New world rankings put Waikato University top in New Zealand

6 June 2012

New world rankings put Waikato University top in New Zealand

The latest set of world rankings has placed the University of Waikato top in New Zealand and seventh in the southern hemisphere of universities under 50 years old.

The UK-based Times Higher Education rankings of the top 100 universities under 50 years old has just been released and places the University of Waikato 58th in the world. The only other New Zealand university to make the top 100 is Massey University in 77th place; AUT and Lincoln did not rank on the list. Otago, Auckland, Canterbury and Victoria were all established before 1962.

University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford says the ranking is deserved recognition for Waikato which marks its 50th anniversary in 2014. “This is a tremendous achievement for the University of Waikato bearing in mind that we only attract a fraction of the funding of the universities that we compete with around the world.”

Professor Crawford says it is an excellent result for Waikato to be first out of four eligible universities in New Zealand and seventh out of 18 universities in the southern hemisphere. Top place went to Pohang University of Science and Technology in the Republic of Korea, which was founded in 1986.

The list is an offshoot of the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings and used the same indicators for judging including research, citations and teaching. THE says the analysis of young universities is designed to examine future potential as much as current excellence. It decided to use objective performance indicators and focus less on reputation, saying older universities enjoy established alumni networks and graduates in senior positions around the world which have a large impact on reputation.

“The University of Waikato has come a long way in its first 50 years due to the excellence of its staff throughout those years,” Professor Crawford says. “We are on a journey to make the university one of the best in the world and these latest ranking results demonstrate that we are well on our way to achieving our goal.”

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