Student Testimonials

Etienne Marcel-Huet

My name is Etienne Marcel-Huet from France. I am 25 years old. I have been living in Auckland for approximately one year and 4 months with a lovely kiwi family and two flatmates from China and Japan at Mount Wellington Highway, Sylvia Park.

I am currently doing The University of Auckland Certificate in Foundation Studies, January 2013 intake. My subjects include Accounting, Statistic, Calculus, Design, Economics and English.

My study is going well, although quite challenging at times. I tell myself to study hard and do my best towards my graduation.

I have a lot of friends from New Zealand and other countries, such as Fiji, Thailand, Korea, Japan and China. I am a sociable person so I am not afraid to get to know friends from different nationalities, cultures and religions.

The cultural diversity of New Zealand is an amazing experience, full of surprise and astonishment. I still have many cities and places to explore. I would like to discover more about Maori history, culture, tradition and religion as well as the beauty of the country. The benefit that I have gained by studying at this school at personal and professional level is the chance to study with other students and teachers from different countries, in addition to the opportunity to continue my study in the university afterwards.

In summary, I am grateful to my parents who gave me the privilege to succeed and to pursue my study, as well as to live an outstanding life to improve my cultural knowledge.

Satomi Katsuta

Hello, my name is Satomi. I am 20 years old. I came to New Zealand two years ago after I graduated from high school in Japan. I completed the University of Auckland Certificate in Foundation Studies at ACG.

Before that, I studied at another language school for 1 year, because my English was awful. I could not speak English fluently and clearly. During that time, I found my dream to go to university in New Zealand. I wanted to try my best and improve my English and other skills. At the time, my teacher recommended ACG. He said, "ACG is quite famous, because the quality of education is high. If you really want to study hard and go to the university, just go!". At first, I felt really nervous, because I did not have any confidence in my English. However, I had to go otherwise my dream would not come true. Therefore, I pushed myself and decided to be an ACG student.

In the first month at ACG, I found two main differences between ACG and the school where I had studied before.

First of all, ACG teachers were working as hard as the students. The class time is 85 minute per period. I thought that it was really long and that I would fall asleep. However, when the classes began, teachers and students became one and concentrated. As a result, I sometimes felt that the classes were short, because they were interesting. The teachers made the classes interesting even when the subject was difficult.

Secondly, all the teachers were really helpful. When I was terribly distressed by the failure of an examination, they did not just say, "work hard''. They told me what I should do in great detail. Furthermore, they always said that they were our parents in New Zealand. I was really impressed when they said that to us in class.

Also, I found many good friends at ACG. There were many students who had the same dream of going to university in NZ, so they were all hard workers. If someone could not understand, we shared our ideas and taught each other every day, even on the weekend.

When I felt happy or disappointed, they always stayed with me and helped me. Finally, we got our offers of place from the university, and I remember that we were all very happy.

If I had not made the decision to study at ACG, I would not have gained a great feeling and confidence. I want to praise myself and I am deeply grateful to ACG.

If you are worried about studying overseas or do not have confidence, don't worry. At first, everyone feels nervous or scared. This is a good sign to grow up, so just go ahead! 

I hope you can find your way and come to New Zealand to study.

Good luck to you!

Satomi 

Kevin Sun

My name is Kevin. I was a University of Auckland Foundation fast-track student in October 2010. Now I'm majoring Finance and Management in University of Auckland having started my degree in July 2011.

I really would love to say that studying the UoA Foundation course at ACG was one of my most correct decisions in life.

Through studying the Foundation course, my University studies were much easier. I found that about 90% of what I was taught in a number of papers at UoA in my first year studying was covered in the Foundation course. This was certainly the case in Economics, Accounting, and Statistics. This meant I had less study pressure in my first semester, so I have enjoyed my University life a lot more.

Moreover, the thing I most enjoyed studying at ACG was the studying environment and studying system. We studied in small classes. This gives much more focus on studying and it is easier to make friends compared with 500 people in a lecture at University. As well, our class style is just like University; different subjects taken in different classrooms with different classmates, therefore we can get used to University style before we go to University. Furthermore, we had lots of activities during the studying time, which made the school life more colorful – activities such as basketball competitions, video making and so on.

One more thing, I really have to say is that teachers at ACG are great. They are very kind and helpful. They are just like friends and you can talk to them about everything. This also makes the studying environment very easy and relaxed.

I really appreciate that ACG offers so wonderful a place for us to study.  I wish all the students in ACG will realise their dream as soon as possible.

Thach Bao Nguyen

A former ACG and UoA student, Thach is now a General Director of the biggest medical supply company in Vietnam.

I first came to New Zealand in July 1998, with the advice and assistance of Trans Asia. In my eyes, NZ was a beautiful, calm and quiet place but everything was strange to a boy like me, who had just finished high school in Vietnam. It took me 9 months to study English because my English was terrible and I could not understand what people said.

After having finished my English studies, I really wanted to go to the University of Auckland, but the education system in New Zealand was completely different to the one in Vietnam. At the time, ACG came up with a solution, which was the The University of Auckland Certificate in Foundation Studies, which was a bridge-program for students who came from countries that have different education systems to NZ. The program provides the students with the necessary skills to study at a NZ university. I was the first Vietnamese student to study this program. During my study at the ACG College Foundation Study Programs, I was surprised with everything this school had. The study environment was clean, calm and spacious, the facilities were modern with high-tech equipment, which were helpful for my studies. The teaching staffs were full of knowledge and experts in their fields; they were very helpful and always ready to assist me every time I needed.

I think the UoA Foundation Program by ACG is a very useful program for students who are willing to study to access the best Universities in New Zealand. The program can also give them an opportunity to study anywhere else in the world. As ACG Foundation Programs gained my family trust, I also had my two sisters completing the Foundation Study programs,  and afterwards, they completed the Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science at the University of Auckland. After the great time at ACG, I went to the University of Auckland and completed my Bachelor of Commerce double majored in Finance and Economics. Thank you Trans Asia for your advice and thanks ACG for their foundation programs.

Viet Quoc Hoang

Hi, I am Viet Hoang Quoc, an undergraduate, two time Mathematics summer scholarship research award holder and official Maths tutor at the University of Auckland.

In 2009, I decided to take the University of Auckland Foundation Course at ACG International College simply because of its reputation in teaching and learning excellence. In fact, ACG offers a dynamic learning system and a wide range of subjects such as Calculus, Statistics, Accounting, Economics, Physics and so on. My first impression was the extensive availability of teaching facilities. With well-designed classrooms and teaching-aided materials, students will see the essentials of the subject and get onto it easily. In addition, the dedication of teachers at different subjects is also highly appreciated. They guide students through various aspects of learning in terms of theoretical and practical matters.

Moreover, they always leave room for critical thinking and personal development. With all great factors that ACG gives, I had achieved top prizes in Calculus, Accounting and ESOL. If there is a place for academic achievement, ACG has got to be the first start to take a step ahead for future success.

Yao Yu

I am Yao Yu, a former New Zealand International College student who just graduated from the foundation program 3 months ago and entered University of Auckland.

Entering university is life changing. I experienced many things I had not experienced before.

The biggest difference between the university and my previous study is the degree of freedom. I can select the classes to enroll and make up my own timetable, decide if to turn up at lectures or to watch them on the internet, choose which tutor's tutorial to take or even decide whether to go university or not without worrying about attendance rate.

Another major difference is the management of time (≠free time). University gives out assignments a long period of time before due date. I always felt that I had a lot of time left. But in the end I didn't have enough time and had to finish the assignment in a rush. This told me to never leave things till the last minute.

The responsibility of taking care of my own study is also something that I had not experienced. In university, there is no one to look out for you, so one must be responsible for his or her own performance in study. Some course activities caught me off-guard since I did not read the course guideline of the first 2 weeks. Furthermore, I almost missed my first online test because I did not pay enough attention to the school announcements. University did not force me to do any work; I had to find out for myself what must be done to keep up with the course's schedule.

There are several advices I would like to give to current foundation students who are preparing to enter university:

Firstly, get used to using blackboard. In University of Auckland, there is a very similar online tool called CECIL; all the announcements, resources and test results are available on it. I had lots of trouble at the beginning of university because I wasn't familiar with CECIL.

Secondly, hand in a nice and neat passport photo when the university requires one, because this photo will be on everything that has your picture on throughout your 3 or 4 years of university life. Luckily, I have no regrets on my photo, but lots of my friends do.

Thirdly, form a habit of checking your emails regularly. It takes only 2 minutes a day to make sure you have not missed any important notices.

Fourthly, study hard NOW! I cannot express how helpful foundation courses are in university study. Good foundation scores doesn't only provide confidence, it also gives you that extra tip of knowledge to be ahead of the other students of university. If you don't desire to be ahead, but only a pass for university, the foundation courses can make your study in university so much easier.

And lastly, go back to NZIC to see the teachers once in a while after entering university. It's great to keep in touch with all your friends and the people that helped you go this far. Since university will be the origin of all the stress at that time, NZIC will feel so warm and remind you of all the good memories.

I hope this short writing gave you brief ideas of what university is like and suggestions of some things to be aware of.