NZ Universities' Global Standing: What the Latest Rankings Reveal

Vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater thanked university staff and academics for their “hard work”. “The Times Higher Education subject rankings are highly competitive, and this year’s results highlight the contribution our people are making through research, teaching and impact,” she said. Kiwi universities have been sliding in recent Times Higher Education rankings. The University of Auckland was NZ’s best in last October’s overall university rankings at 156, behind global leaders the University of Oxford and MIT in first and second. That result was down from 152 a year earlier after falling out of the top 150 in 2024. Phil Baty from Times Higher Education said that despite the slide and global trend in which Western institutions were generally losing ground to East Asian nations, there was a “real opportunity” for NZ. That was by getting more international talent to study and work in NZ and by boosting collaboration with the growing range of top universities in the Asian region. The Times Higher Education study is one of the leading global rankings, with the latest report rating 11 subject areas according to 18 performance metrics. The fields include arts and humanities, business and economics, computer science, education, engineering, law, life sciences, medical and health, physical sciences, psychology and social sciences. They are ranked by metrics covering the quality of teaching and research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The University of Auckland’s Freshwater said this included teaching reputation, doctorate-to-staff ratio, research productivity and the amount of times university papers are cited by others. Baty said the subject rankings revealed an emerging shift in global higher education. “This year’s exceptionally rich data provides further evidence of an emerging new world order - where Western dominance of higher education and research is steadily being challenged by the rapidly rising powers of East Asia,” he said. “East Asian nations, led by China, are making particularly remarkable strides in geopolitically strategic areas, including computer science and physical sciences.” Australia fared better than NZ in the subject rankings, rejoining the top 10 with the University of Melbourne ranked eighth for law, after dropping out of the top 10 last year. Australia has 71 top-100 places across the 11 subjects, up from 68 last year. It also has 152 top-200 places. Globally, the United States dominated the subject rankings, taking first place in eight of the 11 fields. MIT topped three subjects - arts and humanities, business and economics, and social sciences. Stanford University led education and law, while Harvard was first for engineering and life sciences. The United Kingdom claimed the remaining three top spots. The University of Oxford, ranked number one overall in the world, topped medical and health and computer science. The University of Cambridge took first place in psychology for the first time since 2022. Only three universities appeared in the top 10 for all 11 subjects: Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge. China continued its rapid rise, claiming seven top-10 places across the subject rankings, up from four last year. Peking University became the first Chinese university to crack the top 10 for computer science, while Tsinghua University became the first to reach the top 10 for physical sciences. The trend reflects broader challenges facing NZ’s university sector. In 2024, the Times Higher Education noted NZ had experienced a drop in international student numbers and a financial squeeze that led to the loss of hundreds of academic and staff jobs in the years preceding.