Universities NZ

Congratulations to New Zealand's Rhodes Scholars for 2026: Naianga Tapiata (The University of Waikato), Lily Stelling (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington of Wellington and Jannik Wittgen (Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland).

Established in 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest international scholarship programme, bringing outstanding young people together from around the world to study at the University of Oxford.

https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/latest-news-and-publications/new-zealands-2026-rhodes-scholars-announced

Congratulations to Dr Chris Mayo, Zillah Daysh and Alex Barnes who are off to the University of Cambridge to study multi-modal AI, computational biophysics and 2D materials as recipients of this year's Woolf Fisher Scholarships.
Read more about their study:
https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/latest-news-and-publications/three-2025-woolf-fisher-scholars-announced

Congratulations to the 2025 recipients of the prestigious William Georgetti Scholarships. Read more about their achievements and future studies in New York, Oxford and Amsterdam.

https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/latest-news-and-publications/law-neuroscience-and-economics-topics-2025-william-georgetti-scholars

Learn more about our postgraduate scholarships open now:
https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/scholarships

Thinking about university next year but need to know more? Check out your options on our website:

www.thinkingaboutuni.nz

A university education is an investment which opens options and opportunities for your future. And we have 8 great unis to go to in 2026!

Check out our guides to choosing your university and what subjects you can study.

www.thinkingaboutuni.nz

Worth $50,000, the annual Critic and Conscience of Society Award is one of New Zealand’s most valuable independent awards for a university academic.

The Award recognises university staff members who have used their academic expertise to publicly raise awareness or comment on an issue of importance to New Zealand society.

Some notable previous winners of the award include international relations expert Professor Robert Patman (University of Otago); legal expert Dr Dean Knight (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington); microbiologist and infectious disease expert Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles (University of Auckland), and freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington).

The Award was established in 2017 by Grant and Marilyn Nelson through their philanthropic company The GAMA Foundation.

It is not necessary to be nominated, and academics can apply via an online form.

For more information, visit Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara. https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/critic-and-conscience-society-award

Applications close on 28 February, 2025.

Congrats to the four winners of this year's Woolf Fisher Scholarships to the University of Cambridge! 👏🌏🏆

Sophia Bebelman, Petra Fisher, Alexander Matthews, and Tristan Pilditch will embark on groundbreaking research in fields ranging from cancer treatment to astrophysics, neuroscience, and aerospace engineering.
Read more here bit.ly/3YlQITn

University of Auckland - Waipapa Taumata Rau
University of Otago

Excellent news! UNZ and Paraguay's BECAL have just signed a joint scholarship agreement which will open the doors for PhD students from Paraguay to study in NZ! 📣 👏 🎓


https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/latest-news-and-publications/unz-and-paraguay%E2%80%99s-becal-establish-joint-scholarship-programme

Congratulations to Elsie Williams and Phoebe Utteridge from the University of Canterbury who are the inaugural recipients of the Brian Gaynor Scholarship for journalism! 🎉 📢 🎤 📝

The scholarship, administered by UNZ, encourages and supports final-year undergraduate students interested in pursuing journalism as a career, with a focus on business journalism, and recognises the contribution that Brian Gaynor (co-founder of Milford Asset Management Limited) made to business journalism in New Zealand.
https://bit.ly/3YTz4ae

Good news! Universities New Zealand -Te Pōkai Tara (UNZ) on behalf of Aotearoa New Zealand’s eight universities, and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ (USFQ) in Ecuador have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote international academic collaboration between faculty and students.

Generating cross-border collaborations and people to people links is one of the core functions of universities, and we’re delighted to see this MOU come into being.

A fantastic afternoon for UNZ’s continued involvement in Erasmus+!

Today UNZ’s CE Chris Whelan and Ministry of Education’s Deputy Secretary – Policy, Andy Jackson, together signed the Memorandum of Arrangement between UNZ and MoE on Erasmus+.

With a budget of €26.2 billion, Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport.

Find out more https://bit.ly/45T2Uxh

We were joined by the ever-effervescent European Union Ambassador HE Lawrence Meredith, MoE’s Wendy Hart (Chief Adviser International), Lucy Ross (Political and Economic Adviser, EU Delegation to NZ), MFAT’s Glenys Karran (Acting Unit Manager, Europe Division) and MFAT’s Tamara Nash (Policy Officer, Europe Division).

UNZ’s wonderful Jane Edwards is our Erasmus+ contact point, so please reach out to her to find out more.