Accolade for Victoria’s arts and humanities

1 January 2022

There are approximately 18,000 universities in the world and Victoria’s position in the 101–125 category of the THE rankings not only puts the University in top place for arts and humanities among New Zealand universities, but also among the top six universities in Australasia.

Victoria also rates highly in a different international ranking, QS, where it is placed 55^th for arts and humanities. Victoria is among the top 1% of the world’s universities for 14 subjects and in the top 2% of universities overall in QS rankings.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford says the results highlight the quality and depth of the arts and humanities at the University and help explain why the Victoria Bachelor of Arts is the most popular in New Zealand.

“Victoria has the largest number of Bachelor of Arts students of any New Zealand university and these rankings show those students are getting an experience that is second to none.”

Pro Vice-Chancellor of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor Jennifer Windsor says these results demonstrate Victoria’s commitment to the arts and humanities.

“We are dedicated to the role of the arts as critic and conscience of society—a vital responsibility in the contemporary world. We offer our students fundamental insights and multiple perspectives about cultures, societies and creative expression as well as work-integrated learning opportunities to foster career readiness. We’re very pleased that our scholarship and practice in these areas have received international recognition.”  

The rankings are derived from 13 performance indicators, with weightings for teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income. Editorial director of THE global rankings Phil Baty says the arts and humanities ratings highlight the universities that are leading across art, performing arts, languages, history, philosophy, theology, architecture and archaeology subjects.

“All universities in the ranking have had to demonstrate excellence across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook so it is a great achievement to make the top 400.”

Why BA graduates will control the economy More than anyone else, arts graduates are perfectly placed to leverage the unpredictable economic environment of the future to their advantage, writes Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Associate Professor Stuart Brock in an op-ed for Newsroom.