desperate to reinvent yourself in a new city without dealing with passports and visas, a new pilot programme between AUT - Te Wānanga Aronoui O Tāmaki Makau Rau, University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, and Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington may be up your alley. In 2026, these New Zealand universities are launching “Uni Exchange Aotearoa", allowing second-year undergrads to spend a semester in a different city across these isles.

While a far cry from the transformative experience your mate who lived in Amsterdam for two months claims he had, the new programme still provides the opportunity for a change of pace, allowing students whose mum made them stay at home to experience a semester in Wellington or Dunedin without dooming themselves to a life around binge-drinking scarfies for the rest of their degree. If you’ve been craving a lick of Welly/Dunners student culture since discovering the tendency of Tāmaki students to avoid speaking to one another for three-to-twelve years, here’s your shot. 

Students must have completed 120 points/one year of full-time study by the time the program begins, and are required to maintain a B/5.0 GPA from their time of application until the exchange begins. As this is a pilot programme, only a select few subjects are eligible for the exchange. This includes:

Anthropology	Computer Science	Criminology
Economics	Education (not teacher education)	Human Resources
Information Systems	International Relations	Management
Marketing	Politics	Psychology
Public Policy	Social Sciences / History	Sociology

There are ten spots available at each university for domestic exchange students, allowing a switcheroo that’ll subsequently see a new cohort of students from Vic and Otago making their way up to the big smoke. If you happen to come across one of these students, don’t tell them about the ghosts haunting half of our campus. 

If you’re interested, head to https://www.aut.ac.nz/student-life/opportunities-and-careers/uni-exchange-aotearoa and apply for your place by the 8th of April.