“We make a huge impact and contribution through our students as highly-skilled employees and as volunteers in times of crisis, and through our academic researchers creating solutions to urgent problems. I know this contribution will continue to grow and I’m excited about this milestone in our journey into the future.”
The University of Canterbury was originally located on the site of what is now the Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora. Those heritage buildings were gifted to the people of Christchurch when the University moved to its current Ilam campus in 1975.
UC is celebrating its 150th with a year-long programme of events - including concerts, conferences, public talks and exhibitions.
Some UC history facts:
- James Hay and Frederick Fitchett were the first UC graduates in 1878
- Women have been admitted to study at UC since 1873 and the first female graduate was Helen Connon in 1880. She went on to become the first female honours graduate in the British Empire.
- In 1886 the first annual rugby match was played between UC and Otago University
- In 1893 Sir Āpirana Ngata became the first Māori scholar to complete a university degree
- Lord Ernest Rutherford studied at the University in the 1890s. He later won the Nobel Prize in chemistry and in 1917 became the first to split the atom.
- The first edition of the student magazine Canta was produced in 1930 – and it’s still going today
- In 1991 women graduates outnumbered men for the first time in the University's 118 years.
