Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 22:59
Growth and Dissolution
The University of New Zealand was established by Act of Parliament in 1870. By the beginning of the year 1961 it had developed into a federal university comprising the University of Otago, the University of Canterbury, the University of Auckland, and the Victoria University of Wellington, together with the Canterbury Agricultural College at Lincoln and the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North. By Acts of Parliament passed during 1961, the University of New Zealand was disestablished and its functions were distributed among four independent and autonomous universities, each with its own new empowering Act. A University Grants Committee was also established by Act of Parliament.
The story of the University of New Zealand is one of provincial jealousies and rivalries in the educational and political arena and of restraints and frustations on the academic level, in the light of which the names of distinguished graduates, many of international fame, in every field of scholarship, shine with almost incredible brilliance.