Excellence in Education & Research

A world-class education - our bold commitment to students

A University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau education puts students at the centre of their learning, engages them in a research-led education, and equips them to make a difference in the world.

We provide our students with a broad range of intellectually challenging experiences that are informed by international scholarship and anchored by a shared sense of belonging and identity based upon close engagement with mātauranga Māori and the knowledges and culture of tangata whenua. It will also recognise the role played in the life of the University and the wider community by Pacific peoples and the diverse multi-cultural communities of the Auckland region. These curricula and extra-curricula experiences lay the foundations for our graduates to make significant and fulfilling contributions to the national and global workforce and to local and national communities. They also prepare students to benefit from ongoing lifelong learning in post-graduation studies that enrich later stages of their personal, social and professional lives.

Excellence in Education

A world of research opportunities - calling the curious and the brave

The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau is New Zealand’s leading research institution. It is a large, diverse, comprehensive university with strengths in a wide range of disciplines and a commitment to the research excellence, collaborations and impact that this breadth enables. Our comprehensive nature shapes our view of both our place and purpose in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region and positions us, indeed obliges us, to address some difficult and important global and local challenges.

We achieve this, and contribute to the societies, environments, cultures, health, technology and economies of New Zealand and the world, through research excellence, connection with our communities, and commitment to the development of people who will lead positive change. Our research-intensive environment nurtures graduates who are able both to articulate and to challenge established knowledge, and who are equipped with the skills to reshape our world. The obligations and opportunities with respect to the principles of te Tiriti o Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi are acknowledged in all of our research endeavours.

Research excellence

Large-scale research institutes

The University currently supports two large-scale research institutes: The Liggins Institute is a world-leading centre for research into maternal, fetal and child health, nutrition, precision genomics, clinical trials and implementation science. The Auckland Bioengineering Institute is leading the development of a national Medtech Innovation Quarter and includes in its vision the development of virtual human models which can be personalised and used, with new medical devices, as the basis for improved and lower cost healthcare.

LSRI

UniServices Ltd

Research, innovation and commercialisation are key parts of the University of Auckland’s strategy. Auckland UniServices Ltd provides the business development and contracting function for more than $160m worth of research revenues from granting bodies and industry partners both in New Zealand and overseas. UniServices is also responsible for identifying, protecting and commercialising the intellectual property of the University and turning the results of research into financial and societal benefits and impacts. UniServices operates the University’s $40 million ‘Inventors’ Fund’, enabling it to be a first investor in ideas generated by our staff and students. It operates national investment committees, including the first Māori investment rōpū in the country. UniServices’ success is reflected in its performance in the annual Australasian Survey of Commercialisation of Public-funded Research (which covers all public-funded research institutions in Australia and New Zealand) in which it is placed in the top 5 in 5 of the categories, leading in the number of active spin-outs.

UniServices

The University hosts four of New Zealand’s 10 Centres of Research Excellence, established by the Government to drive innovative, international research.

Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand - Manaaki Mānawa

Hosted by the University of Auckland in partnership with: University of Otago, University of Canterbury, Auckland University of Technology, University of Waikato, and Massey University.

Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand Manaaki Mānawa, a national and international collaboration designed to work in partnership with iwi, hāpu, whanau and aiga to create a vibrant world-class centre for research into heart and respiratory diseases to improve outcomes, particularly for Māori and Pacific peoples who are the groups most affected by these diseases in New Zealand.

Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery

Hosted by the University of Auckland in partnership with the Universities of Otago, Canterbury, Victoria, and Waikato, and the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.

Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery which brings together more than 200 researchers in multi-disciplinary teams working in drug discovery and development aimed at treating serious disease.

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM), New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. It comprises 21 research partner entities conducting research of relevance to Māori. Underpinned by its vision of Māori leading New Zealand to the future, NPM research realises Māori aspirations for positive engagement in national life, enhances the University’s excellence in Indigenous scholarship, and provides solutions to major social, economic and environmental challenges facing New Zealand.

Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre for Complex Systems and Networks

Te Pūnaha Matatini, the Centre for Complex Systems and Networks, which brings together New Zealand’s leading researchers in physics, economics, mathematics, biology, computer science, operations management, statistics and social science to study complex systems and networks in the biosphere, the economy and the marketplace.