University of Canterbury

The University of Canterbury is a public research university in Christchurch, New Zealand. It opened in 1873 as Canterbury College, a constituent of the federal University of New Zealand, and became an independent university in 1961. After the 2010–11 Canterbury earthquakes it concentrated teaching on the Ilam campus, a suburban site of about 76 hectares west of the city center.

It is organized in colleges of arts, science, engineering, education, health and human development, and business. Engineering, forestry, and the physical sciences are long-standing fields. Gateway Antarctica supports polar research, and the Quake Centre and civil-engineering groups work on seismic design and recovery. The School of Forestry and the College of Engineering anchor applied science on the Ilam site.

About 18,000 students study at Canterbury, including a large international cohort from Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. Academic and professional staff number in the low thousands. The best-known alumnus of Canterbury College is physicist Ernest Rutherford.

Graduate study includes taught master's degrees, research master's, and the Ph.D. by thesis under a supervisor. Semesters run from February to June and July to November, the southern-hemisphere calendar. Doctoral students are commonly supported by scholarships and research assistantships. Christchurch is a mid-size South Island city; graduate life is centered at Ilam, with the rebuilt central city a short trip away.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, University of Canterbury lists 1 master's program, in business & management. University of Canterbury holds rank 332 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.