Assistance and Support
Tutorials
The Department prides itself on its tutorial system, which is designed to give students maximum assistance with the learning process. Weekly tutorials are an important feature of all our 100, 200 and 300 level papers. They are small enough in size — at most 30 students — to allow discussion of assignments, tests, exams and clarification of matters raised during lectures. Most have a tutor and demonstrator present to answer your questions. Details of tutorials are announced at the start of each paper.
More Help
English for Speakers of Other Languages: The Department offers special assistance for students whose primary language is not English through Dr Austina Clark.
Difficulties and disabilities: We encourage students to seek support if they find they are having difficulty with their studies due to a disability, temporary or permanent impairment, injury, chronic illness or deafness. If you have a disability or condition that may adversely affect your studies please let your lecturer or tutor know. We are reliant on you to make your needs known, and will try to meet these needs wherever possible. The Department has a staff member, Leanne Kirk, whose reponsibility it is to advise and advocate on behalf of students with disabilities and provide additional support in conjunction with the Disabilities Office. You can also refer to the University’s disabilities web-page.
Maori students: The Maori Centre (519 Castle Street, tel: 479 8490) offers support for Maori students in the form of extra tutorials, study skill seminars and help with exam preparation. The Centre also holds books and old exam papers that may be helpful, and operates from a Kaupapa Maori base. The Maori contact of the department is Dr Phillip Wilcox.
Pacific Islands students: The Pacific Islands Centre (1 Leithbank St; corner Leithbank St & Clyde St – yellow house opposite Commerce) offers tutorials for certain stats and maths papers. Make yourself known to the friendly staff there as early as possible during the semester! The Pacific Islands contact of the department is Dr Florian Beyer.
Student Representatives
Students taking Mathematics or Statistics papers are welcome to see their lecturers or the head of department at any time — we are always interested in hearing what you think about the papers and finding out your opinions.
Sometimes, though, you might have a suggestion for improving a paper but don’t feel comfortable about approaching us directly. That is where your student representative comes in: at the beginning of each paper your class will be asked to elect a student representative. Make a note of this person’s name and phone number (or better still nominate yourself!). Pass on any feedback on your papers — both good and bad — to the representative. Student representatives report twice each semester at meetings organized by our Directors of Studies, and we guarantee to act quickly to try to resolve any problems that they bring to our attention.