Auckland Grammar School is the pre-eminent academic secondary school in New Zealand. Over the years the School has produced:

• 25 Rhodes Scholars (to Oxford University UK)
• 14 Girdlers Scholars (to Cambridge University UK)
• 2 Robertson Scholars (to Duke University USA)
• 7 Fellows of the Royal Society of London (the largest number of any school outside UK)
• 1 Fields Medal winner (Vaughan Jones 1990)

Exceptional National Examination Success

The School’s success in external national and international examinations is unparalleled:

• Regularly ranked in the top 5 schools in the elite New Zealand Scholarship examination
• 100% pass rate in International Cambridge A-level exams since boys started entering these exams in 2004
• Consistently had University Entrance pass rates over 90% during the past 17 years
• Majority of entrants ranked in the top 1% in other international examinations (e.g. American Classical League and Australian Mathematics, Science and English)

2010 Grammar Academic Diaspora

Education in New Zealand and around the world is becoming increasingly globalised and with prestigious universities now outwardly searching for students, we are very proud to have a number of Grammar boys gaining places at these highly regarded institutions.

While the School has always had boys accepted into universities overseas on the basis of their strong academic performance in external examinations, the number is increasing and the spread widening.

The international qualifications offered at Grammar provide a more widely recognised and ‘portable’ qualification that has undoubtedly facilitated Grammar Academic Diaspora, enabling our students to be internationally benchmarked and providing a measure of the School’s achievement in a global context.

This year we have had top scholars accepted for undergraduate study at the following prestigious international universities:

UK

• Oxford University
• Imperial College London
• London School of Economics and Political Science

USA

• Duke University
• Dartmouth College (Ivy League)

Australia

• Melbourne University
• University of Queensland
• Flinders University
• Macquarie University

In terms of postgraduate study, we currently have a large number of past students studying towards Masters and PhD degrees in the UK, USA and Australia. Brothers Rajiv and Avinash Sharma are both studying at Oxford Univeristy; Rajiv for a PhD and Avinesh a postgraduate diploma in medicine. Another old boy, Eric Liu, has just been accepted into a PhD programme also at Oxford, while David Delamore, who topped the Engineering School at The University of Auckland, is currently studying for a PhD at Cambridge University and Micah Block is at Stanford University in the USA on a PhD programme.

This year more old boys will begin post-graduate study at Cornell, Columbia, Stanford and Minnesota in the USA and another will begin his PhD at Oxford.

While historically it has been more common for students to look at offshore universities at postgraduate level, there has been a growing trend for our students to aim to pursue undergraduate study overseas since we have been offering international qualifications.

Sam George, who began undergraduate study at Oxford last year in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, says that studying CIE undoubtedly made for a natural transition to an international university. But he adds that a strong education also has universal currency. “This explains why old boys in both New Zealand and overseas universities continue to achieve at very high levels.” Sam believes we should encourage people to celebrate New Zealand students going away for their undergraduate degrees. “In an increasingly globalising world, the skills and networks they will develop overseas will be important contributions to New Zealand’s future.”

While we applaud the initiative and aspiration of our boys in applying for places at these highly renowned universities, we also hope they will eventually return to New Zealand and contribute to the development of their home country.
 

REPRESENTING NEW ZEALAND

In the past 3 years, 55 New Zealand students have travelled internationally to represent New Zealand at the annual Biology Chemistry and Mathematical Olympiads and the International Young Physicists Tournament.

These events include the best scholars of the world and New Zealand competes with distinction, regularly winning medals. 19 of the 55 New Zealand students selected to compete in the past 3 years have been from Auckland Grammar School – a record surpassing any other school.