Welcome to the Matariki Network of Universities
“Partnering for a better world”

The Matariki Network of Universities (MNU) is a select international group of outstanding universities, with each member leading international best practice in research and education based on long academic traditions.

MNU members are scholarly communities where excellence in research and education take equal priority; where leading researchers are directly engaged in all aspects of teaching; and where education is considered as a combination of academic learning and personal growth in a diverse community. Diversity is critical to education and ideas. Each member university welcomes staff and students who excel, from every culture and from wherever in the world they come.

The MNU has been established to enable the universities to enhance diversity, to share ideas and expertise, and to learn international best practice from each other, recognising the shared commitment to an ethos of excellence in research, scholarship and rounded education.

Each member of the MNU is amongst the oldest and foremost places of learning in its respective country, while reflecting a flexible, modern and international outlook. Each has distinguished traditions in research that advances human knowledge and makes a difference to the world we share. Each delivers an education that enhances both learning and personal development through community living and responsibility. Each focuses on a rounded education which is research-led, encourages interdisciplinarity with a full subject base across the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and has a mix of postgraduate and undergraduate students. The scale of the historic university cities or towns in which most are embedded enables staff and students to live and work together in a community with mutual respect for learning and each other.

While research is carried out wherever in the world there are questions to answer and ideas to share, member universities believe that the best education for individuals with the greatest potential – tomorrow’s leaders – requires participation in a close-knit scholarly community, learning directly from the world’s best scholars and from each other. This enables people to develop their full potential, including the personal attributes and skills necessary to succeed in life and contribute to the global community. Cultural and sporting activities, as well as social and community responsibility, feature alongside academic learning in the rounded education provided, fostering the development of students as rounded citizens.

Members of the MNU have come together for a range of activities, including enhanced student exchange, development of joint postgraduate programmes, social responsibility projects, research collaboration, visiting fellowships, staff exchange and secondments, benchmarking and sharing of best practice, and cultural and sporting activities. Of particular note, and in line with the theme of “Partnering for a better world”, an annual research meeting will be held with representatives from each member university, focusing on a topic of global importance.