Analysing the performance of New Zealand universities in the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities

The performance of New Zealand universities relative to the world’s top university based on the ARWU ‘per capita’ measure

The relative scores from the ARWU ‘per capita’ component measure for the New Zealand universities are presented in Figure 5. The score is relative to the top-ranked institution (in this case the California Institute of Technology) which received a score of 100. Note that in cases where there is no data available on the number of academic staff, the original weighted score of the five other ARWU components is used. So the results discussed in this section should be viewed with this caveat in mind.

In this measure the performance of New Zealand universities once again shows little evidence of any significant change over time. The average G8 universities per academic staff member score fell in 2010. One possible explanation is that the G8 universities improved their overall ranking through an increase in the size of their institutions in 2010, not necessarily by getting more productive.

Figure 5: Relative scores of New Zealand universities using the ARWU ‘per capita’ measure