Universities

[Tia Maria]

Following on from another thread I wondered where most NZ students tended to go for their tertiary education?

Do they stay in NZ or head to Australia?

Which of the Universities, in both NZ and Australia, have the best or most prestigious reputation? Or, are they all considered pretty average?

Do certain Universities have a reputation for being good in particluar fields?

You take for granted this kind of knowledge in your home country but I realised I had no idea about tertiary education on this side of the World.

Cheers

Tia

[dilanium]

Massey is the best in NZ for Veterinary Science (lol, well it's the only one). It's accredited by all english speaking countries (and other ones I am sure). So you can go work in the UK, Oz, USA, Canada, etc.

(For the US and Canada you have to pass the NAVLE as you would if you had graduated from a school there).

I believe Victoria University in Wellington is well known for creative writing.

[TJH]

Mrs. TJH is currently in the Massey Nursing program it is likely one of the best, if not the best, in the country. I have relatives that have recently (last 3-5 years at major US universities) obtained nursing degrees in the US and the Massey program is well above the level of education that they received.

I think any of the main NZ universities are all top notch, but some have top individual programs over other universities. Forestry is my area of expertise and the University of Canterbury is the country leader for that area. I guess you just have to research the schools and see what they have to offer along with asking a lot of people who work in the field and see what they say.

Also, it seems that the degrees earned at NZ Universities are more regarded than the ones obtained at other schools like Polytechs and the like.

[cappuccino]

Victoria has a good reputation for Law. Politics and Architecture.

Student numbers are usually counted in terms of EFTS – Equivalent Full-Time Students. A breakdown of the 128,000 EFTS in New Zealand universities is:


University Students (EFTS)
Auckland 30,100
Auckland University of Technology 16,400
Waikato 9,700
Massey 19,400
Victoria 17,100
Canterbury 14,600
Lincoln 2,700
Otago 18,300
Total 128,300

Source: University Annual Reports, 2007

www.nzvcc.ac.nz/nz-university-system

[James 1077]

I think that Auckland is the top ranked in the country and is the only one in the "Top 100 Universities in the World" (around number 60). Courses though will differ and some will be better elsewhere in the country.

Most students stay in NZ for university but many also head over the ditch and some go to the Oxbridge / Ivy League as well.

I have a bizarre recurring dream about taking my son (now 2.5 years old) to Harvard for an interview ...

[Tia Maria]

I think that Auckland is the top ranked in the country and is the only one in the "Top 100 Universities in the World" (around number 60). Courses though will differ and some will be better elsewhere in the country.

Most students stay in NZ for university but many also head over the ditch and some go to the Oxbridge / Ivy League as well.

I have a bizarre recurring dream about taking my son (now 2.5 years old) to Harvard for an interview ...

Lol - does he get in?

Do any of the Australian Universities make the top 100?

Thanks for everyone's replies, it's interesting to hear what courses they specialise in.

Do any have a reputation for being traditional, or the best party one, or hard to get into etc etc?

Cheers

Tia

[batgirl1001]

I studied in Australia so I did have a fairly good idea where the general rankings are for Aussie unis.

The best university across the board in Australia is the Australian National University which is ranked in among the top 20 best in the world and doesn't falls below the top 50.

You will also find that Uni NSW, Uni Melbourne, Uni Queensland, Uni Western Australia, Wollongong etc to be very good universities for most fields of study. However for someone like me who is media trained- the best would be the Australian Film School which only accepts applicants from Australia and NZ citizens only. Barring that you can opt for QUT, VUT which are also great in media studies.

Aside from ANU, NSW, Melbourne are usually among the top 50 in the world rankings not that it makes much of a difference to me.

[ellenmelon]

In general, the different Uni's have a department that is especially strong - e.g. Otago has it's health sciences, Lincoln agriculture/evironmental management etc and it's related fields ('scuse the pun ). In my experience most people go to Uni here, some go to the states or the UK if they are exceptionally intelligent or have dual citizenship. It's popular to do a year abroad at a different Uni especially if you study languages.

[Super_BQ]

Here's some intersting links:

http://www.webometrics.info/Distribution_by_Country.asp

and by ranking of top 100

http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp

It doesn't appear NZ is even close to any respectable world ranking.

I also suspect the reason why N. America holds a lot of the top rankings is because of their endowment. A rich wealthy alumni that helps (through large donations). Unfortunately in NZ, gift duty (tax) prevents such large donations to occur.

Ah here I found it:

University of Auckland ranked 294
University or Canterbury ranked 514
Massey Uni ranked 613

Keep in mind that these are WHOLE university scores and as the OP asked for universities that excel in specific studies. It also seems that overall, Australian universities rank higher than NZ (perhaps maybe because of the standard 4 year degree requirement whereas in NZ, many degrees are only 3 years).

[pcsourcepoint]

I think that Auckland is the top ranked in the country and is the only one in the "Top 100 Universities in the World" (around number 60). Courses though will differ and some will be better elsewhere in the country.

Most students stay in NZ for university but many also head over the ditch and some go to the Oxbridge / Ivy League as well.

I have a bizarre recurring dream about taking my son (now 2.5 years old) to Harvard for an interview ...

I remember when studying for Chemistry in the early 80's, many PhD students were preparing for additional studies at Oxford (I was told they were paid to do so). Many of the professors had additonal PhD ("D Phill") titles, and Organic Chemistry (and I think Bio Chemistry) was popular at Auckland University.