You?
NZ has many institutions that can provide you with a quality postgraduate education, and set you on the path to future success. Here is a history of a handful of these institutions.
NZ-wide access
Massey University has added campuses in Albany (Auckland) and Wellington, while their main campus remains in
Palmerston North.
Get connected
The University of Otago has students, researchers and faculty from over 100 countries around the world, making it a totally connected place to be.
Big and beautiful
The University of Auckland is the largest in New Zealand with over 40,000 students, just waiting for you to come and join them!
Variety rules
Lincoln University is not just for farmers! Study areas include agriculture, commerce, computing, environment, food, horticulture, hospitality, landscape, Maori planning, property, recreation, sciences, transport and winemaking, to name
just a few!
The big debate
The Victoria University of Wellington Debating Society wins the World Universities Debating Championships. They also came in second place in 2007 and 2009.
Healthy options
AUT opens a second campus in Manukau where students can study business, health, education and sport and
recreation degrees.
Expanding south
A merger is approved between Telford Rural Polytechnic (in Balclutha, south of Dunedin) and Lincoln University, giving students even more study options.
Live smart
The University of Otago opens Abbey College, New Zealand’s first residential college for postgraduates. Now you can live surrounded by people who are just as smart as you!
A celebration of creativity
The inaugural University of Canterbury Arts Festival, Platform, was held.
Strategy for success
The University of Auckland sets out a strategic plan to ensure that it continues on its path to being a highly ranked, internationally connected university with top quality research, staff
and students.
A story of success
Dr Sikua, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, is presented with a Distinguished Alumni Award.
He graduated from Waikato in 2003 with a PhD in the field of Educational Decentralisation.
A university is born
As Auckland Polytechnic becomes an official university, it changes names one last time to AUT and is able to start offering PhD qualifications.
Wood is good
The Law faculty at Victoria University of Wellington moves into the historic Old Government Buildings - the second largest wooden building in the world - which dates back to 1865.
Wise beyond his years
Seven-year-old Michael Tan becomes youngest New Zealander to attend university, enrolling at the University of Canterbury.
A faculty for learning
More faculties are added to Massey University including Humanities, Social Sciences, Business Studies, Education, Information and Mathematical Sciences.
New or old?
Lincoln University formally separates from the University of Canterbury, making it one of New Zealand’s newest universities even though it has been around in one form or another for
over 130 years.
Well connected
The University of Waikato connected New Zealand to the Internet before going on to become the first tertiary institute in the country to have cyber-graduates, completing their teaching degrees online.
Degrees become the norm
Now called Auckland Institute of Technology, the institute is the first polytechnic in New Zealand authorised to award a degree qualification. Over the next few years degree qualifications are offered for the Bachelor of Health Science (Physiotherapy), the Bachelor of Communication Studies, the Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) and the Bachelor of Applied Science.
100 year-old gift
The University of Canterbury announces at its centennial that buildings at the old town site will be given to the people of Christchurch as an Arts Centre.
On top of the world
Victoria University awards Kiwi adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary an honourary Doctorate in Law. Hillary was a former beekeeper who along with Tenzing Norgay was the first to climb the world’s highest peak - Mt. Everest.
Humble beginnings
The University of Waikato was officially opened. Originally built largely on farmland, with a handful of temporary buildings and a few staff, the university now covers 68 hectares and caters for 13,500 students.
Happy pets
Veterinary Science - a Faculty of Science. It is still New Zealand’s only Veterinary school.
An especially clever student
Donald McKinnon enrols at Lincoln University, to study the Intensive Farming Course, and subsequently studies Valuation and Farm Management. He would later be knighted as the Right Honorable Donald McKinnon, become the Secretary-General for the Commonwealth and be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Expanding courses
New subjects are added to the earlier offerings of Law, Teaching, Mathematics, History, English and Classics at Auckland University. The new areas of study included Geography, Anthropology, Maori Studies, and Fine Arts, Political Studies, Art History and Sociology, followed by the opening of the Medical School in 1968.
A worthy cause
A society is set up to campaign for the creation of a new university in Hamilton, which would eventually become the University of Waikato.
Growing, but still small
Auckland Technical College becomes the largest school in
New Zealand with over 4,200 students. (The whole population of New Zealand at that time was less than two million.)
Words of a feather
Students set up the first literary journal in New Zealand, called “Phoenix”. Now budding writers in New Zealand had a place to share their creative writing.
First female farming student
Although the courses had been open to women from the beginning, this date marked the first time a woman actually enrolled at the Agricultural College. She was doing a diploma course in poultry farming.
A notable name
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, William Massey, announces the government’s plan to set up a new agricultural college. At first it is located at the existing universities in Wellington and Auckland, but in 1926 New Zealand Agricultural College opened in Palmerston North. Later it would be named Massey University after the former Prime Minister.
A school worth smiling about
New Zealand’s first School of Dentistry opens at the University of Otago, and all New Zealanders are grateful that their teeth will receive some professional attention.
Classroom with a view
After seven years in rented buildings, Victoria University starts building its campus in the new Wellington suburb of Kelburn, at the top of the brand new Cable Car. Students still use the Cable Car to get to class these days.
Getting technical
Auckland Technical School opens, providing teaching in trades. In 1906 it becomes Auckland Technical College, and in 1913 it’s renamed again, as Seddon Memorial Technical College.
Well done
Apirana Ngata graduates and becomes the first Maori scholar to complete a university degree. He would later become a Member of Parliament and a Minister of Maori Affairs, and eventually become Sir Apirana Ngata.
Up and atom
Ernest Rutherford starts at Canterbury College, which would become the University of Canterbury. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for his work on splitting the atom.
Doing time
An old courthouse and jail are turned into a university mainly for law clerks and teachers.
Teacher training
Wellington College of Education is established to train teachers in the capital city. It would eventually merge with Victoria University of Wellington in 2005.
Fields to the lecture theatre
The School of Agriculture is founded, linked to Canterbury College. It wouldn’t be called Lincoln until 1961.
Gold rush education
During the ‘gold rush’ era a School of Mines is established at the University of Otago. Dunedin is, at the time, the fastest growing city in the country.
