The story
19th century
The Otago Association's plan for the European settlement of southern New Zealand, conceived under the principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in the 1840s, envisaged a university.
Dunedin leaders Thomas Burns and James Macandrew urged the Otago Provincial Council during the 1860s to set aside a land endowment for an institute of higher education. An ordinance of the council established the university in 1869, giving it 100,000 acres (400 km2) of land and the power to grant degrees in Arts, Medicine, Law and Music. Burns was named Chancellor but he did not live to see the university open on 5 July 1871.
The university conferred just one degree, to Alexander Watt Williamson, before becoming an affiliated college of the federal University of New Zealand in 1874. With the dissolution of the University of New Zealand in 1961 and the passage of the University of Otago Amendment Act 1961, the university resumed its power to confer degrees.
Originally operating from William Mason's Post Office building on Princes Street, it relocated to Maxwell Bury's Clocktower and Geology buildings in 1878 and 1879. This evolved into the Clocktower complex, a striking group of Gothic revival buildings at the heart of the campus. These buildings were inspired by the then-new main building at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Otago was the first university in Australasia to permit women to take a law degree. Ethel Benjamin graduated LLB in 1897. Later that year she became the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court.
20th century
The University of Otago helped train medical personnel as part of the Otago University Medical Corps. They supplied or trained most of the New Zealand Army's doctors and dentists during the First World War.
Robert Jack made the first radio broadcast in New Zealand from the Department of Physics on 17 November 1921.
Queen Elizabeth II visited the university library with the Duke of Edinburgh on 18 March 1970. This was the first time the royals completed informal "walkabouts" to meet the public, and it was the first visit of Prince Charles (then 21 years old) and Princess Anne (19 years) to this country.
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21st century
In May 2010 the university joined the Matariki Network of Universities (MNU) together with Dartmouth College (US), Durham University (UK), Queen's University (Canada), University of Tübingen (Germany), University of Western Australia (Australia) and Uppsala University (Sweden).
Beginning in 2015 university Vice-Chancellor Harlene Hayne and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Tony Ballantyne implemented cuts in academic and support staff which generated enduring controversy. In this context The New Zealand Herald characterised the university's 'climate' as one of top-down 'suppression and fear' for its employees. The Otago Daily Times reported on 'demoralised teachers and researchers' who were 'locked in pain and anger at what their institution had become' and later opined that 'the university desperately needs a reset'. In 2020 the University of Otago announced that Hayne would be leaving the university and that Ballantyne would be given a new role, namely, leading the Division of External Engagement to attend to alumni relations and liaising with secondary schools, among other matters.
In December 2020, eight graduation ceremonies scheduled for that month were disrupted following threats to carry out a firearms and explosives attack on students attending graduation ceremonies scheduled for 7 and 8 December. On 18 December, a 22-year-old woman appeared in the Auckland District Court on charges of threatening harm to people or property. Court documents have described the threat as being of a "magnitude surpassing the 15 March Christchurch mosque massacres." On 14 July 2021, the woman, who has interim name suppression, admitted to threatening to carry out a firearms and explosives attack against Otago students. Her lawyer applied for a discharge without conviction. On 12 May 2022, the woman was sentenced to five months community detention and nine months intensive supervision. According to the University Chancellor, the bomb threat and subsequent cancellation of eight graduation ceremonies cost the University NZ$1.3 million.
In mid-April 2023, Otago University reported that it was facing a NZ$60 million deficit due to declining student enrolments and a shortfall in government funding. In response, acting vice-chancellor Helen Nicholson stated that the university was considering laying off several hundred staff members including academics. This marked the first time since its founding in 1878 that the university has faced a major debt crisis. According to the Otago Daily Times, the university had only started borrowing in mid-December 2022, incurring a year-end debt of NZ$30 million. While the university was able to come out of debt in January 2023 following a regular injection of government funding, the university subsequently incurred more debt in 2023 due to its capital programme of refurbishing existing buildings and building new buildings. In response, students staged a protest against the proposed cuts. Otago University Students Association president Quintin Jane also called on Education Minister Jan Tinetti to increase funding for universities. In late May 2023, the Otago Daily Times reported that the university had declined to inform staff of its NZ$60 million budget shortfall in November 2022. In late June 2023, the government announced a NZ$128 million funding injection for degree-level and postgraduate programmes for New Zealand universities and other tertiary institutions. In response, acting vice-chancellor Nicholson stated that the university would still proceed with job cuts since the funding would only come into effect from 2024 onwards.
In March 2024, Grant Robertson was designated as the next vice-chancellor, commencing July 2024. This announcement was accompanied by a 'major' 'almost wholesale' replacement of the university leadership. While university chancellor Stephen Higgs and the university council supported Robertson's appointment, there was mixed reception from donors. While some were supportive, several objected to appointing a former politician due to his non-academic background and record as finance minister. Several alumni also withheld donations and funding to Otago University following Robertson's appointment. In mid May 2024, the Otago Daily Times reported that donations to the University's Foundation Trust had declined from NZ$12.25 million in 2022 to NZ$7.09m in 2023. University development and alumni relations office director Shelagh Murray attributed the decline in donor funding to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, the economic recession and the cost-of-living crisis on individuals and businesses.
In early March 2026, the University confirmed plans to establish a new campus in Queenstown, including a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and a purpose-built student accommodation by 2030.
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Otago, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5