The university came third in an article on website Study International, after Curtin University in Malaysia and the California State University in the United States.
University of Otago international office director James Cushen said it was "very pleasing" to see international recognition for the university, and he thought what made the university attractive to domestic students also made it attractive to international ones.
"This result underscores many of the university's strengths, especially in the areas of the campus environment, the high-quality international student experience and the world-class academic standards inside of the classroom."
Study International said what made Otago stand out was its "academic integrity".
"By striving to remain honest and sticking to its core values, the school teaches students about the importance of growing into respected learners who remain grounded and supported throughout their New Zealand study venture," the site said.
Study International said "interculturalism" and "cross-cultural dialogue" played a significant role in overseas study experience, and noted Otago placed a focus on giving Pacific Island students a "strategic framework" to join the university.
The university beat Griffith University in Brisbane, which was in fourth place.
The StudyInternational.com search engine is used to find universities and courses all over the world, and claims to have a database 850,000 courses and more than 8700 institutions.
The University of Otago's central library was also rated one of the top 25 in the world on BuzzFeed the week before last.
At Otago the highest number of international students come from the United States, followed by China, Malaysia, India and the UK. The university accepted international students from 21 countries in 2016.