LEADERS IN LEARNING


CAMBRIDGE-STRATEGIES.ORG OTAGO.AC.NZ


DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND


“MORE THAN 90 PER CENT OF OUR STUDENTS LIVE WITHIN 10 MINUTES OF THE CAMPUS. IT CREATES A STRONG, CLOSE-KNIT AND DYNAMIC COMMUNITY”


UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO


IT IS LOCATED on the other side of the world, but the University of Otago has more in common with the University of Cambridge than some might think. Firstly, there’s its history. Founded in 1869, the Dunedin-based institution, in the south of New Zealand’s South Island, isn’t quite as old as its English counterpart but it is its country’s oldest university. As such, it has many traditions, which range from the Capping Show (one of the oldest student revues in the world, like that of Cambridge’s Footlights) to its strong literary heritage—Thomas Burns, nephew of the poet Robert Burns, was its first chancellor.


Another similarity is the beauty of the university. Dunedin is a campus town—its students make up 20,000 of the city’s 120,000 population— and in 2014 it was rated by The Huffington Post as one of the world’s 15 most beautiful universities. “We have fine buildings and an abundance of arts, culture and heritage,” says Professor Richard Blaikie, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, who is a physics graduate of Otago and PhD graduate of Cambridge. “More than 90 per cent of our students live within 10 minutes of the campus. It creates a strong, close-knit and dynamic community.”


GLOBAL REPUTATION The university has a global reputation for excellence across the board. In sports, its rugby club has produced more All Blacks than any other university club in the country, and its rowing team consistently wins national and international inter-varsity championships. Academically, Otago is a leader in science, health sciences, humanities and commerce, with the prime minister awarding it more “Supreme Awards” in teaching than any other New Zealand university, and its students winning dozens of Rhodes Scholarships over the years.


There is also a consistently higher proportion of PhD students at Otago


than anywhere else nationwide. This is partly down to its reputation as a world-class educational institution, but also because of its extensive international network of partner universities. It is in research, however, that Otago truly excels. Students are well


supported, with postgrads enjoying a three-to-one ratio with research staff. They regularly win top awards and funding grants, and the university currently hosts two prestigious new Centres of Research Excellence.


ENTERPRISING IDEAS Its more recent move into entrepreneurial-focused activities has, characteristically, proved to be a success, with its Centre for Innovation’s combination of research and industry producing tremendous results. “Whether student-led, faculty-led or industry-led innovation,” says Professor Blaikie, “we help to ‘hothouse’ new companies and work with established ones to grow their current products and develop new ones.” Pacific Edge is one such “hothouse” company. Having developed a successful diagnostic test for bladder cancer, it is now listed on the main board of New Zealand’s Stock Exchange and has other cancer diagnostics in the pipeline. Of course, there’s more to the University of Otago experience than


all of this—not least a strong local “foodie” culture, a commitment to sustainable living on campus, and the sea and mountains just a short drive away. “It takes a little longer to get to the ocean at Cambridge,” laughs Professor Blaikie. For the most part, however, there are strong links between the two institutions. “We’re built on similar traditions in a similar environment,” he says, “with the same drive for excellence in every area —just from the other side of the globe.”

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