MUSSE

By Katherine Smith

The University of Melbourne has performed exceptionally in the latest Good Universities Guide, receiving the maximum five stars in the key areas of:

- student demand
- research grants
- research intensivity
- student-staff ratio
- positive graduate outcomes
- gender balance
- non-government earnings.

The annual guide compares the performance of Australia’s tertiary education providers, using data provided by universities to the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), Graduate Careers Australia (GCA), and Universities Australia (UA).

As well as scoring well in a range of important areas, Melbourne has consolidated its place as destination of choice for the most high-achieving students, receiving strong ratings for competitive entry to its academic programs. It is considered ‘Very tough to get into’ (the highest toughness rating) for courses in accounting, economics, business and management, communications, engineering and technology, humanities and social sciences, languages, psychology, and the sciences.

The Guide does not assess the toughness of courses offered at postgraduate level only, or which use other information in support of academic performance, which may include aptitude test data, an interview, audition, or folio presentation. At Melbourne such courses include: Medicine, Nursing, Law, Education, Music, Art, and the Performing Arts.

Melbourne also performed well in important areas of career development, receiving four stars for ‘graduate starting salary’. A four star rating for ‘getting a full-time job’ is due to the relatively large number of Melbourne students who move straight on to postgraduate programs after completing undergraduate degrees, and who are therefore not represented in the data-sets measuring employment.

Acting Provost Professor Sue Elliott says that Melbourne is pleased with its Good Universities Guide ‘report card’.

“Every institution in the higher education sector has its own strengths, and attracts subtly different cohorts of students. So making direct comparisons about a course at Melbourne with one offered elsewhere, or comparing the reported experiences of students, can be problematic.

“We’re delighted, however, to know that prospective students see our programs as among the best and most academically rigorous, and pleased to see our research performance, in terms of grants and intensivity, remains as strong as ever.”