Master of Arts in History

at The University of Waikato - Hamilton Campus New Zealand

Whether you enjoy solving problems in a laboratory or working outdoors, our Biological Sciences program will provide you with the ultimate learning environment. Surrounded by lakes, rivers, intriguing ecosystems, and many important biological industries, the University of Waikato is uniquely placed in the heart of New Zealand’s North Island.

Waikato University’s Biological Sciences research is highly regarded internationally. Our projects are supported by multi-million dollar investments from government and industry, many of which have significant iwi and other community involvement. These include lakes management, freshwater ecology, horticultural and agricultural research, coastal marine science and aquaculture, urban restoration, animal behaviour and physiology, medical microbiology and Antarctic ecosystems. This funding supports many student and collaborative projects, together with scholarship and postgraduate opportunities.

Build a successful career
Careers in Biological Sciences come in many shapes and sizes, with many offering opportunities for travel. From managing the Savannah animals at Hamilton Zoo, to working with embryos at a London fertility clinic, our graduates find jobs in exciting and challenging industries in New Zealand and overseas. You could find a career as an ecologist managing the restoration of natural ecosystems, a physiologist aiming to understand how organisms function, or a geneticist using DNA as the key to identifying diseases or organisms.

The Bachelor of Computer Science is a specialised, industry aligned, three-year degree where you  will gain experience in a wide range of fields. Learn how to identify and solve problems, and apply and evaluate solutions and techniques.

Graduates of the Bachelor of Computer Science will be ‘industry ready’ and have the capability to design and implement creative solutions in diverse technological contexts.  Students will complete a work-integrated learning paper in their third year, and can also elect to complete a larger work placement to further develop their real-world experience. If students choose this option then help in securing a placement will be provided by our Work-Integrated Learning Team.

As Indigenous world views become increasingly important to society, a rapidly emerging area of study is Indigenous Studies. The Maori creative and performing arts papers diversify your existing program and provide unique insights into Maori tikanga.

Learning about Maori culture, language and knowledge is not just for Maori; it is crucial for all New Zealanders and international visitors to comprehend how Aotearoa/New Zealand’s unique Indigenous culture defines New Zealand’s identity - it is a cultural, social, economic and political force.

Also, learn how Maori Studies is located in the broader and global context of Indigenous Studies; a discipline that has flourished in the last decade as Indigenous scholars have confronted some of the major issues facing the world, such as efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Finance is all about achieving the best return relative to risk, and helping organisations add value for their shareholders. Studying Finance at Waikato University will prepare you for highly paid positions in the financial and business sectors anywhere in the world.

Practical assignments will prepare you for exactly what you'll encounter in your financial career. For example, students get to work on a funds simulation project using real data, and prepare a report on a publicly listed New Zealand or Australian company, while playing the role of a trainee investment analyst.

You also have the opportunity to do a practical workplace internship or applied research project as part of your degree.

If you enjoy mathematics, accounting, economics, and using analytical tools to find the meaning behind numbers, than finance may be the right fit for you.

Studying International Relations and Security Studies at Waikato includes aspects of international law and trade, and focuses on particular regions of concern (notably, the Middle-East and South-East Asia). A wide range of different length dissertations and theses can be undertaken allowing you to focus on an area of special interest.

Like most states, New Zealand depends for its security and prosperity on regional and international stability. Its political, economic and societal well-being can be affected by, for example, major power relations; global financial crisis; and the rise of violent extremist non-state actors and the responses to them. As a good international citizen, New Zealand seeks to play a role in the international institutions which try to uphold international law and order and to contribute to international stabilisation operations in various countries.

Learn about Population Studies through the National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis at Waikato and gain a solid, research-led understanding of the population issues facing developed and developing countries, with a particular emphasis on the South Pacific.

The National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis (NIDEA) is a research institute based in the University's School of Social Sciences. It is New Zealand's sole national institute of demographic and population-focused research, and the only such unit to generate and coordinate New Zealand research in population studies.

Population problems are among the most serious challenges we face for the 21st Century. Population issues have implications for the environment, employment, families, health, urbanisation, migration, security in old age and refugee movements. It is vital that research develops integrated approaches to these issues, and policy makers and planners pay serious attention to population trends, their causes and effects.

Explore the world of metals, polymers, ceramics, composites and semiconductors. From levitating trains to electronic paper, there are some exciting developments underway in the world of Materials Science that you could be a part of!

Materials Science focuses on understanding the intrinsic structure of a material and the control of its structure through processing. It studies the relationship of the engineering properties of the three main classes of materials (metals, polymers and ceramics) as well as composites and semiconductors.

Materials Scientists are in high demand internationally – particularly within the thriving polymer/plastics, metals, ceramics and composites industries. Your detailed understanding of material properties will help you to make important decisions on how to develop new materials and which materials should be used for specific products or applications.

The wider Waikato region contains the highest density of materials-based companies in New Zealand, so as a University of Waikato Materials Science graduate you could also have a number of local employment opportunities available to you.  You'll also gain the skills and knowledge to contribute to creating an engineering-based knowledge economy in New Zealand.

Efficiently converting the world’s raw materials and commodity goods into products is important to the global economy.  To do this, we need to understand the properties of materials as diverse as food, wood, metals, plastics and fuel.

By studying Materials and Processing at the University of Waikato, you will learn how to add value to raw materials used to manufacture a number of useful products, while minimising waste.  These products can be as varied as dietary formulae, foods, ceramics that can withstand high temperatures, new metal alloys, pharmaceuticals, laminated boards, functional proteins, and composites.

Materials and processing skills are used in industrial and other activities where materials are undergoing chemical, biochemical or physical changes.

The Electrical and Electronic Engineering subject at Waikato is a uniquely future-focused integration of computer science involving software programming, data management, artificial intelligence and cyber-security with core electrical and electronic principles in modern power systems, electronic design, embedded systems and communication.

As a graduate specialising in Electrical and Electronic Engineering you will be ready to contribute to the electricity industry evolution from legacy generation and distribution models into an immediate future of distributed generation and storage, smart grids and new generation paradigms around renewable resources. These trends impact not just the traditional electricity industry itself, but also generate new opportunities and requirements within agriculture, manufacturing, construction, transport electrification and automation and smart building management.

Work placements completed as part of this program provides opportunity for practical experience and robust engineering and design skill development in relevant industries.

Environmental Planning at Waikato develops your knowledge of how human behaviour affects the environment. We'll inspire you to understand how social, economic and cultural aspects, and the physical environment contribute to problems and provide solutions.

During your Environmental Planning studies, we'll involve you in a variety of other academic pursuits that enable you to understand the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues. You'll take papers in the social and natural sciences and make direct connections between human behaviour, politics and the natural environment.

Learning isn't all in the classroom, either. We take frequent field trips to explore first-hand the impact humans have on the local environment. You'll do practical group research projects such as investigate urban regeneration of the Central Business District and study policy options to manage human impact on coastal dune systems.

It's a vocational program, which means you'll have the professional qualification, skills and expertise that will enable you to make a positive impact on the places you love and the places you live.