Ngā paerangi
Research performance and rankings
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is New Zealand’s top-ranked university for intensity of high-quality research.
Our rankings
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is in the top 1% of the world’s universities for 15 subjects and in the top 2% for 27 subjects in the latest QS World University Rankings.
These international subject rankings for 2024 reconfirm the University’s strong global standing thanks to the quality of our research and teaching and the reputation of our academics across many areas.
Outstanding quality
Victoria University of Wellington has an overall rating of Five Stars Plus—the maximum possible in the QS Stars University Ratings system.
According to QS, “Five Stars Plus-rated universities go above and beyond excellence, consistently delivering exceptional performance in every single category. From outstanding student satisfaction to cutting-edge research, they set the gold standard for higher education... Research is another pillar of strength, with groundbreaking work and strong collaborations pushing the boundaries of knowledge.”
Our university is one of only 23 in the world to achieve this outstanding rating. It’s a mark of our exceptional performance across multiple indicators, including academic reputation, campus facilities, and international diversity, support, and collaborations.
Find out more about what QS stars and ratings mean.
Leading the research field
As well as our global rankings, the University is number one for research intensity in the latest six-yearly assessment of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), New Zealand’s main measure of research quality.
The University has a higher proportion of academics conducting high-quality research than any other university in the country.
The most recent PBRF quality evaluation of New Zealand universities shows we have more than 850 staff actively involved in research and 66 percent of those are operating at the highest levels (rated either A or B).
The University has more A-rated researchers than any other New Zealand university in eight subject areas:
- Earth Sciences
- English Language and Literature
- Foreign Languages and Linguistics
- History, History of Art, Classics and Curatorial Studies
- Music, Literary Arts and Other Arts
- Philosophy
- Political Science, International Relations and Public Policy
- Theatre and Dance, Film, TV and Multimedia.
Our Faculty of Law is the number one law school in New Zealand for both its proportion of A-ranked researchers and A- and B- ranked researchers combined.
We are in the top three universities for number of A-rated researchers for:
- Computer Science, IT and Information Sciences
- Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour
- Law
- Māori Knowledge and Development
- Molecular, Cellular and Whole Organism Biology
- Pure and Applied Mathematics
- Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work, Criminology and Gender Studies.
Victoria University of Wellington's outstanding PBRF performance in humanities and social sciences reflects its robust commitment to these disciplines, which are crucial to the University's vision of cultivating global citizens capable of critical and creative thinking.
Global recognition
Wellington School of Business and Government leads the world as one of an elite group of commerce faculties worldwide that hold the Triple Crown of international accreditations of EQUIS, AACSB (Business) and AMBA.
The QS rankings results include one subject in the top 50 in the world—Linguistics.
We have nine other subjects in the top 100 of the QS World Rankings by Subject:
- English Language and Literature
- Performing Arts
- Theology/Divinity and Religious Studies
- Development Studies
- Hospitality and Leisure Management
- Law
- Library and Information Management
- Politics and International Studies
- Geography.
Victoria University of Wellington has five further subjects in the top 150—History, Sociology, Psychology, Earth and Marine Sciences, and Geology—and six further subjects in the top 200—Modern Languages, Philosophy, Accounting and Finance, Communication and Media Studies, Education, and Geophysics.
Amongst Aotearoa New Zealand universities, the University is ranked first in three subjects—Linguistics, Library and Information Management, and Politics and International Studies.