146th in Arts & Humanities, 161st in Engineering & IT, 211th in Natural Sciences, and 94th in Social Sciences and Management. By 2018, these faculty rankings had all fallen considerably, and as of the release of the 2019 world university rankings, the three major university ranking organisations, ARWU, QS and THE, had all placed UC squarely in the middle of the pack of NZ universities at fourth place overall out of eight institutions, and in one case just two numerical positions above NZ's fifth-place university in the nation's lower division. In the 2016–2017 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, UC was ranked in the world's top 400 universities, up from being in just the world's top 500 universities in 2015. By 2021, however, UC had fallen back into just the top 600. Similarly, ARWU dropped UC from the top 400 universities in 2018 to just the top 500 in 2019, where it has remained ever since. The university was the first in New Zealand to be granted five stars by QS Stars. Unlike the QS World University rankings, QS Stars ratings are only given to universities that pay a fee; the programme is designed to give "those institutions that are not highly ranked or do not appear in the rankings an opportunity to reach out to their prospect students, to stand out and to be recognised for their excellence." Notable people Alumni Since it was founded, University of Canterbury alumni have made significant and creative contributions to society, the arts and sciences, business, national New Zealand, and international affairs. The University of Canterbury's alumni include four New Zealand Prime Ministers, the father of nuclear physics and the mathematician who discovered the exact solution to the Einstein field equations of general relativity. Rita Angus – painter Ian Axford – space scientist Michael Baigent – author and archaeologist Rosemary Banks – Ambassador to the United Nations David Beauchamp – civil engineer Rex Bergstrom – academic and economist Don Brash – Former Governor of the reserve bank of New Zealand and former leader of the opposition Eleanor Catton – writer and Man Booker Prize winner 2013 Neil Cherry – environmental scientist Mark Chignell – academic Nathan Cohen – world champion and Olympic champion rower Judith Collins – Politician Michael P. Collins – academic Helen Connon – educational pioneer Michael Cullen – former deputy prime minister and minister of finance Lianne Dalziel – 46th