Lydia JuppThe 2019 Student Satisfaction Survey was released today, surveying all 41 universities in Australia, as well as 77 other higher education institutions.
You might remember ignoring the SES emails that were bombarding your inbox in the middle of last 2019. About a quarter of a million students didn’t though, with 78% of undergrads and 76% of postgrads rating their experiences positively.
Since 2011, undergraduate student experiences have been increasing slowly. Of all the focus areas, student support and learner engagement were ranked the lowest.
i just saw a guy in the library cry for five or so minutes and then his phone alarm went off and he just? stopped crying? and went right on back to work
— margater (@maggieisntcool) October 1, 2018
Students studying rehabilitation rated their learning experience the highest at 86%, while the lowest went to dentistry students, at 68%.
However, there were plenty of universities students weren’t impressed with. The University of New South Wales were the least satisfied with their education. Only 63% of students had a positive experience. That’s a huge margin the second worst rated uni, the University of Sydney with a 74% satisfaction rate.
This is almost certainly due to the introduction of trimesters last year, which was opposed thoroughly by students. Many students have reported feeling burnt out, and tutors have been forced to cram a semester’s worth of content into nine weeks.
*Alarm goes off*
Me: just sleep 10 more mins
Me: how about 30 more mins
Me: just skip the class
Me: just drop out pic.twitter.com/FszB11lEny
— nathan zed (@NathanZed) November 15, 2016
Other universities that were below average were La Trobe, the University of Tasmania, James Cook University, and Macquarie University. The University of Divinity and the University of Notre Dame were ranked highly on the happiness scale for students.
Although, 20% of undergraduate students said they had considered leaving higher education, with almost half of those respondents noting health or stress as the reasons. Study/life balance, needing to do paid work, and financial difficulties were all other factors. It’s no surprise when student services like financial and mental health assistance are almost universally underperform, rating the lowest of all surveyed focus areas.
University and depression is a buy one get one free
— Thevine (@wall_est) March 5, 2020
Image Sources: Twitter
