Living the student life in Canterbury is something you'll remember forever. There's always plenty going on around our campuses and throughout the region. We've put together some of our recommendations of what makes student life at Ara, in Christchurch and in Canterbury awesome.

A range of  quality, affordable, Ara-branded clothing and merchandise including hoodies, jackets, shirts, tees, coffee cups, drink bottle, stationary  and more - specially created for Ara staff and students.

Ready for purchase at the Pop-up shop opening  in the Atrium, City Campus on the following dates

Fridays, 12pm-1pm

• 24 August
• 7 September
• 21 September
• 19 October
• 2 November
• 23 November
• 7 December

Eft pos available

Brochure available

One of the most important choices you'll make when coming to Ara is where to live.

There are lots of accommodation options around Canterbury. You might want to live in student accommodation in Christchurch, go flatting, private board or live in a home-stay.

Accommodation options

• Ōtautahi House campus accommodation
• Flatting
• Homestay
• Private board

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Student Events

To stay in the loop with events around Campus, please sign-up to our weekly newsletter.

There are heaps of café and restaurant options, both at and near our campuses.

There are also plenty of indoor and outdoor places where you can sit and eat if you choose to bring your own food. Our student lounges in the CPSA at the City campus and the student services building at the Woolston campus have microwaves available for your use.  

City campus

We have three cafés and a restaurant at our City campus in Christchurch. There is also a food court and several other cafés opposite the campus, or within a five minute walk. 

Café X

Hours

Open term time: 

• Monday - Thursday: 7:30am to 6pm
• Friday: 7:30am to 4pm

Term break:

• Monday - Friday: 7:30am to 3:30pm

Hours

• During term time: Monday - Friday from 8am to 4pm. 

Woolston campus

We have one Café in the Student Services Building at Woolston campus, with other food venues close by.

DeliMarche Café

Open from early in the morning to early afternoon, DeliMarche stocks a variety of cold and hot food. Come and try one of their morning teas with speciality garlic and chilli bread being a favourite. The hot lunch menu changes daily.

Hours

Open term time:

• Monday - Thursday: 8am to 3:30pm
• Friday: 8am to 1:30pm

Ara offers a range of part time, on-campus job opportunities to students. It’s a great way to earn money while gaining skills and adding all-important work experience to your CV.

Jobs are available with the following teams:

Student Ambassador Team

Share your passion for Ara by sharing your positive experiences of being a student here. You’ll help out at open days, career expos, campus tours and school presentations. Click here to find out more.

• Required at - City, Woolston and Timaru campuses
• When we recruit - February to April
• Contact - engagement@ara.ac.nz

Student Communications Team

RECRUITING NOW! Register your interest and the Student Voice Coordinator will be in contact with you.

Can you spin a good story? Are you a born communicator? Do you have a flair for design? If so, put your talents to use by joining the Student Comms team in 2019.  You’ll be part of a creative, professional team producing our social media and various student publications. It’s not only it fun, it’s a great way to add valuable experience to your CV – so what are you waiting for? Applications are invited from all campuses. Contact studentvoice@ara.ac.nz to find out more.

Recruiting will start asap for end of 2018 in the hopes that newbies get training from current Communications team.

• Required at - All campuses
• When we recruit - Throughout the year
• Position description (PDF 0.1MB)
• Contact - studentvoice@ara.ac.nz

Register your interest to join the student communications team

Student Events Team

As a member of the student events team you can have a hand in conceiving, planning, promoting and staging events on all campuses. You’ll also help gather feedback from students at events or on campus so we can continue to improve our event offerings.

• Required at - All campuses
• When we recruit - Throughout the year
• Position description (PDF 0.1MB)
• Contact - studentevents@ara.ac.nz

Register your interest to join the student events team

Student Library Assistant Team

As a student library assistant you can help students and staff access the books, information and library resources that support and enhance teaching, learning and research.

• Required at - City campus, Timaru campus.
• When we recruit - Throughout the year
• Position description (PDF 0.1MB)
• Contact - Joe Kuntz - joe.kuntz@ara.ac.nz

Register your interest to join the student library assistant team

Student Recreation Team

The student recreation team works to ensure a safe, fun and healthy environment at Ara for students, staff and the community. As a member of the team you’ll help to deliver a calendar of sports and recreational activities.
Please note we are not currently offering paid student positions. However, we do have volunteer opportunities available.

• Required at - City campus, Timaru campus.
• When we recruit - February
• Position description (PDF 0.1MB)
• Contact - Savanna Ornsby - reccentre@ara.co.nz

Register your interest to join the student recreation team

Student Notetaking Team

As a student note taker, you’ll provide copies of your class notes to Disability Services to help support students with a disability. Notes must be completely legible if hand written or they must be typed, and they must accurately reflect the lecture content. Notetakers are contracted for the provision of their notes only ($15 per lecture).

Notetakers are required throughout the year for specific courses. We ask that students submit an indicative sample of their course notes as part of your Registration of Interest. We review your sample set of notes and, if there is a need for notes from a course in which you are actively enrolled, we’ll get in touch.

• Required at - All campuses.
• When we recruit - Throughout the year
• Position description (PDF 0.1MB)
• Contact - disability@ara.ac.nz

Register your interest to join the student notetaking team

At Ara we produce 1.5T of daily waste and recycle 42% of this.

Our bins around campus are to help keep waste to a minimum:

• Red or grey bins are for waste.
• Yellow are for your recycling.
• Blue are for any paper.

Do you want to find out what groups you can join? Here's some info to help you out.

Disclaimer: We take all reasonable steps to ensure we list groups that promote your wellbeing. Groups listed here are not Ara run so we cannot take responsibility for how they operate, just have it in good faith they'll do the right thing!  Ara is a secular and non-political institution and there are some groups we will not accept or promote e.g. hate groups.

Ara is concerned about the welfare and achievement of all students. To create and maintain the best possible teaching and learning environment, you are protected by basic rights and are expected to respect the rights and responsibilities of others. We are committed to "delivering what we promise to a recognised standard."

Useful contacts:

Independent Student Advocate: Duncan Dunbar.  email: duncan.dunbar@actionworks.org.nz / m: 027 2736 246

Student Voice Coordinator: Angus Howat. email: studentvoice@ara.ac.nz / m: 021 955 560

Have Your Say

Your rights as a student

Ara will protect your right to fairness:

• Open and accurate information
• Fair evaluation and assessment
• Have any problems handled as quickly as is practical and with "natural justice"
• Support, representation, and advocacy

Ara respects your right to:

• Academic freedom, defined as freedom, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, put forward new ideas and state controversial or unpopular opinions (Education Act 1989)
• Freedom from any form of harassment or unjust discrimination
• Respect from personal, social and cultural differences
• Representation in the development, implementation and review of policies

Ara will protect your right to standards:

• Study programmes that meet internal and external standards of approval and registration
• Have competent and effective teachers
• Appropriate support services delivered in a professional manner
• Facilities and resources that meet or exceed Health and Safety legislation

Complaints

Your rights will be upheld by Ara management. If you think they have been infringed, please contact your Head of Department, Programme Leader, Student Advocate, Registry Manager, or one of the harassment contact persons.

Your responsibilities as a student

As a student here, Ara expects you to:

Behave safely:

• Take care when using equipment and facilities
• Wear suitable clothing
• Follow health and safety guidelines and instructions
• Not endanger yourself or others

Respect others:

• Be sensitive to personal, social and cultural differences
• Respect the needs, rights and freedoms of others
• Help to uphold the integrity of Ara qualifications by discouraging/reporting dishonest practices

Observe Ara rules:

• Know what is expected of you as an adult student
• Behave appropriately for a tertiary education environment
• Seriously attempt to meet all course requirements
• Be honest when completing assignments or other assessments
• Follow Ara policies and regulations

Unacceptable Behaviour

The following are not acceptable behaviours for anyone (staff, students and visitors) at Ara:

• Any form of cheating (including plagiarism and other dishonest practices)
• Misuse of technology, software, hardware, or any communication systems provided by Ara (refer Code of Conduct for Users of Ara Computing Facilities)
• Any form of harassment or unjust discrimination
• Unacceptable sexual behaviour (e.g. sexual harassment, accessing pornography/other restricted material)
• Misuse of alcohol, drugs or other substances
• Smoking on Ara campuses or in Ara vehicles (Ara is a smoke free campus)
• Violence or threats of violence
• Vandalism or other abuse of facilities and buildings
• Breaking any New Zealand law (e.g. assault, theft)
• Disruptive behaviour in class (e.g. arriving late, use of cellphones, interfering with the learning of other individuals)

Ara takes this Code of Conduct seriously. Your marks, reports and references may include an assessment of your behaviour, as well as your educational achievement. Serious infringement may lead to probation, suspension, or cancellation of a current enrolment and/or refusal of a future enrolment (see relevant policies).

Student Behaviour in class / Classroom maintenance

No food or drink except a water bottle is permitted in all teaching areas. You must ensure any cell phone or pager you have on you or in your bag etc. is diverted, not set to ring, or switched off. Both staff and students have a responsibility to ensure this happens.

Dress code

There is no written dress code, but you are expected to attend classes dressed in a way which is generally acceptable. However, you are expected to be "dressed for the occasion" when going on a side visit or undertaking a Cooperative Education Project. You may be prevented from going on site visits if the staff member is of the opinion that you are not dressed for the occasion." In specific courses, a "dress code" and standard is required. These will be detailed in the Programme Handbook and Course Outline.

Vandalism

Vandalism of equipment or property and/or theft, will result in the expulsion of the person involved.

Having a say and being able to inform and affect decisions about Ara is a vital part of making Ara a place you are proud of.

What is it?

Tertiary organisations can charge a Compulsory Student Services Fee (CSSF) to help fund the costs of delivering student services. These services are listed under specific categories:

• Advocacy and legal advice
• Careers information, advice and guidance
• Employment information
• Counselling services
• Financial support and advice
• Health services
• Media
• Childcare services
• Clubs and societies
• Sports, recreation and cultural activities.

The CSSF does not cover services like academic support/learning services, disability services, library or targeted support for youth, Maori or Pasifika students. These areas get separate funding from the government.

There are some students who do not pay the CSSF, these include fully distant students/online delivery, levels 1&2 courses, or youth specific programmes.

Why do I care? How does it affect me?

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) require institutions to report on how these fees are determined, prioritised and spent. This information is available in the institutions annual report.

Institutions must include students or their representatives when deciding on the following:

• maximum fee that students will pay
• types of services to be delivered
• procurement of these services
• method for authorising expenditure on these services.

In order to do this Ara consult with your Student Council (a body of nominated representatives from your programme/class reps and targeted student groups). Your student council is keen to get a bigger picture on such an important matter as to how your funds are spent so are talking to your class or programme representatives for more feedback.

To find out more, or if you want to contact your student council rep, contact studentvoice@ara.ac.nz

Ara seek feedback from yourselves (students) on the quality of services. Through many channels; student voice, student experience survey, satisfaction surveys and face-to-face feedback through the individual aspects of the service.

Past, current and future Fees

As proposed by the Ara Student Council, the 2018 fee has been set at $250 (same as 2017). With the emphasis to still focus on the following areas:

• City campus – healthcare, events and recreation, childcare support for placement students, employment information.
• Woolston (Trades) campus – employment and support with apprenticeships, financial advice, flexible appointments (including evenings), student groups and activities during the day.
• Southern campuses – childcare, pastoral/counselling support, subsidised healthcare for all students, enhanced advocacy services.

This is in addition to the full range of services currently available across all of the region and sites.

For information on how this fee was distributed across these services in 2017, please click here.

The 2019 fee has recently been set by the Student Council at $270. In increasing the fee the Council has requested that Ara put $10 towards overall service provision across all campuses, $3 towards an orientation pack or more promotion of existing services, and $7 towards counselling and wellbeing services.

(July 2018)

'Waha Kōrero' student magazine - every 2 months

Check out the latest Student magazine here

The next Magazine will be February 2019.

• Oct-Nov 2018
• Aug-Sept 2018
• June-July 2018
• April-May 2018
• Feb-Mar 2018
• Oct-Nov 2017
• Aug-Sept 2017
• June-July 2017
• April -May 2017
• Feb-Mar 2017

'Ara you in the know' 2016 student newsletters

• Oct-Nov 2016
• Aug-Sept 2016
• June-July 2016

Created By Students, For Students.  Some hard copies available in Student Centrals.

Facebook

Student page - for events and things happening through our student lens check out student plug in. Run by students

www.facebook.com/arastudentplugin

Ara main facebook page

www.facebook.com/AraCanterbury

New Zealand Broadcasting School (NZBS) - what our students get up to each day on top of assignments and study. This is their study.  http://metronews.co.nz/

News

www.nzbs.com/metronews Check out Canterbury wide news brought to you by our very own NZBS students. For hour by hour bulletins and current affairs, this is where it's at.

www.nzbs.com/refuel students from Ara Media Communications course are developing www.refuel.ac.nz to bring you news and events from around campus

Basement FM Radio - every year students pitch and launch a new radio station on 96.1FM.   

Podcasts

www.plainsfm.org.nz community radio station.  Also host our Refuel station, tune in every Friday 4pm to hear our latest student podcasts

In the Vault - some awesome projects from the past but worth a look all the same!

www.nzbs.com/ondemand research project that began in 2011, working on content students want to see

ORDER 7KG OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR JUST $15!

Place your order at:

• City Campus - Student Central between 8am-4pm Mon-Thurs
• Woolston - Student Services Building between 2-4pm Mon and Tues

Collect on Campus the following Wednesday.

Also, make sure you check out our Student Recipe Book 2016 to find out what affordable and nutritious meals you can make on a student budget.

There are several ways you can get to and from campus. We encourage you to walk, bike or bus if you can but other options are available like driving and carpooling. Details are provided below, and you can get further information from student services.

Find out what the Christchurch travel survey results have told us. Read the Ara Christchurch transport survey results.

The City campus now offers a free bike share hub to provide a convenient and environmentally friendly transport solution for students and staff. Learn more about our Bike Share Hub.

The online orientation is a customised tool to help you find out about Ara facilities and student services. It’s a great way to get fast, handy information.

The tool was created by computing and design students as their major project in 2016. It’s mobile-friendly, student-focused and accessible to anyone. You can even personalise it to your campus and your needs.

Enjoy using it and if you have any feedback, send it to

orientation@ara.ac.nz

So what are you waiting for? Check it out and get orientated!

Here’s what you said! –Student Experience Survey 2016

2016 was a big year for the newly created Ara Institute of Canterbury and 38.8% of you took the time to give feedback on your experience this year! We want to say thank you for taking the time to complete the Student Experience Survey 2016 and sharing your thoughts. Your views are important to make sure that we continue to improve Ara for students.

What’s making you happy?

This year 64.6% of you are satisfied with social interaction, an area that is increasing significantly year-on- year, up from 59.3% in 2015 and 46.8% in 2014. In particular, 14.7% more online students felt well-integrated into life at Ara and 5% are more satisfied with the student events and activities on offer. We were listening and, based on your feedback, we hear the request for more of a student life outside of class. The increased social media presence, student communications, and activities over the year seem to be more to your liking, and we hope to continue to increase your satisfaction in this area! As always, your feedback is key to helping Ara get where you want us to be.

You are also feeling more encouraged to contribute in your classes or online learning. Getting involved in your learning is one of the keys to success, so we are glad you’re feeling this way! We were listening when you asked for more industry contact and networking opportunities, that you enjoyed the ‘hands-on’ approach to learning and wanted us to improve the quality of workbooks, so we have been making sure we deliver. Your confidence to contribute in the learning environment is growing!

Also, more of you are satisfied with the technologies provided (5.4% increase) and student services available (3.0% increase) to you throughout your study.

We also have seen an increased average in overall satisfaction for Māori & Pasifika, International and under 25 year-old students.

What do we need to work on?

This year we noted small, but not insignificant, drops in satisfaction in a number of areas. More of you have rated areas in the “Slightly Agree” and “Slightly Disagree” categories which suggests that whilst we are delivering in a number of areas, there is room for improvement to really make you satisfied.

A number of these areas are related so, if we can improve a few things, we hope to increase your satisfaction universally. The increased number of different learning options seem to be appealing to you but, on the other hand, sometimes you miss working with peers. So Ara has some work to do in bringing you more blended learning opportunities to ensure that those social ‘soft skills’ are developed, supporting you to be work-ready.

Improvements in general organisation including: course structure, timely feedback, meaningful assessments and the timetabling of exams for more evenly distributed workloads and assignment management, is something we are continually working towards. Your feedback in this area gives us new ways of approaching assessment and new methods to try, so please keep it coming!

Getting all the balances right is an ongoing process and, with your feedback, we will continue to work on making your experience here at Ara the best it can be!

What now?

Now we share your feedback with staff and students! Staff will be working hard to make the necessary improvements to make your experience here at Ara the best it can be.

Look out for a new series of “You Said, We’re Doing!” posters coming soon so you can see what we’re up to on your behalf.

A full report will has been released to individual departments. If you would like to see this report, please contact department staff.

Learn about the 5 ways to wellbeing

Keep Learning

TedTalks link – find all sorts of videos from thousands of inspirational speakers at https://www.ted.com/talks

Learn how to create flax flowers here.

DIY sustainable products – Coffee Scrub

Ingredients –

• ¾ cup of coffee grinds (ask your local café if they have used coffee grinds they are wanting to get rid of)
• ¼ cup of sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil

Directions-

1. Melt coconut oil and leave to cool but do not solidify
2. Mix all ingredients together and store in an air tight container Keep in the fridge and use 1-2 times per week.

DIY Sustainable products- Bath salts

Ingredients-

• 1 cup of Epsom salt
• 1 tablespoon of baking soda
• 1 table spoon of coconut oil
• 5 drops of essential oil ( more or less depending how strong of a scent you want)

Directions –

1. Melt coconut oil, let it cool but not solidify.
2. Place all dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix
3. Add coconut oil and mix lightly
4. Add essential oil and mix lightly
5. Put bath salts into an airtight container and store in a cool place

Give

The following links contain a variety of volunteer opportunities, listed under one website. This can range from helping out your council, local stores or community charities.

• https://msc.volunteermatch.org.nz/ (Mid-South Canterbury)
• https://volcanmatch.com/ (Canterbury)

Time banks can be found all over New Zealand. A time bank works by giving your time and skills that can earn ‘time credits’. Time credits are used instead of money and can be used to ‘buy’ another person’s time and skills for a task you may need to complete. Check out http://timebanks.nz/timebanks

The Red Cross has stores, offices and events all over New Zealand that can always do with volunteers to help out at! Look up your local Red cross on their website and see what events or stores you can help out at https://www.redcross.org.nz/

Take Notice

For tips on living green and noticing how living green affects our environment, check out https://raw-alignment.com/pages/living-green

The following apps may be helpful in taking notice of your mood, learning to meditate and learning how you can improve your mood.  

• HeadSpace
• Insight Timer
• Live Happy
• My Mood Tracker
• Mindshift
• Neuro Sculpting

Be Active

Check out these five fitness Youtubers that have easy to follow videos for beginners. Each channel runs a different type of exercise that you can complete from the comfort of your own home!

• Yoga with Adriene
• Cary Williams (boxing coach)
• Aerobic dance
• Power Music
• POPSUGAR fitness

If you live in Christchurch or Timaru check out the Recreation Centre Campus Life page for information about Recreation Services available. Or check out The Zone if you are in Christchurch.

Connect

Ara has a variety of student groups that you can join and/or start. Check out the student groups page to find out more!

Connect with other people and your environment through community groups that volunteer and help our environment flourish  (Christchurch)

Fale Pasifika O aoraki is not only a support system but also a community group for the Pasifika community located from Ashburton-Oamaru. This group allows you to connect with your Pasifika community and improve your wellbeing

Connect with your community by visiting your local farmers market and supporting local businesses

• Timaru Farmers Market
• Christchurch Farmers Market
• Ashburton Farmers Market
• Oamaru Farmers Market

Grand Prizes $500 Prezzy Card at the end plus there will be weekly draws of $50 Pak’n’Save vouchers handed out for the four weeks the survey is run.

The sooner you enter, the more chances to win
Check your student mail inbox from 8th October for your online survey invite.
If you have any queries regarding the Student Experience Survey please email surveys@ara.ac.nz