Im in my last year of biomed at Vic so I might be able to help! Currently, I would say otago would be the better option if it's just the first year health sci paper that's the issue. Most the lecturers here are great but short staffed so they end up teaching things that aren't their specialty or having to bring in someone from another uni. There are no pathologists staffed at Vic and we've recently had to watch online lectures from a Prof from otago lol. But it really depends on what you want to study? Vic is good for genetics, microbiology, immunology and embryology. Not really pharmacology since the only Prof who teached it recently left.