Victoria University of Wellington |
Victoria University of Wellington is the oldest university
in Wellington, New Zealand. It is particularly well
known for its programmes in law, humanities, and certain scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses as well.
The university was established in 1897 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand by an Act of Parliament. It was named after Queen Victoria, as 1897 was the sixtieth
anniversary of her coronation. There was initially dispute as to where to site the university, and it initially opened in
temporary facilities. It was eventually decided to place it in Kelburn, where it still has its primary campus. This decision was
influenced in part by the Cable Car Company's donation of £1000 if the University was located in Kelburn, so students would
patronise its cable car, between the city and the University. The university's historic Hunter Building was opened in 1904.
The dissolution of the University of New Zealand in 1961 saw Victoria University become
independent, conferring its own degrees.
Gradually, the university expanded its facilities, its courses, and its student body. It presently has around 16,500 students
(including around 2000 students who came to study at the university from other countries). It has around 1,500 staff.
Its main campus is located on the hill of Kelburn, above the Wellington central business district, where its commerce,
humanities and science faculties are based. The law faculty is located in the restored Government Buildings, near Wellington
Railway Station and Parliament Buildings. A smaller campus in the Te Aro region of Wellington serves as a base for the
architecture and design schools.
Some degrees and papers in the fields of teaching and education are jointly taught with the Wellington College of Education, located in
the suburb of Karori, which shares its campus with the university.
Victoria University is also home to the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and
Nanotechnology. In late 2003, it was announced that the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research would move to the university's Kelburn
campus.
The Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association publishes a weekly magazine called Salient.
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