Over the past ten years, New Zealand’s world university rankings have shown a
consistent downward trend. This trend now continues even further with the latest annual Times Higher Education survey showing New Zealand's top university, Auckland, has
fallen 27 places from 165th to 192nd over the past 12 months.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11917408

But, in the same survey, not just one, but six, Australian universities now rank among the world’s top 100.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-australia

While there will be many factors contributing to this unwelcome decline, the core message is that New Zealand’s top-ranked university has failed to compete with the rapid worldwide increase in tertiary educational expectations and standards,
particularly amongst the Asian countries. Most significantly off all, according to the survey, compared to previous surveys, Auckland University “suffers from lower teaching and research reputations and a poorer citation impact.”

In other words, where reputation is all, among its global competitors New Zealand’s top university is in steady decline as an authoritative source of academic reference. As a result, the academic world increasingly has lower expectations of New Zealand'
s top university.

Since it’s a given that increased economic prosperity is driven by rising educational standards and vice-versa - a virtuous circle - this woeful scenario
can only be a symptom of just how widely and deeply New Zealand’s academic and economic drift
and stultification has penetrated the fabric of New Zealand society.

Seriously, this is not a good look.

The truth is, it's not so much New Zealand's world ranking per se; it's the steady decline in those rankings over the past decade that should be the wakeup
call for all those who, from primary school to gown-and-mortarboard ceremony, allegedly set New
Zealand's academic bar.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)