University of Melbourne and Australian National University are Australia's top ranking universities on the global stage but student satisfaction rankings tell a different story.
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Rankings are judged on metrics such as research output, citations and teaching, but in a post COVID-19 learning environment universities are placing a renewed focus on student wellbeing. That's after surveys show their students consistently indicate they have issues with the educational experience.
Australia is one of the most popular study destinations internationally, with world class teachers and facilities attracting more than 600,000 international students last year.
According to the 2023 QS World Universities rankings Australian National University is the top ranked Australian university, coming it at number 30 globally, with University of Melbourne a close second at number 33 globally.
Times Higher Education rankings have University of Melbourne the highest ranked Australian university, at number 34 globally, followed by Monash University at number 44.
While prestigious Australian universities including University of Sydney, Monash University and Australian National University consistently rank highly in the global scores, student satisfaction ratings have them at the bottom of the list.
The Good Universities Guide Undergraduate Overall Experience ratings found that only 57.5 per cent of University of Melbourne students were satisfied with their educational experience, despite it being one of the top ranked universities in Australia.
According to the 2021 Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching survey, students reported that their sense of belonging to an institution, interacting with students outside their study requirements and satisfaction with learner engagement was 10 percentage points lower than when the survey was conducted in 2019.
Bond University on the Gold Coast posted an 85.5 per cent overall satisfaction rate. Avondale University, Edith Cowan University and The University of New England also top the list for undergraduate overall experience.
Despite the status associated with high international rankings, Australian student satisfaction levels dropped sharply over the past few years.
Central Queensland University Dean of the School of Education and the Arts Stephen Dobson told ACM that student wellbeing should be an element of university quality indicators.
"We've become far more conscious of having to increase the value of what we offer our students," he said.
"During COVID duty of care for students became more serious because people might have study challenges, health challenges, mental health challenges, and normally you would pick those up when students are around you, so student wellbeing has become a global discussion."
The 2021 Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching survey revealed that student satisfaction with university education dropped sharply in 2020, reaching its lowest level since the survey began in 2012. This decline was associated with a sudden shift to online learning throughout the pandemic.
Among the broad decline in satisfaction, students reported that learner engagement had suffered. For the first time since the survey began, only 43.2 per cent of students said they were satisfied with learner engagement.
Professor Dobson said for most students a well rounded university experience involves face to face interaction.
"It's really important for students to have a university experience they can grow in," he said.
"If you want a rich experience of learning and meeting people and discussing things that has to have all of the richness of interacting with people."
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Many dispute the importance of global university rankings. In the global rankings of university quality, various factors are weighted slightly differently.
Professor Dobson has argued that using academic citations as a key indicator of university quality can position non-English speaking universities at a disadvantage, having a drastic effect on their ranking.
Time Higher Education rankings began tracking progress towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in 2019, including environmental campus policies as part of an institution's quality.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Australia has the third-highest number of international students in the world, behind the United Kingdom and the United States. It's also one of the most expensive places to be a student amid a cost of living crisis, where any person on a student visa is restricted in their ability to work.
Australia is potentially expecting an influx of international students after China unexpectedly banned online learning with foreign universities, meaning more than 40,000 Chinese students will need to quickly return to Australia to resume in person classes.
Semester one of university term begins at the end of February.
