Students at Australia's top universities among "least satisfied": report

Students at Australia's top universities have been found to be among the "least satisfied" with their experience, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

The Student Experience Survey, which took into account responses from more than 178,000 students across the nation, showed that six of Australia's elite Group of Eight (Go8) universities had student satisfaction levels below the national average of 80 percent.

Canberra's Australian National University, Sydney-based institutions the University of NSW and the University of Sydney, the University of Western Australia, the University of Adelaide, and the University of Melbourne all scored below the national average.

The University of NSW scored the lowest satisfaction rating of the Go8 universities with 76 percent, followed by the University of Sydney with 76.7 percent.

Queensland's Bond University - not a Go8 institution - was the highest-scoring university, scoring 90.8 percent.

Despite the poor results for Australia's top universities, Peter Hoj, chair of the Go8, brushed off concerns that students were not happy with their university experience.

"This is a good set of results - in university terms it's a distinction. We are happy to see that student satisfaction is high at all Australian universities," he told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

Meanwhile the nation's Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the government was "determined to drive increased accountability in our higher education system" and said the Student Experience Survey would deliver "greater transparency" about how higher education institutions perform and engage their students.

"The more information that students can have at their fingertips, the better decisions they can make when considering the courses and careers they choose to embark on," Birmingham said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Today's results show an overwhelming number of students and employers had positive experiences across the higher education sector, highlighting that Australia delivers a world-class higher education system."

"Students can now compare satisfaction rates across a broader range of Australian higher education institutions and for the first time today can also compare how those courses are viewed by their prospective employers as part of a clearer picture of our higher education system."

The full results of the study will be uploaded to the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) website on Wednesday, allowing future and prospective students to make informed decisions about which institution might be right for them. Endit