While dropping in the Times Higher Education ranking, Auckland University improved its standing in another major ranking earlier this year. Photo: RNZ / Ziming Li
Two of New Zealand's largest universities and its smallest have lost ground in one of the main international university league tables.
The University of Auckland dropped two points in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2025 ranking to 152nd equal, falling out of the top 150 for the first time.
The University of Otago fell from the 301-350 band of universities to 351-400, its lowest position ever in the league table, while Lincoln University dropped from 401-500 to 501-600.
The remaining five universities' placings remained unchanged.
The results round out a mixed year for New Zealand universities in the three main university ranking systems.
In June, Auckland University improved its standing in another major ranking, the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, climbing from 68th to 65th place.
The University of Waikato also rose in the QS ranking while the remaining six universities held their ground or slipped slightly.
Also earlier this year, seven of the eight universities held their position in the Shanghai ranking, also known as the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Massey was the only New Zealand university to lose ground in that league table.
The Shanghai ranking was based on just six factors including number of staff with a Nobel or Fields prize, and number of papers published in the leading journals Nature and Science.
The QS ranking used measures including staff: Student ratios and reputation surveys of academics and employers.
The THE ranking was based mostly on research and teaching with measures including a reputation survey of academics, staff: student ratios, and numbers of citations of academics' research.
The THE ranking had Oxford, MIT, and Harvard as the top three institutions in the world.
The QS listed MIT, Imperial College, and Oxford as its top three.
The Shanghai ranking said the top three were Harvard, Stanford, and MIT.
The University of Auckland said its relative position improved in the THE ranking because this year's rankings covered 2092 universities, 185 more than last year.
It said the top five universities in Australia had all dropped in the rankings, while several well-funded Asian universities had risen.
The University of Otago said it was disappointed its ranking had dropped, but proud to remain the second-ranked university in New Zealand.
It said no New Zealand university improved, which indicated a broader trend affecting the country's university sector.
The university said during the period covered by the ranking measures universities faced challenges including falling government funding and a slow recovery of international students.
