According to AbbreviationFinder, Lincoln University is often abbreviated as LU.
Education
Important aspects in the semester abroad are of course the degree and the specific courses that you take. To this I say in advance: Hand on heart, that was quite a bit of work! But it was spread over the whole semester and the benefit from it is unlimited. So if you want to go through with the usual 3 courses in the master’s or 4 in the bachelor’s degree, you should plan to travel before and / or after, because the course is more engaging than the German course during the semester. (Tip: The number has to be documented, but not all of them have to be “really” visited, it’s more about the visa;-))
But there is another advantage if you have to do the whole semester: At the end of the semester, you leave the semester a little more relaxed because not every performance hangs by a thread on the final exam. Projects and submissions over the entire semester make up the lion’s share of the assessment. So if you are more project-oriented and not into bulimia learning, the concept could play into your hands!
One problem that is actually not a problem for computer science students like me is the lack of reference to computer science in most of the courses here – even more so in the master’s than in the bachelor’s. There are not too many courses to choose from, so it is important to find out exactly which courses are taking place in your planned stay. In fact, I was personally very positively surprised by all of the courses, because you can really let off steam here in an interdisciplinary manner and also learn to think outside the box in the IT-related courses. You shouldn’t neglect that!
All in all, the courses that were offered here were actually the main reason for me to go to Lincoln University. And I definitely haven’t regretted it!
Living and Housing
The everyday in Lincoln was more of a quiet nature. Whereby nature is the right keyword here, because the small village is relatively far outside and has only about 5000 inhabitants and a lot of fields around it. I would guess there are more cows than people here. So it’s very calm and peaceful here. But you are by no means cut off from the outside world. The half-hour bus takes you to the center of Christchurch in 30-40 minutes. There is a larger grocery store within 5 minutes walking distance where you can get everything you need for life. If you want to eat outside, there is a good pizzeria, various fish’n chip shops and Asian restaurants as well as a subway. So you can tell that the village certainly benefits from its students. Incidentally, not Thursday (as is usually the case in Germany) but Wednesday is the day on which the students go to party. In addition, people like to go to the grouse (pub) in smaller groups and drink a beer or two.
If there was a rating for the accommodations, I would unfortunately only give 2/5 for my accommodations. It was a relatively old little log cabin style house, so it was a bit cold in winter and the internet was only half working here and there. All in all, of course, that also has its charm. So if you are looking for the complete adventure and resettlement program, you are in good hands here;-) But that is the exception, most of the students are accommodated in very new accommodations, for which I would certainly give 4/5. The university can also be reached in 2 minutes on foot. That means, if you really want to study undisturbed and don’t want to do without warmth and the internet entirely, the library is in good hands! If you apply for accommodation here, you could indicate that you will not be accommodated in “The Crescent” if possible, that should certainly be possible and it eliminates what is probably the only drawback here:-)
In the accommodation area of the university there is really a very large number of international students in the immediate vicinity. In addition to “real” kiwis (as the New Zealanders call themselves), Chinese, Swedes, Dutch, Brazilians, but also people from Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and America – just to name a few – live here. So it’s very easy to get to know people from all over the world. In most of the selfcatered flats you are accommodated with three flatmates and only share the kitchen, bathroom and living room with them. In the fully catered flats you don’t have a kitchen, but use the cafeteria accordingly which is right around the corner. There are generally only single rooms here, which was important to me personally. So you have peace and quiet when you need it.
Overall, I have to say that you really enjoy a very high standard of living here. The disadvantage: living and housing is comparably expensive in New Zealand. You should just plan for that.
