Jump to content

University of Otago

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TCY (talk | contribs) at 00:47, 30 April 2008 (interwiki fr). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

University of Otago
Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo
File:Otago sh.png
MottoSapere aude
(Latin:"Dare to be wise")
TypePublic
Established1869
ChancellorLindsay Brown
Vice-ChancellorDavid Skegg
Students19,853 (2006)
Location
Dunedin
,
New Zealand
CampusUrban
Websitewww.otago.ac.nz

The University of Otago ([Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 20,000 students enrolled during 2006. It is the South Island's largest employer and claims to have the world's 2nd longest continuously running annual student revue (the Capping Show) and New Zealand's oldest ballet company (the Selwyn Ballet).

The University is known throughout the country for its unique student lifestyle and particularly its flatting culture, where students generally share semi-dilapidated housing units with a unique name and "character building" domestic life. The nickname Scarfie applies to the students after the cold weather and traditional habit of wearing a scarf for most of the year.

Otago graduates are known to be among the most dispersed alumni in the world, with many graduates ultimately settling in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, United States, China, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Japan or elsewhere in New Zealand.

The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality, and is second only to the University of Auckland in the amount of A rated academic researchers employed,[1] and topped the New Zealand Performance Based Research Fund evaluation in 2006.[2].

Founded in 1869 by a committee including Thomas Burns,[3] the university opened in July 1871. Its motto is "Sapere aude" ("Dare to be wise"). (The University of New Zealand subsequently adopted the same motto.) The University of Otago Students' Association answers this with its own motto, "Audeamus" ("let us dare").

Between 1874 and 1961 the University of Otago was a part of the University of New Zealand, and issued degrees in its name.

The University clocktower, looking east.

Faculties

Administratively, the university is divided into four divisions: Commerce, Health Sciences, Humanities, and Sciences. For external and marketing purposes, the Division of Commerce is known as the School of Business, as that is the term commonly used for its equivalent in North America. Historically, there were a number of Schools and Faculties, which have now been grouped with standalone departments to form these divisions.

In addition to the usual university disciplines, the Otago Medical School (founded 1875) is one of only two in New Zealand (with constituent branches in Christchurch and Wellington), and is the only university in the country to offer training in Dentistry. Other professional schools and faculties not found in all New Zealand universities include Pharmacy, Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Medical Laboratory Science, and Surveying. It was also home to the School of Mines, until this was transferred to the University of Auckland in 1987. Theology is also offered, traditionally in conjunction with the School of Ministry, Knox College, and Holy Cross, Mosgiel.

Students[4]

Enrolment By Qualification Type 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003
Doctoral 1,074 935 829 755 723
Masters 1,048 1,052 1,108 1,060 994
Bachelors Honours 750 736 769 771 763
Bachelors Ordinary 13,136 12,868 12,939 12,711 12,186
Postgraduate Diplomas and Certificates 1,435 1,507 1,378 1,353 1,345
Graduate Diplomas and Certificates 494 204 392 314 298
Undergraduate Diplomas and Certificates 265 216 239 318 344
Intermediates 1,084 965 991 1,003 909
Miscellaneous 1,246 1,235 1,326 1,291 1,186
Sub-degree 133 135 86 98 96
Total 20,665 19,853 20,057 19,674 18,844
Ethnicity of Students 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003
European/Pakeha 68.4% 68.3% 69.1% 69.5% 71.8%
Māori 6.9% 6.4% 6.2% 6.1% 6.3%
Asian 15.6% 16.5% 16.1% 15.2% 13.5%
Pacific Islanders 2.6% 2.6% 2.5% 2.5% 2.4%
Other / unknown 6.5% 6.2% 6.1% 6.6% 5.9%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Campuses

In addition to the main Dunedin campus, the University has small facilities in Auckland and Wellington (based at Westpac Stadium).[5] The medical schools have larger campuses near Christchurch and Wellington Hospitals. Additionally, the University has the Portobello Marine Laboratory on Otago Harbour.

180° view of Dunedin shot from the hills on the west. The University can be seen in front of the large hill to the left.

Merger with Dunedin College of Education

The University and the Dunedin College of Education (a specialist teacher training institution) merged on 1 January 2007. The University of Otago College of Education is now based on the College site, and includes the College's campuses in Invercargill and Alexandra. Staff of the University's Faculty of Education relocated to the college site. A merger had been considered before, however the present talks progressed further, and more amicably, than previously.

Student Lifestyle

O-Week

Participants in the annual clocktower race lining up, ready to go.

'O-Week' or Orientation Week is the Otago equivalent of Fresher's Week. While the new students are sometimes referred to as 'freshers' the label of 'first years' is more common. O-week is organised by the Student's Association OUSA and involves competitions such as 'Fresher of the Year' whereby several students volunteer to carry out a series of tasks throughout the week before being voted to win. All tasks are related to the O-Week theme. The OUSA also organise events each night including various concerts, a comedy night, hypnotist plus busses to Carisbrook (at the other end of Dunedin) where the Highlanders usually schedule a game.[6] Local bars organise events also with a range of live music and promotional deals including the Cookathon and a Miss O-Week competition hosted by The Outback.[7] The Cookathon is held by a local pub (the Cook) with the premise that your first drink costs you about $20 which gives you a t-shirt, three meal vouchers and reduced price on drinks then you spend the rest of the day drinking and relaxing with mates.[6]

Traditions

Each year the first years are encouraged to attend the toga parade and party dressed in white sheets wrapped as togas. A clocktower race also occurs, in the style of Chariots of Fire. Students must race round the tower and attached building, beginning on the first chime of the clock at noon and completing before the chimes cease. Unlike Chariots of Fire the task is possible with a couple of students completing each year.

The gutted remains of a burnt out couch on Queen Street

Themes

Each year a theme is chosen for the O-week festivities, usually based on a recent movie or TV show. The week is then branded with altered posters depicting the theme plus all events are somehow linked to this.

Couch Burning

Couch burning is a frequent, illegal, problem with partying students in the student neighbourhood surrounding the campus. In 2007, a pub owner was charged with sedition over a pamphlet offering O-Week students the prize of a fuel-soaked couch.[8]

Distinctions

File:OtagoULibrary.jpg
Interior of Central Library, University of Otago.

Many Fellowships add to the diversity of the people associated with "Otago". They include:

In 1998, the physics department gained some fame for making the first Bose-Einstein condensate in the Southern Hemisphere.

The 2006 Government investigation into research quality (to serve as a basis for future funding) ranked Otago the top University in New Zealand overall, taking into account the quality of its staff and research produced. It was also ranked first in the categories of Clinical Medicine, Biomedical Science, Law, English Literature and Language, History and Earth Science. The Department of Psychology received the highest score for any nominated academic unit. Otago had been ranked fourth in the 2004 assessment.

In 2006, a report released by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology found that Otago was the most research intensive university in New Zealand, with 40% of staff time devoted to research and development.[1]

Journal "Science" has recommended worldwide study of Otago's Biochemistry database "Transterm", which has genomic data on 40,000 species.

Otago was recently ranked 79th from a listing of top 200 institutions in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings [1][2] and within 201-300 in the Shanghai Jiaotong rankings of world top 500 universities. (PDF)

Residential Colleges

The vast majority of first year ("fresher") students at the University of Otago stay in one of the many Residential Colleges. These provide food, accommodation, social and welfare services. Some of the colleges have developed a strong institutional personality over the years. This becomes self-perpetuating as applicants choose the college most suited to their own personality.

Quiet, conservative St Margaret's College is next to the large, generic University College (Unicol) in the heart of the campus, which houses approximately 550 residents during the academic year. It is the most central hall on the campus, situated beside the university's original buildings.

Aquinas College, being the smallest and perhaps farthest of the halls, has developed a more tight-knit community than many of the others. City College is influenced by two-thirds of its students coming from the Dunedin College of Education or the Otago Polytechnic, and Toroa International House is almost exclusively filled by international students. It provides accommodation that is welcoming and supportive yet allows residents to live, eat, study and socialise in an environment that meets their individual needs.

Residential Colleges affiliated with the University of Otago select students based on their marks, extracurricular activities and high school testimonials. However, some colleges are more selective than others. Although their order varies from year to year, the most selective colleges are consistently Knox College, Selwyn College and Carrington College. Arana College received the most placement request for 2007. Unsuccessful applicants are referred to other colleges.

St Margaret's College has similar entry standards, but the reputation of the college as quiet, religious and hard-working tends to attract a self-selected small group of highly-qualified applicants.

Otago's Residential Colleges are not as significant in the life of the University when compared with the Colleges and Halls of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Some halls seek to imitate Oxbridge colleges (occasional tutorials, "fellows", chapels etc) but students' primary affiliation is to the University rather than the hall, and the bulk of formal education does not take place within the college.

College Founded
Selwyn College 1893 Website
Knox College 1909 Website
St Margaret's College 1911 Website
Studholme College 1915 Website
Arana College 1943 Website
Carrington College 1945 Website
Aquinas College 1952 Website
University College 1969 Website
Salmond College 1971 Website
Cumberland College 1989 Website
Hayward College 1992 Website
Toroa International House 1996 Website
City College 2000 Website

Official list

Notable people

Faculty

Alumni and alumnae

(with Hall of Residence, if any, in parentheses where known)

Rhodes Scholars from the University of Otago

Main article: Rhodes Scholarship

(College at Oxford in brackets)(Source: List of NZ Rhodes Scholars)

Column-generating template families

The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.

Column templates
Type Family
Handles wiki
table code?†
 Responsive/
mobile suited 		Start template Column divider End template
Float "col-float" Yes Yes {{col-float}} {{col-float-break}} {{col-float-end}}
"columns-start" Yes Yes {{columns-start}} {{column}} {{columns-end}}
Columns "div col" Yes Yes {{div col}} – {{div col end}}
"columns-list" No Yes {{columns-list}} (wraps div col) – –
Flexbox "flex columns" No Yes {{flex columns}} – –
Table "col" Yes No {{col-begin}},
{{col-begin-fixed}} or
{{col-begin-small}} 		{{col-break}} or
{{col-2}} .. {{col-5}} 		{{col-end}}

† Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.

References

  1. ^ a b Research and Development in New Zealand: A Decade in Review. (2006) Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.
  2. ^ "Media release: Performance-based Research Fund results". Tertiary Education Commission. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  3. ^ King, Michael (2003). Penguin History of New Zealand. p. page 209. ISBN 0143018671. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  4. ^ "Quick Statistics 2007". University of Otago. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  5. ^ "University of Otago Stadium Centre Wellington". Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  6. ^ a b varsity.co.nz:A Student aimed webpage
  7. ^ Seen in Dunedin
  8. ^ "Dunedin pub manager off hook after police drop sedition charge". NZ Herald. May 3, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Herszenhorn, David M. (May 4, 1997). "John C. Eccles, 94, Nobel Physiologist, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Hon Dr Michael Cullen". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  11. ^ "Hart still NZ's richest person". stuff.co.nz. 17 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also


45°51′56″S 170°30′50″E / 45.86556°S 170.51389°E / -45.86556; 170.51389

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_Otago&oldid=209129691"