Rankings confirm excellence

The latest international subject rankings confirm Victoria University of Wellington as New Zealand's globally ranked capital city university and a world-class university.

The results from the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject have Victoria University of Wellington ranked in the top 100 of the world’s 18,000 universities for 13 subjects, including two in the top 50. The University is also ranked in the top 100 in the world for arts and humanities.

The results provide evidence of Victoria University of Wellington’s position as a leader in the New Zealand university sector in terms of the number of internationally ranked subjects offered.

Victoria University of Wellington has 29 internationally ranked subjects, marginally behind the University of Otago on 32 and the University of Auckland on 41.  The other New Zealand universities have from between 1 to 23 internationally ranked subjects.

The results confirm that the University is among the top 1 percent of universities in the world in 19 subjects, an increase from 17 last year, and in the top 2 percent of universities overall. There are more than 18,000 universities worldwide and the 2019 QS World University Rankings by Subject rank the top institutions.

One of the subjects to be ranked in the top 50 is Library and Information Management, which sits within the Information Studies programme at Victoria Business School. The subject is ranked 24 in the world in the QS results, up from 40 in 2018. This outstanding result demonstrates excellence in a specialist field of growing importance in a world driven by big data.

The number of top 100 subjects that sit within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University has increased in the 2019 QS Rankings by Subject. The Faculty now has six top 100 subjects—English Language and Literature; Linguistics; Religious Studies (called Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies in the QS rankings); Communication and Media Studies; Performing Arts; and Politics and International Studies.

The Faculty’s strength in Communication and Media Studies will be manifest in 2020 with the introduction of a Bachelor of Communication. The University’s location in New Zealand’s hub of information and government supports an exciting range of learning and career opportunities within this dynamic sector.

In addition to the above and the overall result for arts and humanities (73=), another four subjects taught in the Faculty are ranked in the top 150 in the world. They are Archaeology (within Te Kawa a Māui/the School of Māori Studies); History; Philosophy; and Sociology.

Victoria University of Wellington has a robust commitment to the humanities and social sciences; these disciplines are crucial to the University’s vision of cultivating global citizens capable of critical and creative thinking.

Outstanding results were also achieved in subjects taught in the Faculty of Science—Psychology; Earth and Marine Sciences; Geography; and Development Studies all continue to achieve a top 100 ranking.

“These results are further evidence of Victoria University of Wellington’s standing as an internationally respected and globally ranked capital city university,” says Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford.