Victoria University College
| Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika a Māui | |
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| Motto | Sapientia magis auro desideranda (Latin) |
|---|---|
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Motto in English
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Wisdom is more to be desired than gold |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1897 |
| Chancellor | Sir Neville Jordan |
| Vice-Chancellor | Grant Guilford |
| Students | 21,202 |
| Undergraduates | 16,787(2012) |
| Postgraduates | 4,829 (2012) |
| Location |
Wellington,  New Zealand
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| Campus | Urban |
| Website | www |
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Victoria University of Wellington (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika a Māui) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, and offers a broad range of other courses. Entry to all courses at first year is open, and entry to second year in some programmes (e.g. law, criminology, creative writing, architecture) is restricted.
Victoria had the highest average research grade in the New Zealand Government's Performance-Based Research Fund exercise in 2012, having been ranked 4th in 2006 and 3rd in 2003. Victoria has been ranked 229th in the World's Top 500 universities by the QS World University Rankings (2015), an increase of 46 from the 2014 ranking. In 2017's QS World University Rankings, Victoria was ranked in the top 2% of universities in the world and in the top 1% for 14 subjects.
Victoria is named after Queen Victoria, as 1897 was the 60th anniversary of her coronation. There was a dispute initially as to where to site it, and it opened in temporary facilities in Thorndon. It was eventually decided to place it in Kelburn, where it still has its primary campus. This decision was influenced by the Cable Car company's offer of a donation of £1,000 if it were located in Kelburn so that students would patronise the Cable Car from the city. Several of the Company investors like Martin Kennedy were supporters of Seddon, who stalled on releasing land on the alternative Mount Cook Gaol site for the university, although this site was widely supported in Wellington.
The foundation stone of the historic Hunter Building was laid in 1904. The original name was Victoria University College, but on the dissolution of the University of New Zealand in 1961 Victoria or "Vic" became the Victoria University of Wellington, conferring its own degrees.
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Wikipedia