Located on 87 hectares in the Christchurch suburb of Ilam, the University of Canterbury is a diverse, multicultural community of more than 22, 000 students and 1600 staff, with an annual operating budget of $275 million. Six hundred academic staff teach courses in more than 80 disciplines spread across five Colleges – Arts, Business and Economics, Education, Engineering, Science – and a School of Law. At the teaching and research hub is the 1.8 million-volume Central Library.The second oldest university in New Zealand (established in 1873), the University of Canterbury’s reputation for research attracts students from around the world who want to learn from acknowledged leaders in fields from accounting to zoology. With its up-to-date laboratories, field stations, research centres, state-of-the-art studios and performing arts facilities, the University is an exciting environment in which to pursue basic and applied research.Besides advancing knowledge in traditional fields of science and technology, humanities and social sciences, commerce and law, the University is at the vanguard of emerging research areas such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. In the humanities and social sciences, researchers at the University apply the latest theoretical tools to understand the cultural richness and social complexities of an interconnected, globalised economy.