Student accommodation in New Zealand

New Zealand runs eight universities, all of them state-funded and all of them open to international students. Auckland is the largest student city by a wide margin, with the University of Auckland and AUT sitting a few streets apart in the centre. Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin each build around a single large campus, which tends to make student housing easier to place and cheaper than Auckland. The academic year is the thing most international students get caught out by. It starts in late February and finishes in November, with a second intake in July, so a northern-hemisphere September start does not apply here. Plan a room from February rather than autumn. Rent is quoted and paid weekly almost everywhere in New Zealand. First-year students usually take a catered hall of residence attached to their university, then move into shared flats from second year, so purpose-built studios and en-suites make up a smaller share of the market than they do in the UK. Expect to supply your own furniture in a private flat unless the listing says otherwise.