The University of Canterbury (UC; Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation Cantuar. or Cant. for Cantuariensis, the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbury College, the first constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is New Zealand's second-oldest university, after the University of Otago, which was founded four years earlier, in 1869.
Its original campus was in the Christchurch Central City, but in 1961 it became an independent university and began moving out of its original neo-gothic buildings, which were re-purposed as the Christchurch Arts Centre. The move was completed on 1 May 1975[6] and the university now operates its main campus in the Christchurch suburb of Ilam.
On 16 June 1873, the university was founded in the centre of Christchurch as Canterbury College, the first constituent college of the University of New Zealand and was funded by the then Canterbury Provincial Council. It became the second institution in New Zealand providing tertiary-level education (following the University of Otago, established in 1869), and the fourth in Australasia.[7] It was founded on the basis of the Oxbridge college system, but it differed from Oxbridge in that it admitted female students from its foundation. Its foundation professors arrived in 1874, namely, Charles Cook (Mathematics, University of Melbourne, St John's College, Cambridge), Alexander Bickerton (Chemistry and Physics, School of Mining, London), and John Macmillan Brown (University of Glasgow, Balliol College, Oxford).[8] A year later the first lectures began and in 1875 the first graduations took place. In 1880, Helen Connon was the first woman to graduate from the college, and in 1894, Apirana Ngata became the first Māori-born student to graduate with a degree.[9] The School of Art was founded in 1882, followed by the faculties of Arts, Science, Commerce, and Law in 1921, and Mental, Moral, and Social Sciences in 1924. The Students' Union, now known as the University of Canterbury Students Association, was founded in 1929 operating out of the Arts Centre of Christchurch Old Student Union Building, and the first edition of the student magazine Canta was published in 1930. In 1933, the name changed from Canterbury College to Canterbury University College.
Ilam Campus: The university has a main campus of 76 hectares (190 acres) at , a suburb of Christchurch about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the centre of the city. The Ilam campus maintains three libraries with the Central Library (Māori: Te Puna Mātauraka o Waitaha) housed in the tallest building on campus, the 11-storey Puaka–James Hight Building. The Ilam campus is where the Faculties of Education, Health, Science, Engineering, Business, Law and Arts are based. The University of Canterbury Students' Association is based there in the Haere roa building. The Ilam Campus is home to cafes and restaurants as well as a pharmacy, bookshop, the UC rec centre and the UC Health centre.
Aerial view of the Ilam Campus and Christchurch, with the campus prominently featured in the foreground.
Ilam
Dovedale Campus: The Dovedale Campus is 11 hectares (27 acres) and became a part of the University of Canterbury when the (a specialist teacher training institution) merged on 1 January 2007.[34] The Dovedale campus is located adjacent to the Ilam campus and is off Dovedale avenue. The campus consists of the old Henry Field Library, The Christchurch College of English, Ilam early Learning Centre and Hayashi and Sonoda student residences. The Faculty of Education also maintains a presence here.
Christchurch College of Education
: The Christchurch City Campus is made up of the Christchurch Arts Centre and the Manawa building which is a part of the Faculty of Health. Music and classics are again taught from the Christchurch Arts Centre in the old chemistry building,[35] and within the new Manawa building in Christchurch city health and education are taught.[36] The city campus also includes the Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities – home of the James Logie Memorial Collection.
Āpirana Ngata, New Zealand Politician and Lawyer, first Māori to receive a degree (BA, 1893)
Ernest Rutherford, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (BA, 1892; MA, 1893; BSc, 1894)
Margaret Mahy, Author of children's and young adult books (BA, 1955)
Roy Kerr, Mathematician who discovered the Kerr geometry (BSc, 1954; MSc, 1955)
John Key, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand (BCom, 1983)
Andrew Tipping, Justice of the Supreme Court of New Zealand (LLB, 1966)
Jenny Shipley, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand (Christchurch Teachers College, 1971)
Christopher Luxon, 42nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (BCom, 1992; MCom, 1993)
William Young, Justice of the Supreme Court of New Zealand (LLB(hons), 1974)
Ruth Richardson, Minister of Finance for the "Mother of all budgets" (LLB(hons), 1972)
Don Brash, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (BA, 1961; MA, 1962)
Nicola Willis, Minister of Finance (GradDipJour, 2017).
Bill Rowling, 30th Prime Minister of New Zealand (BA, 1949)
(1994) Based on the Parker–Hulme murder case, Juliet Hulme (later known as Anne Perry) was the daughter of Henry Hulme, the rector of the University of Canterbury, and she and Pauline Parker murdered Honorah Parker, Pauline's mother. During this period Juliet and her family lived on campus in the Ilam homestead (now the University of Canterbury Staff Club), where filming for the movie took place.[198]
The Ilam Homestead, home of the University of Canterbury Staff Club. The home of Juliet Hulme, during the 1950s.
Heavenly Creatures
Gardner, W. Jim; Beardsley, E. T.; Carter, T. E. (1973). Phillips, Neville Crompton (ed.). . Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
A History of the University of Canterbury, 1873–1973
Hight, J., Candy, A. M. F., & Canterbury College. (1927). A short history of the Canterbury College (University of New Zealand): With a register of graduates and associates of the college. Whitcombe and Tombs.
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