历史

The University clocktower, looking east.

The Otago Association's plan for the European settlement of southern New Zealand, conceived under the principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in the 1840s, envisaged a university.

Dunedin leaders Thomas Burns and James Macandrew urged the Otago Provincial Council during the 1860s to set aside a land endowment for an institute of higher education. An ordinance of the council established the university in 1869, giving it 100,000 acres (400 km) of land and the power to grant degrees in Arts, Medicine, Law and Music. Burns was named Chancellor but he did not live to see the university open on 5 July 1871.

The university conferred just one degree, to Alexander Watt Williamson, before becoming an affiliate college of the federal University of New Zealand in 1874. With the dissolving of the University of New Zealand in 1961 and the passage of the University of Otago Amendment Act 1961, the university resumed its power to confer degrees.

Originally operating from William Mason's Post Office building on Princes Street, it relocated to Maxwell Bury's Clocktower and Geology buildings in 1878 and 1879. This evolved into the Clocktower complex, a striking group of Gothic revival buildings at the heart of the campus. These buildings were inspired by then-new main building at Glasgow University in Scotland.

Otago was the first university in Australasia to permit women to take a law degree. Ethel Benjamin graduated LLB in 1897. Later that year she became the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court.

Professor Robert Jack made the first radio broadcast in New Zealand from the physics department on 17 November 1921.

Because it had a wider range of courses than New Zealand's other university institutions Otago attracted more students from outside its provincial district. This led to the growth of colleges and informal accommodation in north Dunedin around the faculty buildings. This development of a residential campus gave Otago a more vibrant undergraduate student life at the same time as comparable but smaller developments in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland were eclipsed in the late 20th century. Otago now has the most substantial residential campus of any university in New Zealand or Australia, although this is not without its problems.

Faculties

The university's research vessel Polaris II entering Otago Harbour

Administratively, the university is divided into four divisions: Commerce, Health Sciences, Humanities and Sciences. For external and marketing purposes, the Division of Commerce is known as the School of Business, as that is the term commonly used for its equivalent in North America. Historically, there were a number of Schools and Faculties, which have now been grouped with stand alone departments to form these divisions.

In addition to the usual university disciplines, the Otago Medical School (founded 1875) is one of only two in New Zealand (with constituent branches in Christchurch and Wellington), and Otago is the only university in the country to offer training in Dentistry. Other professional schools and faculties not found in all New Zealand universities include Pharmacy, Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Medical Laboratory Science, and Surveying. It was also home to the School of Mines, until this was transferred to the University of Auckland in 1987. Theology is also offered, traditionally in conjunction with the School of Ministry, Knox College, and Holy Cross, Mosgiel.

Students

Campuses

In addition to the main Dunedin campus, the University has small facilities in Auckland and Wellington (based at Westpac Stadium). The medical schools have larger campuses near Christchurch and Wellington Hospitals. Additionally, the university has the Portobello Marine Laboratory inside Otago Harbour.

180° view of Dunedin shot from the hills on the west. The University can be seen in front of the large hill to the left.

Merger with Dunedin College of Education

The University and the Dunedin College of Education (a specialist teacher training institution) merged on 1 January 2007. The University of Otago College of Education is now based on the College site, and includes the College's campuses in Invercargill and Alexandra. Staff of the University's Faculty of Education relocated to the college site. A merger had been considered before, however the present talks progressed further, and more amicably, than previously.

Libraries

Interior of Central Library.

The University of Otago has ten libraries - seven based in Dunedin on the main university campus, the Education library in Southland, plus two medical libraries in Wellington and Christchurch. All libraries have wireless access.

The Central Library is part of the Information Services Building and has over 2000 study spaces. It has the Māori Resources Collection Te Aka a Tāwhaki, a collection pertaining to Te Ao Māori, and the Special Collections consisting of about 9,000 books printed before 1801.

The Health Sciences libraries are the Medical Library in the Sayers Building, and the Dental library on the ground floor of the Dental School. The Medical Library contains 150,000 volumes including 79,000 books, and receives over 1,600 periodicals. The Dental book collection consists of 2000 volumes.

The Science Library is at the north end of the campus in the Science III building, with seating for approximately 500.

Other libraries are:

• Hocken Library
• Sir Robert Stout Law Library
• The Bill Robertson Library

Distinctions

Many Fellowships add to the diversity of the people associated with "Otago". They include:

• Robert Burns Fellowship (literature)
• Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance
• Charles Hercus Fellowship
• Claude McCarthy Fellowship
• Foxley Fellowship
• Frances Hodgkins Fellowship (art)
• Henry Lang Fellowship
• Hocken Fellowship
• James Cook Fellowship
• Mozart Fellowship (music)
• THB Symons Fellowship
• William Evans Visiting Fellowship

In 1998, the physics department gained some fame for making the first Bose-Einstein condensate in the Southern Hemisphere.

The 2006 Government investigation into research quality (to serve as a basis for future funding) ranked Otago the top University in New Zealand overall, taking into account the quality of its staff and research produced. It was also ranked first in the categories of Clinical Medicine, Biomedical Science, Law, English Literature and Language, History and Earth Science. The Department of Philosophy received the highest score for any nominated academic unit. Otago had been ranked fourth in the 2004 assessment.

In 2006, a report released by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology found that Otago was the most research intensive university in New Zealand, with 40% of staff time devoted to research and development.

Journal "Science" has recommended worldwide study of Otago's Biochemistry database "Transterm", which has genomic data on 40,000 species.

In 2006, Otago was ranked 79th from a listing of top 200 institutions in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings [1][2] and within 201-300 in the Shanghai Jiaotong rankings of world top 500 universities. (PDF)

Residential Colleges

St Margaret's College affiliated to the University of Otago

The University of Otago owns, or is in affiliation with, fourteen residential colleges, which provide food, accommodation, social and welfare services. Most of these cater primarily for first year students, though some have a sizable number of second and higher year undergraduates, as well as occasionally a significant postgraduate population. While some teaching is normally undertaken at a college, this generally represents a small percentage of a resident's formal tuition.

The most colleges actively seek to foster a sense of community and academic achievement amongst their members through, variously, intercollegiate competitions, communal dining, apartment groups, traditionalism, independent students' clubs, college events and internal sporting and cultural societies.

Some colleges are co-institutional, accepting students from both the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic.

Student life

O-Week

Participants in the annual clocktower race lining up, ready to go.

'O-Week' or Orientation Week is the Otago equivalent of Fresher's Week. While the new students are sometimes referred to as 'freshers' the label of 'first years' is more common. O-week is organised by the Otago University Students' Association and involves competitions such as 'Fresher of the Year' whereby several students volunteer to carry out a series of tasks throughout the week before being voted to win. All tasks are related to the O-Week theme. The OUSA also organise events each night including various concerts, a comedy night, hypnotist plus busses to Carisbrook (at the other end of Dunedin) where the Highlanders usually schedule a game. Local bars organise events also with a range of live music and promotional deals including the Cookathon and a Miss O-Week competition hosted by The Outback. The Cookathon was held by a local pub (the Cook) with the premise that your first drink costs you about $20 which gives you a t-shirt, three meal vouchers and reduced price on drinks then you spend the rest of the day binge drinking and 'telephoning' the occasional jug with mates.

Traditions

Each year the first years are encouraged to attend the toga parade and party dressed in white sheets wrapped as togas. Retailers called for an end of the parade after property damage and disorder during the 2009 event. A clocktower race also occurs, in the style of Chariots of Fire. Students must race round the tower and attached building, beginning on the first chime of the clock at noon and completing before the chimes cease. Unlike Chariots of Fire, the task is possible with a couple of students completing each year.

The gutted remains of a burnt out couch on Queen Street

Themes

Previously each year a theme was chosen for the O-week festivities, usually based on a recent movie or TV show. The week was then branded with altered posters depicting the theme plus all events were somehow linked to the theme. This practice ended in 2008.

• Supersize Me - 2005
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 2006
• Prison Break - 2007
• Orientation '08 - 2008
• Orientation '09 - 2009

Behavioural Issues

Student behaviour is a major concern for both the University administration and Dunedin residents in general. Concerns over student behaviour prompted the University to introduce a Code of Conduct (CoC) which its students must abide by in 2007. The introduction of the CoC was accompanied by the establishment of the dedicated 'Campus Watch' security force to keep tabs on crime and anti-social behaviour on campus and in the student neighbourhoods nearby. Campus Watch reports directly to the University's Proctor.

Couch burning

Couch burning is a frequent, illegal, problem with partying students in the student neighbourhood surrounding the campus. In 2007, a pub owner was charged with sedition over a pamphlet offering O-Week students the prize of a fuel-soaked couch.

Riots

Large scale clashes between Otago and Canterbury University students and Police took place in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 related to events surrounding the Undie 500 car rally organised by students from Canterbury University. Other student social events during the year such as the Toga Parade and the Hyde Street Keg Race are also notable for attracting Police attention, but not to the scale of the Undie riots.

Protest

Otago students are notable for protesting contentious political issues in nearly every decade. In the 1960s students at Otago who were involved with the Progressive Youth Movement led protests against the Vietnam War. In the 1970s mixed flatting (males and females were prohibited from sharing housing up to that time) was contested in various creative ways by Otago students. On 28 September 1993 Otago students protested against a fee increase at the university, going as far as occupying the University Registry (Clocktower Building), which ended in a violent clash with police.. Since 2004, the Otago University NORML club has met weekly on the Otago campus to protest by smoking cannabis in defiance of New Zealand's cannabis laws. In 2008, several members were arrested and issued trespass notices from the Union Lawn, but the protests continue to this day.

Notable people

Faculty

• John Carew Eccles, Nobel Prize winner, professor of physiology at the Medical School from 1944 to 1951.
• Michael Cullen, Former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, lecturer from 1971 to 1981.
• James R. Flynn, intelligence researcher, namesake of the Flynn Effect
• J. L. Mackie, noted philosopher, faculty member 1955-1959
• William Noel Benson, geologist and head of the Geology Department from 1917 until 1951.
• Alan Musgrave, philosopher of science

Alumni and alumnae

(with Hall of Residence, if any, in parentheses where known)

• Arthur Henry Adams, journalist and writer
• Annette Baier, moral philosopher
• Barbara Anderson, novelist
• David Benson-Pope, former MP and Labour cabinet minister
• Dame Silvia Cartwright - former Governer General (2001-2006), former High Court judge
• Roderick Carr, former acting governor of the Reserve Bank, Vice-Chancellor of Canterbury University
• David Cunliffe (Carrington) - current Member of Parliament (Labour - New Lynn), former Minister of Health
• Sir Thomas Davis, first Cook Islands medical graduate in New Zealand, former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, High Commissioner to New Zealand, and research physiologist with NASA. M.B.Ch.B. (1945) LL.D. (2005).
• Marc Ellis (Unicol), rugby and TV personality
• Bill English (Selwyn) - Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, current Member of Parliament (National - Clutha-Southland)
• Janet Frame, author
• Ian Fraser, broadcaster, head of Television New Zealand
• William Fyfe, Geochemist
• Jon Gadsby, comedian and actor
• Tim Gibson, chief executive of NZ Trade & Enterprise
• Malcolm Grant, President and Provost, University College London, Environmental Law specialist.
• Julian Grimmond, co-producer of "The Amazing Race", which won two consecutive Primetime Emmys
• Graeme Hart, reportedly the richest person in New Zealand in 2007.
• Volker Heine, Theoretical physicist, Professor at the University of Cambridge
• Jan Hellriegel, singer/songwriter
• Greg Henderson, world-champion track cyclist and road cyclist
• Fergus Hume, English novelist
• David Kirk (Selwyn), Rhodes scholar, World Cup winning All Black captain and former CEO Fairfax (Australia)
• Josh Kronfeld,(Aquinas College) All Black and Physiotherapy graduate
• Chris Laidlaw, All Black and politician
• Michael Laws, (Arana Hall) politician, writer, broadcaster, Mayor of Wanganui
• John Edward "Jack" Lovelock, athlete
• Sir Kamisese Mara (Knox), Fijian politician
• Archibald McIndoe, plastic surgeon
• Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas, former head of the City of London Corporation.
• Joseph William Mellor, F.R.S., chemist
• Arnold Nordmeyer, Opposition and Labour Party Leader
• Anton Oliver (Unicol), rugby player and member of the All Blacks
• Prof. Datuk Dr. Mazlan Othman, astrophysicist and head of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs.
• Lord Porritt (Selwyn), Olympic Games 100 meters bronze medalist, Governor-General of New Zealand and physician to the Queen.
• Robert Stout (Aquinas College), Prime Minister & Chief Justice.
• Sulaiman Daud, Malaysian politician, minister.
• Peter Tapsell, Cabinet minister
• Jeremy Waldron, legal philosopher
• Simon Wigley, professor of philosophy, Bilkent University
• Allan Wilson, biologist
• Dr. Sarah Winters Professor Of English Studies, Children's Literature Studies Leader

Rhodes Scholars

(College at Oxford in brackets)(Source: List of NZ Rhodes Scholars) two of Dan Davin's novels are set at Otago University.

更多

• Capping Show
• Otago MBA
• Otago University AFC
• Otago University Debating Society
• Otago University Rowing Club
• Otago University Tramping Club
• OUSA Clubs and Societies Centre
• Scarfies
• University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry
• University of Otago Faculty of Law

参考文献

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: University of Otago

• University of Otago homepage
• Otago University Students' Association
• OUSA Clubs and Societies Centre
• General outline of Burns, Hodgkins, and Mozart Fellowships
• About the Bose-Einstein Condensate
• Otago University alumni profiles