NZ universities rank among the world’s best

NZ universities rank among the world’s best

9 March 2014

The latest world rankings demonstrate that New Zealand universities lead the world when it comes to internationalisation.

Times Higher Education has compiled a list of the top international universities based on each university’s international student numbers, its percentage of international staff and the proportion of its research papers published with a co-author from at least one other country[1].

Five of New Zealand’s eight universities appear in the top fifty places on this list.

“This is a huge achievement, especially when you consider that there are 17,000 universities world wide” says Universities New Zealand Chair Professor Roy Crawford.

“As one of the world’s more geographically isolated countries, and with one of the lowest funding rates per student for OECD countries, we are always having to work so much harder to maintain a strong profile overseas.”

Education is currently ranked as New Zealand’s fourth largest export market generating approximately $3.2 billion in 2013. Universities accounted for nearly a third of this[2].

“International staff and students provide economic benefits for our country as well as exposing our domestic students to different cultures and ideas. They create people-to-people links with this country which endure long after the staff and students have returned home,” says Professor Crawford.

“The research that we do in our universities is world-class because we are able to attract the best staff and because the international profile of our staff and students makes it easier to create the international collaborations that generate new ideas and knowledge.”

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