Staff cuts drag universities down in rankings

Staff cuts despite growing student numbers have dragged most New Zealand universities down in the latest world rankings, after six of the country’s eight universities dropped in the London-based QS rankings, which are regarded as the most important for attracting international students, writes Simon Collins for the New Zealand Herald.

Only two of the country’s smallest universities, Waikato and Lincoln, have moved up the ranks but seven New Zealand universities were marked down this year on their academic reputation, based on asking 83,000 academics around the world to list the top universities in their fields.

Six declined in a survey asking 30,000 global employers which universities provided their most competent, innovative and effective graduates. But New Zealand's worst result was on staff/student ratios. Universities New Zealand Director Chris Whelan said this reflected a funding squeeze. “Over the last 10 years we saw a relatively steep real decline in per-student funding in the first half, reversed slightly in the second half,” he said.
Full report on the Newstalk ZB site