Survey results prove COVID no barrier to student satisfaction at CQUniversity
CQUniversity students were among the most satisfied in the country last year' with new national survey data revealing the University's top three status among all public universities.
In a national survey of 41 universities' CQUniversity ranked fifth overall in the 2020 Student Experience Survey (SES)' or third if not accounting for smaller private institutions.
Notably' CQUniversity also ranked fifth for teaching quality (up 23 spaces compared to 2019) and fifth for student support (up 13 places year-on-year)' in a year when most learning and teaching activities took place online' due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CQUniversity Vice-Chancellor and President' Professor Nick Klomp' said the results were testament to the University's smooth transition to online learning at the outset of the pandemic.
"CQUniversity has long been a national leader in online and distance education' and this allowed us to smoothly pivot to full-online delivery in the early days of COVID-19' when national restrictions were implemented'" Professor Klomp said.
"Despite the daily disruptions caused by the pandemic' it is clear that our students have responded positively to this move' with more than 75 percent satisfaction among undergraduate students – well above the national average of 69 percent.
"Notably' our undergraduate students expressed strong satisfaction with our teaching quality (83.1 percent satisfaction)' our learning resources (81.3 percent) and our student support (79.7 percent)' all of which were above the national average for 2020.
"We're delighted that' as a university' we've been able to not only maintain' but improve upon our delivery of world class teaching and student support during such a challenging year for students' universities and society at large."
Despite an overall drop in student satisfaction across all 41 Australian universities' CQUniversity experienced the third lowest overall drop in the sector' with an impressive 75.3 percent of students remaining satisfied across a range of measures.
In the Employer Satisfaction Survey (ESS)' the results of which were released concurrently with those of the SES' CQUniversity ranked fifth nationally for overall employer satisfaction.
Notably' employers ranked CQUniversity graduates fourth out of 41 universities nationally for their technical skills.
More than 95 percent of supervisors said their graduate employees' qualification from CQUniversity prepared them well or very well for their role' and more than 85 percent were likely or very likely to hire another CQUniversity graduate from the same course in the future.
"We've long known that CQUniversity students are among the most employable in the country' and these latest figures confirm that the pandemic has not put a dampener on employers' enthusiasm for our graduates'" Professor Klomp said.
"I'd like to thank all students and graduate employers who took part in the SES and ESS in 2020' the feedback we receive via these surveys is an invaluable contributor to our continued success as one of Australia's leading student-focused universities."
