Although the University recorded a slight drop in the overall QS rankings, it once again improved its performance in the academic reputation indicator. This indicator measures the reputation of institutions among international academics and accounts for 40% of the overall QS rankings score. Since 2015 the university has improved its rank in this score from 218 to 164 in the world, placing it among the top 1% of the world’s universities by way of academic reputation.
Information provided by QS also shows that the University’s citations have been steadily rising year on year and that the University out-performed the global average in the last year for citations per academic staff member. Citations per Faculty member account for 20% of the overall QS rankings score.
Other areas where QS data shows the University performed strongly include its proportion of international staff, and number of papers published.
The latest QS Rankings by Subject, released in February 2020, show that Wellington University is ranked in the top 100 of the world’s 18,000 universities for 11 subjects, including two in the top 50.
The University is also highly ranked for arts and humanities, at 68 equal, up five places from 2019 in the highly competitive rankings, and 137 equal for Social Sciences and Management.
The University is also ranked number one in New Zealand for research quality, in the most recent Tertiary Education Commission’s Performance Based Research Fund results. It is the only University to twice top the country’s main measure of research excellence.