Otago is distinguished as New Zealand’s first university and, in 2019, it marked its 150th anniversary, an important milestone for the University, Dunedin and New Zealand.
Discovering our past
The University of Otago, founded in 1869 by an ordinance of the Otago Provincial Council, is New Zealand’s oldest university.
It opened in July 1871 with a staff of just three Professors, one to teach Classics and English Language and Literature, another having responsibility for Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and the third to cover Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy.
The University was originally housed in a building (later the Stock Exchange) on the site of John Wickliffe House in Princes Street, but it moved to its present site with the completion of the northern parts of the Clocktower and Geology buildings in 1878 and 1879.
Learn more about the history and governance of the University of Otago.
– The university’s first home, complete with ‘loungers’, photographed around 1877. Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library records, 96-111/15, S17-612b.
I believe our vision for the future should echo our founding principles and reaffirm the University of Otago as a permanent centre of internationally renowned research and teaching excellence; a university that is committed to serving its local communities and continuing its contribution to the global community of scholars through excellence in teaching and research.
Harlene Hayne, Vice Chancellor 2011-2021