If you are unsure about any aspect of your study, the University of Otago has dedicated advisers to help. Course advice is about giving you the information and guidance you need to get the most from your study at Otago.
Advisers can help you with:
- Planning what you want to study
- Choosing the degree and papers that are right for you
- Considering your career aspirations and how your study fits in with that, or
- Making sure that you've got the right combination of papers to meet regulations
You can seek course advice at any stage—from before you start studying right through to your final year.
Before you start studying at Otago, talk to a Schools' Liaison Officer for course advice:
Once you're enrolled you can make an appointment with an adviser in Student Development. Sign in (click on the link on the blue bar at the top) to use the form below.
The Liaison Office can assist the following students with course advice:
Any domestic prospective student who has not undertaken tertiary study previously, including mature students. Please note this excludes prospective students who have been declined admission, except those whose Discretionary Entrance application has been declined.
Refer prospective students to the appropriate liaison officer for their area of New Zealand
Student Development can assist with undergraduate students:
- Returning to study at undergraduate level
- Transferring from another tertiary institution
- Who have previously completed tertiary study
- From Australian high schools
- Who are international, either current students or with an offer of place, including those commencing study online
Prospective international students who have not submitted their application can be referred to International Leads for course advice. Once their application is submitted, if they require advice relating to admission, they would be referred to International Admissions. If they require course advice around their study, for example paper selection or degree structure, they would be referred to Student Development.
All postgraduate course advice is provided by the relevant Teaching Department.
Student Development Course Advice Appointments
Current students
If a current student contacts AskOtago wanting to book a course advice appointment, please direct them to use the online form in the first instance. If the student is having trouble accessing the form (e.g. due to password or access issues) it is best to resolve this so the student can use the online form. If the student is having real trouble accessing the form, we can use our discretion to assist them by booking an appointment on their behalf through the new CRSM. The process for this is below.
Non-current students (including former students and prospective students)
Non-current students requiring a course advice appointment will not be able to book using the online form available on the website as this is for current students only. Instead, they are directed to contact AskOtago for assistance. AskOtago staff can either submit a request on their behalf through the new CRSM or provide them with the following link (especially through email):
https://ask.otago.ac.nz/public-course-advice/
This link is not available to the public through the website and should only ever be provided to non-current students seeking course advice that are not school leavers and not enquiring about postgraduate study.
Drop-in course advice appointments
Student Development offers drop-in course advice sessions for students at the AskOtago Central Hub from Monday to Friday, 1–4pm.
If a student is located off-campus, or prefers a phone/Zoom drop-in, we should encourage them to email student.development@otago.ac.nz directly to request this, or assign a ticket/email to the Student Development General queue. Please note all drop-in sessions are 10 minutes long and suited for quick enquiries only.
Students should be directed to drop-in advice if they require urgent advice. If the request is not urgent then they should be directed to book an appointment. For example, during the first week of semester 2, a student contacts AskOtago seeking advice on their following year’s paper selection. This student should be directed to book a full appointment rather than registering for drop-in advice.
Related article: Handling drop-in course advice enquiries
Booking a course advice appointment on someone’s behalf through the CRSM
- After creating a new ticket, enter the customers details if known, if unknown select New Person from the drop-down options using the magnifying glass. Enter their details including their email address which will alert them of the booking.
- Select “General enquiries and assistance” for the Service.
- Select “Course Advice Appointment” for the Service Enquiry is For. If this is for a drop-in appointment, select "Drop-in Advice" instead.
- Select Category 1 as “Student related”, category 2 as “Student Development – Course advice” and category 3 as “Appointments”.
- Save the ticket. Once saved the Portal Form tab will become available at the top of the page. Select this.
- Complete the form on the student’s behalf and then select Submit. This will create a ticket in the Student Development team’s queue.
- Once submitted, you can return to the Summary tab, scroll down and change the Close Ticket As field to “Resolved” and submit the initial ticket at the top of the page.
Process for booked appointments at the AskOtago Central Hub
- ID the student.
- Check the time/date/mode of appointment in correct in CRSM, use the search bar to open their Person Record, go the "Service Management Rcords" tab and find the Course Advice Apointment ticket. Open the ticket and check the "Course Advice Appointment" tab. Details of the appointment can be found in the Appointment information section.
- Check the student is feeling well: if not please ask the student to reschedule or we can organise for Student Development to call the student instead of a face-to-face appointment.
- Send a direct Teams chat message to the adviser that their next student has arrived. Do not use the group Teams channel for SD – AO Central Hub.
- Ask the student to sit in the yellow seating area.
- Complete a quick action form: Category level 1 = Support Services
Cancelling/rescheduling course advice appointment bookings
If a student contacts AskOtago wanting to cancel or reschedule their course advice appointment, they can log into their AskOtago Service Portal and edit their request through their My Support tab.
Students who have had an appointment booked on their behalf and also those using the public form are unable to reschedule/cancel themselves.
If a student wishes to cancel their appointment AskOtago can write a note in the Ticket timeline outlining what the student wants and why. Change the ticket status to Needs attention and Student Development will pick this up and cancel the appointment.
AskOtago staff are no longer able to see the Course Advice Appointment list that used to be visible in OSC. Now that Course Advice Appointments are booked through the CRSM, students have the ability to manage their appointments themselves. We want to empower students to manage these themselves. Students can reschedule, cancel, or add comments to their appointment booking in their AskOtago Service Portal.
Student Development will then cancel the appointment for the student or contact them to reschedule as appropriate. When a student cancels or reschedules their appointment the original appointment time becomes available for another student to select.
Distressed students seeking course advice
For any distressed students, enquiries can be escalated to Student Development by creating a ticket in CRSM that can be assigned to the Student Development general queue. Alternatively, you can call through to the HUNT group on 4777. When calling also assign a ticket to Student Development General queue if you are passing the student enquiry to them. Student Development also has the Teams Chat channel for urgent enquiries.