University Of Otago

As New Zealand's first university, founded in 1869, Otago has earned an international reputation for the quality of its research and teaching.

Otago has almost 21,000 students enrolled and has a presence in each of the four main cities of New Zealand - Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

The academic and administrative centre of the University continues to be located in Dunedin, where the majority of students live and work.

The Christchurch and Wellington Schools of Medicine & Health Sciences are both key elements of the University of Otago's Health Sciences activities, providing clinical teaching for undergraduate medical students as well as conducting thriving research and postgraduate teaching programmes.

The University's facilities in central Auckland provide a resource and information centre for prospective Otago students, as well as a campus for a variety of mainly postgraduate academic programmes.

In addition, Otago has a vigorous Distance Education programme, teaching to locations throughout New Zealand and also to various sites in Australia and Fiji. Links with distance students are mainly by live audio network but increasingly through the Internet.

Staff are Otago's greatest asset, and the University's policy is to recruit academics and administrators of the highest international calibre. Otago has developed a strong focus on quality advancement and on strategies and processes that produce constant improvement.

Planning is a strong feature of management, with the principal planning documents indicating a course of development and continued expansion. Supporting the strategic plan are the Research Management Plan, the Teaching and Learning Plan, the International Activities Management Plan and the Quality Portfolio.

One of the pillars on which the University's international reputation is built is the quality of its leading-edge research in many fields. Teaching at Otago is closely related to scholarly research, with the result that most teaching is undertaken by academics who are at the forefront of relevant knowledge.

Otago's reputation also rests on the quality of its graduates. Employers and other key stakeholders confirm that our graduates are sought after and appreciated. There are over 50,000 Otago graduates living in all corners of the world, many occupying influential positions in industry, government and their communities.