The University of Otago is delighted after being placed highest among New Zealand universities in a list ranking the best universities in the world by subject.
The result was in the 2013 annual QS World University Rankings by Subject, which rates the top 200 universities in the world for 30 disciplines.
Otago University, ranked 15th for psychology, was the highest-ranked New Zealand institution in the list, followed followed by Victoria University of Wellington, which placed 19th in law.
Overall, the University of Auckland was featured in the top 50 in 17 subjects, making it the best-performing institution in the country.
In total, Otago University ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world in 12 subject areas - which was triple the number of subjects in the top 100 last year.
Vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne was delighted by the university's showing in the QS subject rankings, saying: ''Otago's tripling of the number of subject areas in the top 100 since last year is a very pleasing outcome.''
She said the department of psychology's top ranking came after a strong performance in the latest 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,'' she said.
Overall, the rankings reinforced the ''university's standing as an internationally leading research and teaching institution across a broad range of disciplines''.
Otago's QS top 100 subjects are: accounting and finance, biological sciences, education, English language and literature, geography, history and archaeology, law, medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology, philosophy, psychology and sociology.