Int'l impact of New Zealand academic research rises: gov't

WELLINGTON, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The impact of New Zealand's academic research has been rising against that of the rest of the world, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce said Wednesday.

A government report showed the rate of citation of New Zealand university research was 1.26 times the world average from 2010 to 2014.

This compared with a relative impact of 1.10 in 2005-2009 and 0.96 in 2001-2005, said the report.

"However, one factor has been the impact of some highly cited papers with multiple authors in relation to the Hadron Collider. When we remove physics from the data the impact in 2010-2014 is 1.23," said the report.

The high quality of New Zealand academic research was one reason the government felt confident to invest more in research-funding organizations, Joyce said in a statement.

In this year's Budget, the government had invested 761 million NZ dollars (553.93 million U.S. dollars) over four years in science, skills, tertiary education and regional development initiatives.

The report also showed that since 2005, the number of domestic graduates completing doctorates had increased on average by 2 percent each year, while the numbers of international students completing doctorates in New Zealand had risen by around 25 percent a year.

"Highly skilled people like these are an essential component of our 21st Century workforce," said Joyce.