University of Canterbury

The University of Canterbury (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation Cantuar. or Cant. for Cantuariensis, the Latin name for Canterbury), New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It offers degrees in Arts, Commerce, Education (physical education), Engineering, Fine Arts, Forestry, Law, Music, Social Work, Speech and Language Therapy, Science, Sports Coaching and Teaching.

History

When established in 1873, Canterbury College, as the University was originally known, was only the second university in New Zealand. Housed in graceful stone buildings on a central city block, it was dependent for survival on rents from high country farms with which it had been endowed by the Canterbury Provincial Council.

It was set up on the Oxbridge model with one major difference: women students were admitted from the start. An early graduate, Helen Connon, became the first woman in the then British Empire to win honours.

Ernest Rutherford, Canterbury’s most distinguished graduate, studied at the University in the 1890s. He discovered his own scientific ability during a year of postgraduate research before taking up a scholarship to Cambridge. A contemporary of Rutherford, Apirana Ngata of Ngati Porou, was the first Maori graduate from any New Zealand university. The portraits of these two men, respectively, grace the nation’s $100 and $50 bank notes.

For most of its first 100 years the University was situated in the centre of Christchurch (now the Arts Centre). By 1975 it had completed its move to a spacious purpose-built 76 hectare site in the suburb of Ilam, 7km from the old city site. It comprises a central complex of libraries, lecture theatres, laboratories and staff accommodation surrounded by playing fields, woodlands and the renowned Ilam Gardens. On 1 January 2007 the neighbouring Christchurch College of Education, the second oldest teachers' training college in New Zealand, merged with the University and became UC's sixth College/School.

Canterbury offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in some 50 disciplines, from accountancy to zoology. It has a number of specialist research centres and operates five major field stations at Kaikoura, Mt John (University Observatory), Cass, Westport and Harihari. Locally, five halls of residence provide board for up to 1000 students.

Some 12,000 students are enrolled and each year about 3000 students graduate, 650 of them with higher degrees. The University has retained links with the old town site, now home to the Christchurch Arts Centre, using it as the starting point for graduation processions each year.

Academics

The College of Arts, administering:
the School of Classics and Linguistics
the School of Culture, Literature and Society
the School of Fine Arts
the School of History
the School of Languages and Cultures
the School of Māori and Indigenous Studies
the Centre for Music and Theatre & Film Studies
the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies
School of Political Science and Communication
the School of Social Work and Human Services
the School of Sociology and Anthropology
the MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies

The College of Business and Economics, administering:
Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems
Economics
Management
Management Science
the National Centre for Research on Europe
The College of Engineering, administering:
Civil and Natural Resources Engineering
Chemical and Process Engineering
Computer Science and Software Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mathematics and Statistics
Mechanical Engineering
Mechatronics Engineering
the School of Forestry
The College of Science, administering:
the School of Biological Sciences
Chemistry
Communication Disorders (formerly Speech and Language Therapy)
Geography
Geological Sciences
Physics and Astronomy
Psychology

The College of Education, administering:
the School of Educational Studies and Human Development
the School of Māori, Social and Cultural Studies in Education
the School of Literacies and Arts in Education
the School of Sciences and Physical Education

The School of Law

• In addition to the administrative structure, the University has seven faculties:
  Humanities and Social Sciences
  Commerce
  Engineering and Forestry
  Education
  Science
  Visual and Performing Arts
  Law

University of Canterbury ranked 188th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Canterbury ranked 186th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Canterbury ranked 188th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Canterbury ranked 189th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

University of Otago

The University of Otago (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo) in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 20,000 students enrolled during 2006. It is the South Island's largest employer and claims to have the world's 2nd longest continuously running annual student revue (the Capping Show) and New Zealand's oldest ballet company (the Selwyn Ballet).

The University is known throughout the country for its unique student lifestyle and particularly its flatting culture, where students generally share semi-dilapidated housing units with a unique name and "character building" domestic life. The nickname Scarfie applies to the students after the cold weather and traditional habit of wearing a scarf for most of the year.

Otago graduates are known to be among the most dispersed alumni in the world, with many graduates ultimately settling in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, United States, China, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Japan or elsewhere in New Zealand.

Founded in 1869 by a committee including Thomas Burns, the university opened in July 1871. Its motto is "Sapere aude" ("Dare to be wise"). (The University of New Zealand subsequently adopted the same motto.) The University of Otago Students' Association answers this with its own motto, "Audeamus" ("let us dare").

Between 1874 and 1961 the University of Otago was a part of the University of New Zealand, and issued degrees in its name.

History

The University of Otago, founded in 1869 by an ordinance of the Otago Provincial Council, is New Zealand's oldest university. The new University was given 100,000 acres of pastoral land as an endowment and authorised to grant degrees in Arts, Medicine, Law and Music.

The University opened in July 1871 with a staff of just three Professors, one to teach Classics and English Language and Literature, another having responsibility for Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and the third to cover Mental and Moral Philosophy. The following year a Professor of Natural Science joined the staff. With a further endowment provided in 1872, the syllabus was widened and new lectureships established: lectures in Law started in 1873, and in 1875 courses began in Medicine. Lectures in Mining were given from 1872, and in 1878 a School of Mines was established; this later became the Department of Mineral Technology and was transferred to the University of Auckland in 1987.

The University was originally housed in a building (later the Stock Exchange) on the site of John Wickliffe House in Princes Street but it moved to its present site with the completion of the northern parts of the Clocktower and Geology buildings in 1878 and 1879. The School of Dentistry was founded in 1907 and the School of Home Science (now Consumer and Applied Sciences) in 1911. Teaching in Accountancy and Commerce subjects began in 1912. Various new chairs and lectureships were established in the years between the two world wars, and in 1946 teaching began in the Faculty of Theology. The School of Physical Education was opened in 1947.

A federal University of New Zealand was established by statute in 1870 and became the examining and degree-granting body for all New Zealand university institutions until 1961. The University of Otago had conferred just one Bachelor of Arts degree, on Mr Alexander Watt Williamson, when in 1874 it became an affiliated college of the University of New Zealand. In 1961 the University of New Zealand was disestablished, and the power to confer degrees was restored to the University of Otago by the University of Otago Amendment Act 1961.

Since 1961, when its roll was about 3,000, the University has expanded considerably (in 2002 there were some 18,000 students enrolled) and has broadened its range of courses to include undergraduate courses in Surveying, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Science, Education, Teaching and Physiotherapy, as well as specialised postgraduate courses in a variety of disciplines.

Faculties

Administratively, the university is divided into four divisions: Commerce, Health Sciences, Humanities, and Sciences. For external and marketing purposes, the Division of Commerce is known as the School of Business, as that is the term commonly used for its equivalent in North America. Historically, there were a number of Schools and Faculties, which have now been grouped with standalone departments to form these divisions.

In addition to the usual university disciplines, the Otago Medical School (founded 1875) is one of only two in New Zealand (with constituent branches in Christchurch and Wellington), and is the only university in the country to offer training in Dentistry. Other professional schools and faculties not found in all New Zealand universities include Pharmacy, Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Medical Laboratory Science, and Surveying. It was also home to the School of Mines, until this was transferred to the University of Auckland in 1987. Theology is also offered, traditionally in conjunction with the School of Ministry, Knox College, and Holy Cross, Mosgiel.

University of Otago ranked 114th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Otago ranked 124th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Otago ranked 125th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Otago ranked 135th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

University of Otago ranked 130th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking

University of Auckland

The University of Auckland (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau) is New Zealand's largest university. Established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand, the university is now made up of eight faculties over six campuses, and has more than 39,000 students at April 2006. Over 1300 doctoral candidates were enrolled at the University of Auckland in 2004.

It offers a wide range of programmes including Arts, Business, Education, Music, Teacher Training and Special Education, Architecture, Planning, Nursing, Creative and Performing Arts, Theology, Science, Information Management, Engineering, Medicine, Optometry, Food and Wine Science, Property, Law, Fine and Visual Arts and Pharmacy.

It also provides the most conjoint combinations across the entire nation, with over 35 combinations available. Conjoint programs allow students to achieve multiple degrees in a shortened period of time.

History

The University of Auckland was formally opened on 23 May 1883 as Auckland University College, part of the University of New Zealand. A disused courthouse and jail served as premises for the 95 students and 4 teaching staff.

The roll increased slowly but steadily during the remainder of the 19th century; by 1901 it had risen to 156 students.

Most students were enrolled part-time, training as teachers or law clerks, although after 1905 the number of commerce students rose markedly.

During this time, the University focused on teaching: research was not expected, and was rarely performed by teaching staff. Nevertheless, some students carried out impressive early research, most notably in chemistry.

The rise of research: 1930-1940s

A surge of interest in academic research at the University arose during the depression of the early 1930s.

A lecturer in history, J. C. Beaglehole, had his temporary position terminated; friends believed this was because of a letter he wrote to a newspaper, defending the right of Communists to distribute their literature. This led to a Council election in which a liberal candidate displaced a conservative member, and Council gradually began to adopt resolutions in favour of academic freedom.

The College subsequently "came alive". For instance, a group of students, led by James Bertram, established a new literary journal, Phoenix, which became the focus for the first literary movement in New Zealand history.

The University received a further intellectual stimulus in 1934 when four new professors arrived. H.G Forder (Mathematics), Arthur Sewell (English), C. G. Cooper (Classics) and James Rutherford (History) all led the way in establishing Auckland University College as an internationally respected research institution.

Postwar expansion: 1950s-70s

The 1950s were a difficult period in the history of The University of Auckland: the roll had soared after World War II, reaching 4000 by 1959, and buildings were inadequate and overcrowded.

However, despite these problems, there was significant progress. In 1962, the abolition of the University of New Zealand saw the University finally become independent.

New subjects such as Geography, Anthropology, Maori Studies, and Fine Arts were introduced, and there was a new focus on staff research. Many of the new and younger academics became very active researchers, as evidenced by the growing lists of staff publications. Staff salaries were raised and for the first time students were given generous bursaries, resulting in a rapid increase in the proportion of full-time students.

The University undertook a massive building programme, and over the next two decades the campus was transformed as one large building after another was erected. By the end of the 1960s The University of Auckland had the largest university library in New Zealand.

New teaching subjects were introduced, including Political Studies, Art History and Sociology, and in 1968 teaching commenced in the new Medical School.

The academic boom of the sixties continued well into the seventies, and by 1970 there were 9300 students. Council focus shifted to a desire to increase student facilities, which ultimately resulted in the acquisition of a theatre, a large gymnasium and recreation centre, and a playing field complex.

The University was also quick to accept the challenges of new technological advancements of the era, introducing new subjects such as Management Studies and Computer Science.

The 1970s also brought numerous social changes, such as an increase in the proportion of Maori and Polynesian students and the numbers of female and mature students. In the years 1975-81 the first two female professors were appointed: Marie Clay and Patricia Bergquist.

Further growth: 1980s-1990s

By 1986, the roll had climbed to 13,000. Anxious to respond to a demand for University education, The University of Auckland began to offer courses at Northland Polytechnic, Manukau Polytechnic and at the Auckland College of Education.

Acquiring buildings from the Commonwealth Games Village, the University also began to develop a campus at Tamaki, initially offering courses in commerce, and then in arts and sciences.

The period of intensive new construction, begun in the 1960s, drew to a close with completion of the new School of Music in 1986 and the Marae complex in 1988. Education and the Law School moved into a new precinct in 1992.

Looking to the future: 2000 and beyond

Today, The University of Auckland is the largest university in New Zealand, hosting over 40,000 students on five Auckland campuses, with a School of Theology, and eight faculties representing each of its main disciplines: Arts, Business and Economics, Creative Arts and Industries, Education, Engineering, Law, Medical and Health Sciences, and Science. Almost all teaching staff engage in research which attempts to advance the frontiers of knowledge and understanding, and around 5000 students are enrolled for postgraduate studies, 1200 of whom are undertaking doctorates.

The University has continued to improve its facilities, with a new information and student commons complex already complete on the City Campus; new teaching and research spaces at Tamaki Campus; and a new state-of-the-art home for the Business School recently completed.

University arms

The University Arms (crest) were granted by Letters Patent on 15 February 1962, and are recorded in the College of Arms, London.

The open book with seven clasps on either side, and the three stars express the idea of learning pursued under the sky of the Southern Hemisphere.

The kiwis signify New Zealand; the wave beneath them represents Auckland's coastal location.

University motto

The University's motto is: "Ingenio et Labore".

Freely translated from the Latin, it means "by natural ability and hard work".

Location

The City campus, in central Auckland, has the bulk of the students and faculties. It covers 160,000 m².

The Tamaki campus, established in 1991, covers 320,000 m² in the suburb of Glen Innes, 12 km from the City campus. The degrees available here are based on Health, Sports Science, Environmental Science, Wine Science, Information Technology, Communications and Electronics, Materials and Manufacturing, Food and Biotechnology and Information Management.

The Medical and Health Services Campus, established in 1968, is located close to the City Campus in the suburb of Grafton, opposite Auckland City Hospital. The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Department of Optometry are based here.

The North Shore Campus, established in 2001, was located in the suburb of Takapuna. It offered the Bachelor of Business and Information Management degree. At the end of 2006, the campus was closed and the degree relocated to the City campus.

On 1 September 2004, the Auckland College of Education amalgamated with the University to form the newest Faculty of the University (by merging the School of Education (previously part of the Arts Faculty) and the college). The faculty is based at the Epsom Campus of the former college with an additional campus in Whangarei.

The University of Auckland ranked 50 in the 2007 THES - QS World University Rankings

The University of Auckland ranked 65 in the 2008 THES - QS World University Rankings

The University of Auckland ranked 61 in the 2009 THES - QS World University Rankings

The University of Auckland ranked 68 in the 2010 QS World University Rankings

The University of Auckland ranked 82 in the 2011 QS World University Rankings