A reflective piece on living with disability in a university environment, highlighting how accessibility, kindness, and responsive systems shape inclusion. It explores barriers in physical and social spaces while emphasizing the importance of community, support services, and everyday acts of hospitality in enabling disabled students and staff to thrive.

Driving around Christchurch, it’s hard not to notice the growing number of retirement villages. It raises an interesting question about how different cultures care for their elderly and structure family life. From Western independence to Asian collective values, expectations around family, education and success vary widely across the world.

Think about it. What was the last message you read on a toilet wall?

UC proudly calls itself Aotearoa’s first Tiriti-based university, a place where partnership with mana whenua is built into the institution’s DNA. But as 2026 approaches, UC is preparing to move from BiCC to a new model - Te Tiriti Competencies – leaving some wondering whether the change will be more than just a box-ticking exercise.

Betting among uni students ranges from football and horse racing, to the dogs and online gambling sites. While some youth bet spontaneously for money when they need it, others have developed unique strategies to help them make profit.

Death is universal - the way we say goodbye isn’t. We don’t talk about it much, and when it inevitably arrives, we improvise.

On social media, the standard response to the discourse says STEM is one of the best ways to snag a high-paying, secure job post-study. With the arts, the classic unemployment line joke is made over and over again.

Ōtautahi is home to a thriving arts scene. At its centre are the tertiary institutions that feed into it, Te Wānanga, Ara Visual Arts and our very own Ilam School of Fine Arts. Despite students exhibiting at Ilam Campus Gallery most of the second semester, it doesn’t seem exhibitions get much wider university traction.

In Aotearoa we’re never more than 130 kilometres from the ocean. This makes it unsurprising that New Zealand is home to an estimated 145,000 surfers - roughly one in every 27 people.

Everywhere you look are cries of unemployment, and unfortunately there seems to be no simple answer.

It is no secret that Māori have troubled experiences within our education system, with comments from our peers like ‘you’re smart for a Māori’, or ‘you’re taking the drop out subjects aren’t you?’

AI is developing at a rapid pace and doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.

As University students, AI has become a huge part of our world. Chat GPT and other AI-based software have become tools to help assist with assignments or, in some cases, do a whole thing.

“This incredible amalgamation of flavours fueled my semester abroad in Chile. I have accumulated a series of completos for your consideration if you, the reader, ever make it to that weirdly long country."