The University of the Sunshine Coast was today ranked as the best public university in Australia for the overall quality of its educational experience for undergraduate students.

USC also ranked as the best public university in Queensland in four of five other categories relating to the experience of undergraduate students.

National website QILT (Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching) today published and compared the results of Student Experience Surveys completed by undergraduate students across the country in 2014 and 2015.

It showed that USC topped both Queensland and Australia for the proportion of undergraduates “who were satisfied with the quality of their overall educational experience” (88.2 percent).

USC Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Birgit Lohmann said it was the second year in a row that the University had achieved the outstanding result in that category.

“We are delighted with such positive feedback from our students,” she said.

USC was first in Queensland and second in Australia for the proportion of students who were satisfied with:
• the quality of teaching they had experienced (87.7 percent);
• the learning resources provided (91.8 percent);
• the support they received (81 percent); and
• the skills development they experienced (86.4 percent).

In the sixth and final category relating to student experience, USC ranked third in the state for the proportion of its on-campus students satisfied with their engagement with learning.

The website (www.qilt.edu.au), which is maintained by the Social Research Centre, a subsidiary of the Australian National University, helps people make informed choices about higher education options by bringing together survey data from all Australian universities about students’ experiences and graduate job outcomes.

In this month’s Federal Budget, the Government announced another $8.1 million to enhance the QILT website.

— Julie Schomberg