The University of Canterbury is the first in New Zealand to be granted five stars by QS. The globally recognized programs aim to foster critical thinking and professional excellence across many disciplines. The University of Canterbury (est. 1873) is the second oldest university in New Zealand offering approximately 70 courses to UG, PG and research-based students. Top programs of Canterbury University that are highly ranked are Engineering, Linguistic, Geology, Geophysics, Earth and Marine Science, Law and others.

The graduate employability ranking of the institute is #301-500 since 5 years. The institution offers resume writing seminars, placement workshops, group talks, and practice interviews to its students on a regular basis in order to help them find jobs in New Zealand. Among UC’s alumni are leading New Zealand artist Rita Angus, children’s author Margaret Mahy, classical conductor Gemma New and legendary physicist Ernest Rutherford, whose face graces the nation’s banknotes.

University of Canterbury Ranking Highlights

  • #4 in Best Global Universities in New Zealand by U.S. News and World Report, 2022
  • #27 in Best Global Universities in Australia and New Zealand by U.S. News and World Report, 2022
  • #387 in Best Global Universities by U.S. News and World Report, 2022
  • #258 by the QS Global University Ranking 2022.
  • #301-500 for graduate employability rankings by QS 2022.
  • #501-600 in THE World University Rankings, 2022
  • #251-300 in Arts and Humanities by Times Higher Education, 2022.

University of Canterbury Ranking Times Higher Education Rankings

THE World University positioned the University of Canterbury along with Cankaya University and Centrale Nantes among #401-500 among the universities globally.

  • The University does not rank very high on THE list but other areas of the university such as citations, International outlook, research work, teaching have scored enough to get the University among the Top 500 universally.
  • #201=300 is the 2021 impact ranking of the university.
  • Based on the research level and global acceptance, few subjects offered by this university made to the subjects list ranking.
  • Arts and Humanities, Social Science, Preclinical clinical, Health, Business and Economics, Physical sciences, Engineering and Technology, Life science and Computer Science are the top-ranked subjects of the university as per THE.

The top subjects of the university are ranked as:

Subjects Rankings
Arts and Humanities #301-400
Education #301-400
Life Sciences #301-400
Clinical and Pre Clinical Health #151-175
Engineering and Technology #601-800
Physical Science #501-600
Computer Science #501-600
Social Science #201-250
Business and Economics #201-250
Psychology #401-500

University of Canterbury QS Rankings

The University of Canterbury is among the best universities in New Zealand and the QS World University ranks the University of Canterbury at #258 making it the only university from New Zealand to be ranked under the top 300.

  • The University is consistently ranked under the top 300 with general high and low in its rank for the past 8 years.
  • It has received QS 5 stars for its excellent research and teaching methods.
  • Among the various subjects offered by this reputed research, approximately 15 subjects college is ranked under the top 100 globally.
  • Linguistics, Civil Engineering, Psychology, Geography, Law and Legal Studies, Sociology, Politics, Accounting and Business, Natural Sciences, Physics, and Astronomy are among the various subjects that made the ranking list.

The university has been holding a steady position at #301-500 for the Graduate Employment ranking since the year 2018 and is continuing to do so.

University of Canterbury US News Rankings

Various publications/agencies have their own set of indicators and criteria through which they rank the university based on not just the academic but on all-around performance.

US News has ranked the University of Canterbury as:

University Of Canterbury Rank
Best Global Universities #387
Best Global Universities in Australia/New Zealand #27
Best Global Universities in New Zealand #4

University of Canterbury US News Ranking as per Area of Specialisation

The ranking criteria for US news which concludes all the areas of the university is detailed below.

Ranking Criteria Relative rank
Global score 55.9
Global research reputation #439
Regional research reputation #16
Publications #708
Books #440
Conferences #743
Normalized citation impact #472
Total Citations #621
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited #673
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited #646
International collaboration - relative to the country #824
International collaboration #79
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited #562
Percentage of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited #493

University of Canterbury US News Ranking Subject-Wise

The courses/programs offered by the University of Canterbury also made the subjects list by US News 2022. University of Canterbury Subject Ranking are:

Subjects Ranking
Environmental/Ecology #283
Physics #357
Plant and Animal Science #327
Geosciences #269
Social Sciences and Public Health #275
Chemistry #579
Engineering #523

University of Canterbury CWUR Rankings

The Centre of World University rankings, a reputed publication that ranks global universities for 2022 on their overall persona and has ranked the University of Canterbury depending on its quality of education, employment rate, extensive research facility, and more.

Institute name University Of Canterbury
Location New Zealand
World Rank #516
National Rank #3
Quality of Education Rank #355
Alumni Employment Rank #425
Quality of Faculty Rank #241
Research Performance Rank #553
Overall Score 74

University of Canterbury v/s Other Universities: Comparison

University/College University of Canterbury University of Otago Victoria University of Wellington
Rank #258 (QS 2022) #194 (QS 2022) #236 (QS 2022)
Status Public Public Public
Age >100 >100 >100
Focus Comprehensive Comprehensive Comprehensive
Research Very High Very High Very High
Students Number 16,328 21,240 22,000
International Students 2,816 of the total enrolled students 2,500 of the total enrolled students 3668 of the total enrolled students
Popular Programs Arts, Commerce, Communication, Criminal Justice, Science, Engineering, Environmental Science. Arts and Music, Dentistry, Education, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, Public Policy and Public Administration and Management.
Academic Reputation 39.2 50.6 46.7
Employer Reputation 41 39.2 34.5

Why choose the University of Canterbury?

The university has a diverse student population coming to study abroad, UC is a great place to meet and live with a vast community of people from all over the world. UC academics are experts in their fields, and they teach students to be creative and forward-thinking individuals.

It is a global university with links to various other leading institutes worldwide that strengthen its teaching and research ties. Over 100 student-run clubs are available on the UC campus for students.

The excellent research faculty combined with good academic and extra-curricular performance makes it a high spot for international students to study in New Zealand. UC is a place for sports enthusiasts; it has outstanding sports facilities and clubs for students to engage with. Many Sports-based scholarships are also offered by this reputed institute.