The Award Components

The Victoria Plus Award encourages you to take the initiative and get involved. It is up to you to organise and participate in a range of approved activities at university or in the wider community. Activities must be voluntary and contribute to the university or the Wellington region community.They may have a minimal compensation attached to the activity only if within the University and helping other students achieve their personal and academic goals.

Through involvement in the activities, you will be developing key Graduate Attributes:

• Communication - written and verbal
• Critical and creative thinking
• Leadership
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Flexible and adaptable "can do" attitude
• Self-motivated/self starter
• Teamwork
• Energy and enthusiasm
• Problem solving
• Analytical and conceptual skills

Types of Activities: You must be involved in a range of activites across at least two of the six types, as shown in the Approved University and Community Activities list on CareerHub. You will find contact information for providers in this list also.

There are plenty of ways to volunteer and engage with other students and your university. Find out more about ways to Get Involved at Victoria University here.

Don't worry if something you are involved in outside the university is not listed as we can add a new activity if it meets approval. To do this, you will need to get a Community Activity Proposal Form completed by the organisation and have it verified by the Victoria Plus Office.

Points: You gain points for each role you complete. The Points Scale for Approved Activities gives you an idea of the points you can receive for what you might have done so far or are planning to do. Actual points are allocated when you submit your Activity Verification Form to the Victoria Plus office to verify your hours of involvement.

Activities component criteria: Gain a minimum of 300 points from a variety of approved experiences across at least two types. Many students exceed this minimum. 150 points must be from voluntary (not compensated) approved roles. Make sure your activity provider has verified your hours and involvement. Select the Activity Verification Form (above) and download from CareerHub. Ask the provider to sign it and submit the form to the office. Be involved in activities over at least two years of your time as a current student at Victoria. Reflect on the experiences on your ePortfolio.

You are required to attend a minimum of six workshops/seminars with at least two from each category.

You can locate and book many of the workshops on CareerHub Vic Careers Seminars. Other workshops will need to be booked directly with the provider. Download the Personal & Professional Development Verification Form from CareerHub and get your attendance verified by the event organiser or speaker.

If you wish to propose a new workshop for approval, it must fit within one of the categories below and be delivered by a reputable organisation. Please check with the Victoria Plus office first and always attach a programme to your verification form.

Category A - Leadership and Social Responsibility

There will be a limited programme of Leadership and Social Responsibility seminars each Trimester so ensure you find time to attend. We post events on CareerHub and also email you with information.

Examples of past seminar presentations can be found on the Resources page. Note that one of these VILP Seminars - 'Global Leadership' or 'NZ in the World' - can be cross-counted for the Victoria Plus Award. Please make sure you have the seminar signed off.

Category B - Skills Development

Some example of skills development workshops are listed below. These are available at different times throughout the year. Refer to the Handbook on the Resources page for contact details.

• Myers Briggs Type Indicator
• Increase your self confidence and assertiveness
• Critical Thinking
• IT skills
• FutureSelves - understanding yourself and your aspirations
• Extra-curricular language class
• Networking Skills

Category C - Career Development

These workshops are run regularly through VicCareers. Book on CareerHub, Vic Careers Workshops.

• CV Preparation / CV Review
• Interview Skills
• Preparing for Psychometric Tests/ Assessment Centres
• Careers in Focus Events

Professional & Personal Development component criteria: Attend a minimum of six workshops with at least two from each of three categories. Submit signed Personal & Professional Development Verification Forms for all workshops. Reflect on the workshops in your ePortfolio.

The ePortfolio is a digital collection of information, evidence and examples of your interests, skills and achievements and your reflections of these over time. For Victoria Plus you build your ePortfolio by entering your education, experiences and activities, kind of like an electronic diary. The ePortfolio sits on CareerHub and we recommend you enter experiences in it regularly as you progress through the programme. By going through the process of describing, interpreting, evaluating and planning, you will recognise that you learn from thinking about what you did and how you did things as you to look back on your experience. The outcome of reflection is to develop a deeper understanding of yourself, your skills, how you dealt with situations, and what you learnt.

Completing the ePortfolio also helps you prepare for writing your CV and for job interviews.

ePortfolio training
Small group workshops are run regularly to help you work on your eportfolio. The eportfolio workshop is compulsory and will help you get started on your portfolio, understand which sections need to be completed, and review what is required for reflective writing.

Workshops are held at Vic Careers and are booked on CareerHub Vic Careers Workshops.

ePortfolio component criteria: Complete three pieces of in-depth reflective writing on two activities and one workshop. Enter all other activities and five or more workshops. Map the three Victoria graduate attributes and three other employability skills to extra-curricular experiences which count for Victoria Plus. Attend and complete the requirements of the ePortfolio workshop. Complete the ePortfolio according to the ePortfolio and Reflective Writing Guidelines on CareerHub.

You submit for the Victoria Plus Award in the final year of your degree. This means you must have met the criteria for the activities/volunteering; have attended at least six approved workshops; have completed your e-Portfolio according to the criteria and your submission had been verified. Successful completion of this leadership programme leads to an award certificate and ceremony, and is acknowledged on your academic transcript, subject to your degree being conferred.  

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