The following is a complete list of honorary (also known as honoris causa) doctorates issued by the University of New Zealand before it was disestablished in 1961 and its constituent colleges raised to full university status. It does not include normal doctorates of the same name which were awarded over the same period.
| Year | Recipient[1] | Degree | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Ernest Rutherford | DSc | |
| 1932 | Leonard Cockayne | DSc | |
| 1935 | Diamond Jenness | LittD | |
| 1937 | Te Rangi Hīroa | DSc | |
| 1940 | George Julius | DSc | |
| 1941 | William Sinclair Marris | LittD | |
| 1942 | William Benham | DSc | |
| 1943 | Alexander Aitken | DSc | |
| 1948 | Āpirana Ngata | LittD | |
| 1949 | William Beveridge | LittD | |
| 1949 | Ronald Syme | LittD | |
| 1949 | Patrick Marshall | DSc | |
| 1950 | Thomas Hunter | LittD | |
| 1950 | Raymond Priestley | DSc | |
| 1951 | Noel Benson | DSc | |
| 1951 | James Hight | LLD | |
| 1951 | James B. Conant | DSc | |
| 1952 | Bernard Freyberg | LLD | |
| 1953 | Bruce Levy | DSc | |
| 1954 | Charles Cotton | LLD | |
| 1955 | Arthur Sims | LLD | |
| 1955 | Howard Kippenberger | LLD | |
| 1955 | Harold Mattingly | LittD | |
| 1955 | John Tresidder Sheppard | LittD | |
| 1956 | William Davies[2] | DSc | |
| 1957 | Macfarlane Burnet | LLD | |
| 1957 | John B. Condliffe | LittD | |
| 1957 | Baden Powell | DSc | |
| 1957 | Theodore Rigg | DSc | |
| 1957 | Leonard Wild | DSc | |
| 1959 | Henry Forder[3] | DSc | |
| 1960 | Lawrence Bragg | DSc | |
| 1960 | Arnold Wall | DSc | |
| 1961 | Charles Lyttelton | LLD | |
| 1961 | William Hollis Cocker[4] | LLD | |
| 1961 | George Currie | LLD | |
| 1961 | Ian Alistair Gordon[5] [6] | LittD | |
| 1961 | Arthur Porritt | LLD | |
| 1961 | David Smith | LLD | |
| 1961 | Duncan Stout | LLD |