University of Otago

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The University of Otago
Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo
logo
motto Sapere aude
founding 1869
Sponsorship state
place Dunedin , New Zealand
Chancellor John Ward
Students 21,728 (2011)
Employee 3,749 (2011)
Website www.otago.ac.nz

The University of Otago ( Māori : Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo ) is the oldest university in New Zealand . It is located in Dunedin , the capital of the Otago region . Their motto " sapere aude " adorns the coat of arms and symbol of the university.

history

university

University of Otago - Clock Tower Building (1879)

As a result of the 1861 Otago gold rush , money, well-known companies and personalities came to Dunedin and since education was an important part of the economic and cultural life of the Scottish settlers, the country's first university was founded in 1869 by the Otago Provincial Council . After two years of preparation, teaching began in 1871 with just three professors and 81 students in a building on Princes Street that later became the Dunedin Stock Exchange . As the event of the year was celebrated, all of the city's offices and shops closed for the opening ceremony. The university's first chancellor was Thomas Burns (1796–1871), pastor and co-founder of Dunedin . He was honored for his commitment to creating and supporting educational institutions in Dunedin .

But a year earlier, in 1870, the University of Otago had been subordinated by law to the University of New Zealand as an affiliated college . After the structure of the University of New Zealand was dissolved in 1961 and all academic educational institutions that had emerged up to then had become independent, the old status of the University of Otago from 1869 was restored.

When the first new building for a stand-alone campus was completed in 1879 , the university moved, creating the campus that still exists today on the River Leith in North Dunedin .

In 1998, the University of Otago attracted worldwide attention when the research team led by Andrew Wilson succeeded in producing the Bose-Einstein condensate for the first time outside the United States , France and Germany .

University of Otago - Clock Tower Building (2005)

From the beginning, women were admitted to study in all faculties at the University of Otago . It was the first university in the entire British Empire at which women were granted this right and thus a pioneer in the struggle for women's rights. It may be that the pamphlet " An Appeal to the Men of New Zealand " by Mary Ann Muller (1820-1901), in 1869 the Nelson Examiner published, had helped to ensure women's equal access to education. The movement that emerged from now on had at least helped shape women's equality in New Zealand society.

campus

In 1877 Maxwell Bury (1825-1912) was commissioned to design a Gothic-style building for the university. In 1879 the main building with the tower, which is known as the registry building or often also as the clock tower , was completed. The architecture was borrowed from the main building of the University of Glasgow in Scotland and contrasted with dark blue basalt from the area around Port Chalmers and light Oamaru stone . Bury received further orders for extensions until 1884. From 1908 Edmunde Anscombe took over the architectural style, designed other buildings for the ensemble and finally became the university's architect .

In the 1950s, government officials ordered the tower ( clock tower ) to be demolished due to insufficient stability and the risk of earthquakes . The tower was finally able to be preserved with a high financial investment by the university. Today the old building is a landmark of the university, Dunedin and the entire Otago region .

University today

New University of Otago Library (interior view)

Since the start of teaching in 1871, the number of students has risen continuously to 20,057 in 2005. There was a slight decrease in 2006 (19,853). The University of Dunedin is the largest employer in the city and the Otago region with 3,250 full-time employees . Of the 2,660 foreign students (2006), the German students made up the fourth largest group with 174, behind China (625), the USA (561) and Malaysia (239). 56.2% of all students are female , which exceeds the proportion of men (48.8%) and women (51.2%) in New Zealand society by almost 5 percentage points. The economic volume of the university was around NZ $ 430 million in 2006 , with an increase of NZ $ 30 million in the reporting year showing that money is being made with university teaching in New Zealand.

The University of Otago's vision for the future is to be "a research-related university with an excellent international reputation ". In 2007 it was named the best university in the country for performance-based research. In 2010 she was a founding member of the international Matariki university network .

Well-known graduates

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Quick Statistics . University of Otago , accessed June 21, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Ultra-Cold Atoms . The Dodd-Walls Center for Quantum Science and Technology , accessed June 21, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Bernard John Foster : Muller, Mary Ann . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , November 10, 2011, accessed June 21, 2013 .

Coordinates: 45 ° 51 ′ 52 ″  S , 170 ° 30 ′ 53 ″  O