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Otago pleased by its placing in world university subject rankings

Clocktower.

Thursday 9 May 2013 9:43am

The University of Otago welcomes the release of the 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject, in which Otago ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world in 12 subject areas.

The University has improved its 2012 ranking in 11 of the 30 subject areas under evaluation and is now among the top 50 institutions worldwide in four subjects. These four include Psychology, which at 15th place, is the highest ranking of any subject area at a New Zealand university.

At 24th, Otago also ranked highest in New Zealand for History and Archaeology. The University’s other two top 50 subjects were Law and Legal Studies (32nd) and English Language and Literature (45th).

The QS rankings involved the evaluation of 2,858 universities and ranking of 678 institutions in total. They take into the account the opinion of academics and employers via a global survey and research paper citation data.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne says she is delighted by the University’s strong showing in the QS subject rankings.

“Otago’s tripling of the number of subject areas in the top 100 since last year is a very pleasing outcome. These rankings reinforce the University’s standing as an internationally leading research and teaching institution across a broad range of disciplines,” says Professor Hayne.

Psychology at Otago’s ranking as the top subject for any New Zealand university follows the Department of Psychology’s recent distinction in the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) quality evaluation. Under PBRF, this Otago Department was found to be the highest-scoring academic unit for research quality of any discipline in New Zealand.

Otago’s subjects in the QS top 100:

  • Accounting and Finance
  • Biological Sciences
  • Education
  • English Language and Literature
  • Geography
  • History and Archaeology
  • Law
  • Medicine
  • Pharmacy and Pharmacology
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
  • Sociology

A list of Otago experts available for media comment is available elsewhere on this website.

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