Creating world-ready graduates
AUT’s mission is to create great graduates, and each member of our staff contributes to this. We offer exceptional learning experiences that prepare students to be successful wherever in the world their career may take them.
We encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and the ability to explore new technologies, challenge routine thinking and solve problems in new ways. We embrace new technologies to lead the learning of tomorrow and prepare our students for the rapidly changing world. As a contemporary university we also place an emphasis on working across disciplines in our research, and teaching and learning.
Thanks to our innovative teaching, excellent reputation and combination of theoretical and practical learning, AUT graduates are highly favoured by employers, with 95% of available graduates in paid employment within nine months of graduation.
World-class teaching and learning
We’re proud to be one of the world’s best modern universities – Times Higher Education has ranked us as the top millennial university in Australasia and number 14 in the world. We have an overall five-star rating from university rankings organisation QS, in addition to five star ratings for Teaching, Employability, Research, Internationalisation, Facilities, Innovation and Inclusiveness.
We have been a university since 2000, and are now the second largest in the country and ranked among the top 1% (251-300) of universities in the world.
Study with us and you can enrol in our range of world-ranked subjects, which include New Zealand’s top-ranked health programmes and the country’s best sport science school.
A global outlook
We know that to create truly great graduates, we must do more than get them ready for their career; we must get them ready for the world.
We are consistently ranked first in New Zealand for international outlook by world rankings organisations QS and Times Higher Education. We have more than 5,000 industry partners around the world, and have collaborated on research projects with 140 different countries. Our students are from 140 different countries, and half of our academic staff were born overseas, and they often share their international experience and connections with their students.
An innovative teaching and learning space
AUT’s three modern campuses have several award-winning buildings which were created using sustainable principles and feature inviting, collaborative and functional learning areas, auditoriums and research spaces. This includes the state-of-the-art Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences building, which has unique design features that mean it can be used as a teaching tool and ‘living lab’ where students can get hands-on experience.
We also have a number of world-class facilities including one of only two motion capture studios in the country; New Zealand’s top sports science facility, AUT Millennium; and the country’s only two major radio telescopes, which are involved in projects with international research partners including NASA.
AUT’s success in creating transformational educational spaces has been recognised with a five-star ranking for teaching and facilities, awarded by the university rankings organisation QS.
World-leading staff
Our academic staff are research-active and at the forefront of their disciplines. Many of them are internationally known as experts in their fields, and organisations around the world draw on their expertise for key projects.
For example, Associate Professor Felicity Lamm was appointed as the Government’s chief advisor for health and safety, and Professor Gail Pacheco’s research is being used by the Government to address the gender pay gap.
Professor Steve Henry was the first person in Australasia to secure a spot in the world-leading Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS in Houston to further his work on surface-modification technology Kode Technology, which has the potential to fight cancer.
Associate Professor Barbara Bollard’s innovative use of drones to monitor remote and unique ecosystems from Antarctica to Africa has caught the attention of scientists from NASA and the SETI Institute who recognise this approach could also help them find evidence of life on Mars.
Innovative and relevant research
AUT is ranked first in New Zealand for global research impact (the number of times our research is cited by academics globally) by Times Higher Education and the US News Global Universities Rankings.
We have more than 60 research centres and institutes delivering leading research – from space research to artificial intelligence and robotics, and ecology to physical activity and nutrition.
AUT research addresses issues facing the environment and society, and our discoveries are widely used. Our research also feeds back into the classroom, and students can contribute to and learn from these research discoveries.