The University of Otago has been bumped up the world university rankings, joining Auckland University in the 201-302 band in the annual Shanghai Jiao Tong top 500 assessment.
Otago had moved up from the 303-401 band, while Auckland's position had remained relatively stable, vice-chancellor Prof David Skegg said at a university council meeting yesterday.
Five New Zealand universities made it on to the list, with Massey ranked in the 303-401 band and Canterbury and Victoria in the 402-500 band.
Prof Skegg described Otago's ranking as "pleasing", saying there were 12,000 universities in OECD countries alone and to make it to the top 300 was "gratifying".
"There are a large number of . . . very good universities in the same band and I am quite proud to be in the company of the others."
While there was "a lot of debate" about the value of university ranking systems, the Shanghai assessment was widely regarded as the most objective, he said, although its focus was on science and research with little emphasis on the quality of education or campus experience provided.
"The quality of education [category] is worked out on the number of Nobel prizewinners a university produces, which seems odd."
Per head of population, New Zealand had more universities in the top 500 list than all other countries assessed, apart from Sweden, Prof Skegg said.
However, he said New Zealand would have to change its funding system if it wanted its universities to rank in the top 100 or 200.
"Australia has six in the top 200 and Sweden, a country of 11 million people, has four in the top 100.
Unfortunately, that underscores the inevitable result of the New Zealand funding system."
Sweden bulk-funded its universities' research grants, which enabled them to carry out ongoing research without having to continually apply for further grants, he said.
