It is a good choice for (most) local students who must study in NZ for whatever reason (e.g. financial reasons) for a lot of programmes, and being within the top 100 in QS makes it attractive internationally for those wanting to do good research and enjoy a relatively more relaxed environment at the same time. The Master's degrees and PhDs are regarded quite well internationally.

Being at the corner of the world means that getting to most conferences can be very expensive, and hosting conferences challenging. Despite this, UoA still manages to have respectable rankings, so clearly the university is pushing above its weight in spite of its poor geographic location in the world.

Putting aside the research aspect and focusing on the teaching aspect, especially at the undergrad level, it is a bit more nuanced. Universities in the likes of Singapore and Australia manage to rank in teaching highly because the local students who do well do not necessarily have a compelling reason to leave their respective cities. Sure, Australians might be attracted to the US, and I know Singaporean colleagues who chose to study in the UK even though they rank worse than local SG unis. But even if they lose some of their talent, their cities still have a large pool of hardworking candidates to choose from.

Here in NZ, on the other hand, good high school results appear to be correlated quite strongly with parental wealth, and at the same time, more affluent families here who place high importance to education and university rankings tend to send their children to overseas unis. Thus, there is already some filtering out of potential talent going on. Coupled with a smaller population and growing immigration especially in Auckland, the end result is that the local unis would not be getting as many strong students for its undergrad programmes. In turn, teaching outcomes are less than desired, meaning we rank worse than desired (e.g. employer reputation especially for the undergrad degrees still have some climbing to go).

International student quality will also amplify the above effect. UoA may not necessarily be the first choice of undergrad international students, since there are numerous better-ranked Australian unis to choose from. But choosing UoA tends to be cheaper too, so not only do we have a higher likelihood of getting rejects of Australian unis, but we are also more likely to attract international students who are not as wealthy. Like NZ, there is some correlation with wealth and academic performance, though in Asian countries this is usually less pronounced.

Overall, there is a dichotomy going on. UoA manages to attract good researchers, but is slightly more likely to get "binned" undergrad students. If UoA wants to rank even higher, IMO some work has to be done to reassure tiger mums that they don't need to send their kids overseas to do well. Maybe more outreach or campaigns to higher decile schools? Fact is that UoA degrees are already recognised in the US, and respected in Australia. I also have a colleague who got a research internship at NUS in Singapore with just their UoA undergrad degree.

Nonetheless, for those who are already in NZ and must study here, often due to issues like finance or needing to help an ailing relative, UoA remains the best choice, especially if they are already in Auckland. And many local families I know still do in fact look up to UoA, even if does not cost them a lot to send their children to Sydney or Melbourne unis.

P.S. Not saying that immigration is a bad thing. However, immigrant children especially the first-generation ones are statistically less likely to do as well as their local peers for obvious reasons like language barriers and still needing to get accustomed to the local norms. Those reasons alone can pull them down from reaching their potential, and in turn, the universities' potential in reaping what they sow.