Victoria University of Wellington

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This page is about a New Zealand university. For other universities with 'Victoria' in their name, see Victoria University (disambiguation).
Victoria University of Wellington
Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui
Motto: Sapientia magis auro desideranda (Wisdom is more to be desired than gold)[1]
Established: 1897
Type: Public
Chancellor: Tim Beaglehole
Vice-Chancellor: Pat Walsh
Students: 21,889 total
Postgraduates: 4,200 graduate
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Campus: Urban
Website: www.victoria.ac.nz
Victoria University's Kelburn Campus.
Victoria University's Kelburn Campus.

Victoria University of Wellington, also known in Māori as Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui,[2] was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses as well. Entry to all courses at first year is open, although entry to second year in some programmes (eg, law, criminology, creative writing, architecture) is restricted. Victoria had the fourth highest average research grade in the New Zealand Government's Performance-Based Research Fund exercise in 2006, having been ranked 3rd in 2003.[3]

Contents

[edit] General information

Victoria has 21,889 students (including 2966 international students), of whom 14,000 are undergraduates. It has 1,985 full-time equivalent staff.

Its main campus is in Kelburn, a suburb on a hill overlooking the Wellington central business district, where its administration and humanities & social science and science faculties are based. The law and commerce and administration faculties are in the Pipitea Campus, near Parliament Buildings, which consists of Rutherford House, the restored Government Buildings, and the West Wing of the Wellington Railway Station. A smaller campus in the Te Aro district of Wellington is the base for the architecture and design schools. The Faculty of Education is in the Karori campus.

Day-to-day governance is in the hands of the University Council, which consists of 20 people: five elected by the Court of Convocation, three elected by the academic staff, one elected by the general staff, two appointed by the student union executive, four appointed by the Minister of Education, four selected by the Council itself, and the Vice-Chancellor. The Court of Convocation is composed of all graduates who choose to participate.

For New Zealand residents entry to most courses is open, with a few exceptions. Performance Music requires an audition. There is selection for entry into the second year in degrees such as the LLB, BArch and BDes. BA in criminology and creative writing is also based on selection.

The University is one of only three institutions (University of Auckland and Unitec New Zealand being the others) to offer a degree in Architecture in New Zealand.

Victoria in conjunction with Massey University also own The New Zealand School of Music

Victoria University's Pipitea Campus: Rutherford House with the Wellington Railway Station behind.
Victoria University's Pipitea Campus: Rutherford House with the Wellington Railway Station behind.

[edit] History

Victoria is named after Queen Victoria, as 1897 was the 60th anniversary of her coronation. There was initially a dispute as to where to site it, and it opened in temporary facilities in Thorndon. It was eventually decided to place it in Kelburn, where it still has its primary campus. This decision was influenced by the Cable Car company's offer of a donation of £1000 if Victoria were located in Kelburn so students would patronise the car between the city and the University.[4] The foundation stone of the historic Hunter Building was laid in 1904. The original name was Victoria University College, but on the dissolution of the University of New Zealand in 1961 Victoria or "Vic" became the independent Victoria University of Wellington, conferring its own degrees.

Hunter Building east entrance
Hunter Building east entrance

An extramural branch of Victoria was founded at Palmerston North in 1960. It merged with Massey College on 1 January 1963. The merged college itself, having become a branch of Victoria upon the University of New Zealand's 1961 demise, became an independent Massey University on 1 January 1964.[5]

In recent years, Victoria has had to expand out of its original campus in Kelburn, and new campuses have been set up in Te Aro (architecture and design), Pipitea (opposite Parliament, housing the law, and commerce and administration schools) and Karori (education) - the Wellington College of Education, established in 1880, merged with the University to become its revived Faculty of Education on 1 January 2005.

[edit] Organisation

[edit] Faculties and Schools

The university's faculties are:

The University's Schools are:

  • Graduate School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health [8]
  • School of Accounting and Commercial Law [9]
  • School of Architecture [10]
  • School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies [11]
  • School of Asian and European Languages and Cultures [12]
  • School of Biological Sciences [13]
  • School of Chemical and Physical Sciences [14]
  • School of Design [15]
  • School of Early Childhood Teacher Education [16]
  • School of Economics and Finance [17]
  • School of Education Studies [18]
  • School of English, Film, Theatre, and Media Studies [19]
  • School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences [20]
  • School of Government [21]
  • School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations [22]
  • School of Information Management [23]
  • School of Law [24]
  • School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies [25]
  • School of Marketing and International Business [26]
  • School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science [27]
  • School of Primary & Secondary Teacher Education [28]
  • School of Psychology [29]
  • School of Social and Cultural Studies [30]
  • Te Kawa a Māui [31]
  • Te Kura Māori [32]
  • Victoria Management School [33]

Other important Teaching and Learning entities are:

  • International Institute of Modern Letters [34]
  • Centre for Continuing Education and Executive Development [35]
  • Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies [36]
  • Va'aomanu Pasifika [37](Pacific Studies unit)
  • The New Zealand School of Music, [38] a joint venture with Massey University.

[edit] Institutions

[edit] Undergraduate Degrees Offered

[edit] Postgraduate Degrees offered

Victoria offers more than 25 Masters degrees in around 100 specialist subject areas, including:

[edit] Notable Alumni

Graduation Ceremony, May 2005
Graduation Ceremony, May 2005

Of the university and/or college of education:

[edit] Notable Academics

Of the university or the college of education:

[edit] Panorama

Panorama of the view from the fifth floor stairwell of the Cotton Building, Kelburn Campus.
Panorama of the view from the fifth floor stairwell of the Cotton Building, Kelburn Campus.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beaglehole, J. C. (1949). Victoria University College an Essay towards a History, pp 60-61. 
  2. ^ Victoria University's Māori Name, retrieved 27 December 2006
  3. ^ Performance-Based Research Fund—Evaluating Research Excellence: the 2003 assessment, retrieved 27 December 2006. Specifically this PDF at p. 49.
  4. ^ Barrowman, Rachel (1999). Victoria University of Wellington 1899 ~ 1999 A History. Wellington: Victoria University Press, p. 25. ISBN 0 86473 369 0. Retrieved on 2008-04-14. 
  5. ^ Massey University history. Massey University. Retrieved on 2008-04-14.

[edit] External links

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Universities in New Zealand

Auckland • AUT • Waikato • Massey • Victoria • Canterbury • Lincoln • Otago

Coordinates: 41°17′20″S, 174°46′06″E